how to reduce the cost of bad hires.

In business, few mistakes are as costly as hiring the wrong person. The cost of bad hires compounds daily, impacting every aspect of a company's performance.

To minimize the risk and costs of a bad hire, it's vital to establish the right recruitment process. Let’s explore some strategies to help you determine the best hiring approach, ensuring you avoid the consequences of a poor hiring decision.

what causes bad hires?

Several factors can contribute to a bad hire, which can have serious adverse effects on your company. Hiring the wrong person can lower employee morale and employee engagement among other staff members. It can also lead to issues if the new hire doesn't mesh well with the team.

One of the primary causes of bad hires is a lack of alignment between HR and hiring managers. This can occur when:

• Hiring managers don't fully grasp the long-term cost of bad hires.
• Hiring managers aren't adequately trained to identify a candidate's suitability for the role.
• HR fails to effectively communicate the key performance indicators they should look for in a candidate.
• Hiring managers feel pressured to fill a position quickly, leading to rushed decisions.

When hiring managers don't completely understand the cost of bad hires, they may be less thorough in their selection process. Furthermore, inadequate interview training can hinder their ability to choose the right person.

Rushing to fill a position can also result in selecting the wrong employee. When a company has an urgent need to hire someone, managers might feel compelled to make a speedy decision, potentially overlooking red flags about a candidate.

Also, suppose HR doesn't provide precise data about what defines a successful employee or fails to convey that information effectively to hiring managers. In that case, knowing what qualities to prioritize in a candidate becomes challenging.

To help prevent these issues, HR must collaborate closely with hiring managers. They should offer training, guidance and transparent information to support informed hiring decisions. By encouraging this kind of cross-functional collaboration, organizations can minimize the risk of a bad hire.

how to hire the right person every time

Bad employees can drive down productivity, hurt morale and even drive away both clients and good employees once hired. But a lot of wasted time and resources go into creating that bad hire in the first place — time and resources that can be realigned to ensure only good hires come through. Some of these include:

• preparing internal resources and branding materials
• creating a job description, posting advertisements and other outreach
• screening and interviewing potential candidates

As a global leader in the HR services industry, Randstad supports people and organizations in realizing their true talent potential. Also, we understand success in these initial efforts is critical to ensuring the long-term success of your company and your employees. That’s why we’ve identified four ways you can ensure your hiring managers reach, discover and select the right employees every time:

optimize the job description and advertisement

Job descriptions and advertisements are gateways to new candidates, so ensuring they work in your favor is critical. They make the difference between choosing from a handful of great candidates versus a handful of poor ones. As you begin, think holistically about the needs of your team and organization.

share your company and its culture accurately

Just as managers get frustrated with bad employees, new employees perform poorly when the company culture isn’t what was advertised. Make sure potential candidates reading your job description will understand your company culture as they consider you, and then communicate key aspects of company culture during the interview. Establishing realistic expectations about the role early will prevent “poor fit” candidates from slipping through.

formalize interviews to address key aspects of the job

Too many companies lack a standardized interview process. This prevents hiring managers from communicating and receiving critical information, including details about the candidate’s behavior, situational responsiveness and technical aptitude. What’s more, hiring managers cannot accurately compare the results of multiple interviews if they are not conducted based on identical standards.

look for universal qualities of successful employees

In addition to finding employees with the right experience and skill sets, hiring managers should know to look for key characteristics that every new hire should have — no matter the position. These include natural talent, a willingness to learn, empathy and confidence in their ability to make decisions. Similarly, hiring managers should know the qualities they do not want in a candidate and why by naming them and defining them beforehand.

eliminate the cost of bad hires with a successful hiring process

Working with a talent solutions company like Randstad is a smart move to avoid the high costs of a bad hire. By tapping the skills and resources of our recruitment experts, you can significantly lower the chances of hiring the wrong person and steer clear of the negative effects on your team's productivity and morale.