Written by Andrea Frith

One of the most common business activities in recent times is recruitment. Across a variety of industries and sectors, a regular theme is the need to hire new employees. Although the frequency and number of vacancies may differ from one company to the next, the amount of money spent every year on recruitment and hiring new employees will be high.

To ensure not wasting money and time and to ultimately save on hiring costs, it is important that organisations focus on putting the right people in the right roles the first time around. The cost of making a bad choice is more than just monetary and will include:

• Lost productivity
• Lower staff morale
• Monetary costs of finding a replacement

The initial cost of recruitment is an investment if the correct on-boarding and training are available however if doesn`t work out the first time then the costs could be doubled.

It is estimated that when a bad hire leaves, the total cost including lost productivity, lost hours in training etc is approximately 40% of the employee’s salary. If this employee were also client facing it could have a negative impact with customers and company reputation.

A bad hire will inevitably reduce productivity levels, potentially producing work below standards and increasing the workload of higher performing colleagues. This will then add additional strain on overall capacity and productivity.

Finally, a significant impact on a bad hire is lowering morale. Bad hires and individuals who do not fit the company culture can lead to tension, strain within teams, and ultimately affect existing employees’ attitudes towards their jobs. Similarly, when existing employees must pick up the slack of others and they have to work harder and longer hours, this will only fuel the lower moral to fall even further.

As you can see the consequences of a bad hire are serious it is therefore important to avoid these by investing in time and resources into finding the right fit. There are a number of tools available to help with recruitment. If you need any advice or support with any future hires, please do not hesitate to contact andrea.frith@pertemps.co.uk .