Employers Worldwide Affected by Bad Recruitment by Kate Foreman
A new study from CareerBuilder shows that employing the wrong person can have serious implications for companies . More than half of employers in each of the 10 largest world economies said that a bad hire ( someone who turned out not to be a good fit for the job or did not perform it well ) has had a negative impact on their business , pointing to a significant loss in revenue , productivity or problems with employee morale and client relations . This was the result of a global survey , conducted online by Harris Interactive that included 6,000 recruitment managers and human resource professionals in countries with the largest gross domestic product .
For example , among those reporting having had a bad recruitment experience , 27 % of U . S . employers reported a single bad recruitment cost more than $ 50,000 (£ 32,945 ). In the Eurozone , bad recruitment decisions were most expensive in Germany , with 29 % reporting costs of € 50,000 or more (£ 42,753 ). In the UK , 27 % of companies said bad recruitment costs more than £ 50,000 . Three in 10 Indian employers ( 29 %) reported the average bad recruitment cost more than 2 million Indian rupees (£ 23,470 ), and nearly half of surveyed employers in China ( 48 %) reported costs exceeding 300,000 CNY (£ 32,233 ).
The BRIC countries ( Brazil , Russia , India , and China ) – markets that house the largest number of employers planning to increase the hiring of full-time employees this year – were the most likely to report being affected by a bad recruitment decision in the last year . However , the majority of employers in all top 10 markets reported similar experiences :
• Russia : 88 percent
• Brazil : 87 percent
• China : 87 percent
• India : 84 percent
• U . S .: 66 percent
• Italy : 66 percent
• UK : 62 percent
• Japan : 59 percent
• Germany : 58 percent
• France : 53 percent hole , or by parting company with the employee – and you have more than a few headaches coming your way . So how can you ensure that you don ’ t make these bad recruitment decisions ? Here ’ s my checklist :
1 . NEVER take on an individual simply because they have been recommended to you . Just because someone else likes them doesn ’ t mean that they will be a good fit in your firm .
2 . ALWAYS have a job specification that clearly illustrates what you want from the employee you are looking for : the skills , knowledge and abilities that you want for the job .
3 . LEARN how to interview using competence techniques : this means putting the interviewee in a situation that they might encounter ( or have previously encountered ) and seeing if they deal with ( or dealt with ) it in the way that you would find satisfactory .*
4 . ALWAYS check references – ask for telephone references from a previous employer if necessary ( people are often happier to tell you the truth off the record ) and ALWAYS check qualifications with the appropriate body .
5 . ALWAYS ensure that you monitor the employee through the probation period : if they don ’ t fit , part company while you can still afford it . Don ’ t fool yourself into thinking that they will settle in eventually – that ’ s what the probation period is for !
6 . LISTEN to your other employees – they have to work with the individual and if there isn ’ t a fit , you will have problems .
* RWA HR Service can help you to learn how to do this : contact us on 01604 709509 or email helpdesk @ rwagroup . co . uk
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So it seems that none of us are getting it right that often . Any of you who have had the experience of dealing with a bad recruitment decision will know that it is not just the visible financial costs : the effect that one individual can have on the rest of a team can be monumental . Couple that with the stress you experience from trying to put things right – either by fitting a square peg into a round