Most business owners have been here at some point: you just realized your new hire is not as qualified as you thought. This could be a nightmare if you spent time and money sourcing the new candidate. What can hiring someone who is unqualified actually cost you?
Hiring Expenses
First and foremost, it costs business’ money to find and source new employees. It can cost about $4,000 per new hire, on average. An unqualified candidate typically takes up more time and resources than a new hire who is well-versed in the industry.
Training takes time and money as well. Small businesses spend about $1,500 on training a new employee. Each time an unqualified candidate is brought onto the team, that money is being wasted. Once you find a candidate who is qualified, you will need to train them.
New Employee Salary
When you hire someone new, you are paying a new salary. Sometimes it is higher than the person who previously filled the position. Additionally, some companies may even tack on a “sign-on bonus” to entice a new employee.
You may also need to spend money in the interim on a contract or temporary worker to fill the position if it is vital to your company’s production. Money will be spent paying to find, source, and pay the new employee for the period in which you are searching for a replacement. If you bring on an unqualified hire, all of this money spent will be lost to your business.
Lost Productivity
It takes between 42 and 50 days to fill a position within most companies. During this time, productivity is down because there is one less person on the team. Having someone unqualified on the team for any amount of time will also result in lost productivity.
If you bring someone on board who isn’t capable, it restarts that cycle again when you have to fire and re-hire a replacement. You will have to spend more money on sourcing a new candidate. Even though you just spent money sourcing, hiring, and training a new employee, you will have to do it all again.
Company Reputation
Most importantly, your company reputation is at stake when you bring an unqualified hire on board. Your clients, other employees, and company morale can all take a hit if you bring a bad hire onto the team. If your organization relies on your decision-making skills, as an owner, a bad hire will reflect poorly on your decisions.
Additionally, seeing a new hire come in, do a bad job, be fired, and a new search begins can be a hit to your team. Most of the time, they are picking up the slack for the empty position. Having a bad apple in the bunch can impact the environment in the workplace as well.
Using the help of the experts at the Staffing Resource Group can help you avoid bad hires. Contact us to see how our team of recruitment professionals can assist you.
