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
Join the discussion
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