The Cost of a Bad Hire

A great hire can improve productivity, boost office morale, and positively impact the company’s bottom line. Hiring the wrong person can have a negative flow-on effect that can significantly hurt any business – big or small.

Monetary

It can be difficult to put a monetary value on a bad hire, however, some experts estimate hiring the wrong person can cost businesses upwards of $50,000. This is obviously dependent on the position of the person employed and the length of time they were employed.

Motivation

A bad hire can have a negative impact on co-workers and the team as a whole. If the person employed is in a leadership position, the impact can be much worse. Team motivation is reflective of environmental factors, so if the work environment is negative, motivation will take a hit.

Productivity

Poor motivation will directly impact the productivity of an employee or team. And productivity is directly linked with your bottom line. Productivity is often compounded further if a person or the whole team is reluctant to even work with the bad hire or vice versa.

Reputation

In the internet age, it can be hard to manage a business’s reputation. Especially with job seekers using websites like Glassdoor, where people can write and read reviews about the companies they have worked for. As a result, companies can no longer keep a bad work culture behind closed doors.

Making the right choice

So can you avoid bad hire? Absolutely. It comes down to experience and due diligence. You need to thoroughly investigate every claim made in an applicant’s resume and cover letter. This includes conducting a detailed and comprehensive pre-employment screening.

It might also pay to engage a skilled recruitment agency because an experienced agency will be aware of the red flags that arise throughout the entire selection process. Skilled recruiters will also get to know your business as well as you do and interact with the candidate as much as possible to ensure they’re a good fit.

Find out more about JK’s Recruitment Services here