Hiring the wrong person is one of the most costly mistakes you can make. Hiring can be difficult, even with the most advanced technology and the best network, it happens. Sometimes, no matter how careful your approach is, you simply end up with a bad hire.
Harvard Business Review estimates less than 20 percent of all hires are considered “fully successful,” which leaves a lot of room for problems. Considering the high rate of turnover in 2022, that success rate is more than likely far less than the national average. As a manager, you must realize the overall operation is far more important than sweeping it under the rug. Besides, there is not a manager above you in the food chain that has not done the same thing.
Look at the signs
The first few weeks of a new role can take some time to adapt to. If they are a younger employee, it may take up to a year for them to reach max productivity. However, the warning signs should not be ignored.
- The new hire lied about their skillset
- Constant complaints from the employee about the job
- Complaints from their colleagues and direct managers
- Excessive training, not meeting the minimum requirements
- Failure to meet deadlines
- Disinterest in the job
- Completely different behavior from that shown in the interview
Have the Conversation
Rather than talk around the subject, the best approach is to simply be honest and level with the employee about his or her performance. The hire may still be salvageable, so you could end up getting some good feedback regarding the employee’s challenges during this conversation if you are honest.
During this conversation, you really need to encourage the employee to also be as honest as possible. Is he or she receiving the proper training? Is the job what he or she expected when they applied? Is he or she willing to work with you to find a solution to save the hire?
Attempting to Fix the Problem
There will be times when the answer is simply better training. Perhaps the staff member entrusted with the training is just not doing a very good job at it. Maybe the employee is just not happy with that particular job, but there are other jobs in the department he or she could do. These are questions that must be asked and answered very honestly before moving forward with either the decision to salvage or terminate.
If the problem is not fixable or reassignment is simply not feasible, separation from the employee is imminent. How this is handled will largely depend upon the position. For instance, line employees are more than likely at-will employees, so they can be terminated with the approval of HR. However, managers are a different story, especially if they have contracts. The company may have to put together some type of separation package to make the firing amicable. This is something you will have to address with your HR department before moving forward.
This is a process that will no doubt play out dozens of times as you work your way through the ranks. Sadly, there is really no way to avoid this from happening. Even if you have what you think is the perfect interview process, there are people that are incredible interviewers but incapable of actually doing the job once they get through the door.
Take each and every experience as a learning one, though, to help improve your hiring process and hopefully lead to fewer dismissals and mistakes along the way.
Are you ready to move on to quality managers that can take your operation to the next level? Joseph David International has been successfully placing executive-level managers for over a decade. For more information about our recruitment services, click here.