Bad hire weighing down your talent strategy? Here’s the best (and worst) ways to unmoor
It’s getting even more competitive out there in the job market, and the pressure on employers to fill open positions quickly has never been greater. Yet that urgency often leads to costly hiring mistakes that can brutalize your organization’s bottom line as well as team morale.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, a bad hire can cost your business 30 percent of the employee’s year-one earnings, with some HR agencies estimating costs ranging from $240,000 to $850,000 per employee. Litigation expenses drive the overall cost even higher.
Alice Burks, director of people success at the payroll and HR support company Deel, emphasizes that doing everything you can to avoid bringing on the wrong people to begin with remains the most effective strategy. “The old saying ‘Hire at haste, repent at leisure’ sadly rings true,” she said. “Bad hires cost time, money and energy for all those involved. Prevention is better than a cure, so checks and balances in the hiring stage are essential.”
Burks advocates for asking the hard questions early in the process. That includes ensuring your hiring panel is briefed and aligned on exactly what “great” looks like for each role, and that they’re equipped with the necessary interviewing skills to evaluate candidates effectively. Her team implements a non-negotiable test for cultural alignment that can eliminate candidates in the final stages if they aren’t a values-fit.
But naturally, once an employee is onboarded, things become more complicated, and employment and labor law attorney Mark Fahleson of the Lincoln, Neb., firm Rembolt Ludtke advocates for quick, decisive action when red flags are spotted. “Generally, if it becomes readily apparent at the outset of employment that a new employee is not a good fit in the position for which the employee was hired, waiting is usually not the best option,” he said. “It often increases risk to the organization and delays the inevitable.”
One often-overlooked factor in bad hires is the onboarding process itself. Burks points out that that moment represents a critical opportunity for expectation-setting. “It’s the company’s job to align on behavioral expectations and provide clarity, so if things start to slip, it’s easy to reference a shared roadmap,” she said.
The onboarding phase serves as both a prevention mechanism and a foundation for future performance conversations. When companies invest in thorough onboarding that clearly communicates expectations, they create a framework for addressing performance issues before they become insurmountable.
When a hire is not meeting expectations, Burks recommends a systematic remediation process. Start by revisiting the goals and success metrics established during onboarding, then open a performance coaching conversation. As a manager, outline the support you’ll provide and set a timeline for re-evaluating performance.
If an intervention doesn’t bring the intended outcome, then the time may have arrived for a come-to-Jesus talk. Ask the new hire directly: “Is this role in line with your expectations?” Then clearly outline where you are seeing a gap between expectations and performance. That transparent approach often reveals whether the issue is fixable or if it’s time to part ways altogether.
Burks emphasizes employers understanding the legal implications when these situtations arise. “Worker classification and country of employment will have a big impact on how to navigate this situation confidently and compliantly,” she said. “Things like probation periods and performance processes vary significantly, so keep that in mind.”
The current job market presents unique obstacles when it comes to potentially misguided hires, particularly when it comes to recent college graduates. (Yep, another Gen Z problem.)
Career expert Laura Gassner Otting, author of Wonderhell: Why Success Doesn’t Feel Like It Should … and What to Do About It, points out that with unemployment rates for recent grads are rising to 5.8% and underemployment is surging past 41%. Indeed, new hires face unprecedented pressure to make a strong first impression.
Many newbies make obvious mistakes that can quickly label them as “dead on arrival,” including jumping in too fast without understanding company culture, failing to ask for help, and going silent instead of keeping managers informed of progress and challenges.
When lousy hires do happen, swift yet compassionate action serves everyone’s best interests, as workplace experts see it. After all, the goal should not be to punish but, rather, to redirect matters toward better outcomes for both the individual in question and the company.
As Fahleson puts it, “The organization and the employee are better off if the employee is off-boarded and allowed to pursue a different position with a different organization that is more in line with the employee’s strengths, talents and interests.”