What are the repercussions for a company to hire an ill-fitting candidate? Beyond the monetary implications, a bad hire comes with a domino effect among the employees and their product quality. But the actual figures can also be startling that even larger businesses can’t bear the hefty cost of poor performers.
The estimated price of a bad hire reaches at least 30 percent of the employee’s first-year potential earnings. If a single bad hire has an annual income of $60,000, the organization can lose $18,000. That could even go higher, depending on the company’s specific circumstances. This five-figure investment in the wrong person is a lot to take for small business owners.
Unfortunately, based on a survey, seventy-four percent of employers report hiring the wrong applicant for a job. If you’re one of them, taking a hard look at how poor hiring decisions are costing companies may help. From there, you can figure out what you need to do to ensure you get it right the next time you onboard new talents in your team.
Negative Effects on Employee Morale
Hiring the wrong employee has negative effects on the team’s morale. This degraded employee morale is the most significant impact of a poor hiring decision, according to the survey conducted among chief financial officers (CFOs).
When you hire a poor fit or someone who lacks the skills required for the job, high-performing employees are pressured by damage control. They’re forced to pick up the slack, be it extra work or revising a task that was not done right the first time.
These additional burdens can drive the top performers away from the company and often right into competitors’ doors.
High Employee Turnover Rates
Bad hires are not limited to the quality and errors made by the new employee on your team. You can bring the most qualified talent into your business yet find them leaving too soon because they don’t fit the company culture. Even the best talent can end up underperforming in the wrong environment.
It’s not surprising that 80 percent of employee turnover results from poor hiring decisions. These high turnover rates significantly affect the company’s revenue. For example, you may have to pay a severance package with zero return on investment. Add to that the costs associated with posting job ads, reviewing applications, onboarding, and training.
Time and Productivity Loss
Companies invest the same amount of resources in a bad hire but with less output as a return. They will probably struggle to perform under pressure because of a lack of skills. This will result in costly errors and slow completion of projects.
In a survey conducted among companies, 37 percent of employers reported less productivity, and 32 percent lost time recruiting and training new workers due to wrong hiring decisions. The disruption caused by a bad hire always ends in wasted time and energy among businesses and employees.
It’s also worth mentioning that filling a staff-level position can take five weeks, on average. So instead of spending time on growth opportunities, the company’s attention is diverted to finding and recruiting new potential talent.
But the best recruitment agencies are great at assisting businesses in making better hiring decisions. They can help companies save time and money in finding the right people for a specific job and its culture in general.
Don’t Rush the Hiring Process
Bad hires are an inevitable part of every company’s recruitment process. There’s no formula to ensure the newly hired candidate will be a hundred percent great and effective. But investing enough time and resources into the hiring process can help minimize the cost of bad hires. Comprehensive recruitment and hiring strategy is a powerful tool to better ensure the retention of qualified employees.