What is the cost of a Bad Hire?

If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur. Red Adair

We hear so much about bad hires and what they cost – it’s cost of recruiting and training them surely?

Of course, these costs factor, but there is so much more to consider. There is your time to begin with, can you put a value on that? The productivity of your bad hire can be costly, along with the time their manager or co-workers spend undoing their mistakes and redoing their work, not to mention the sales they may have cost you.

But beyond this we need to consider the ripple effect. Do your bad hires impact the morale of their co-workers? What is the cost to your customers? A bad hire may damage your reputation and even cause you to lose previously loyal customers.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh estimates his bad hires have cost Zappos over $1m, and now offers new employees a ‘separation bonus’ of up to $3,000 to leave if they’re unhappy during their first few months to avoid the ongoing costs he believes a bad hire incurs.

What is a bad hire and can they be avoided?

So, what is a bad hire or “bad fit?” Brandon Hall Group defines a bad hire as someone who negatively impacts organizational productivity, performance, retention, and culture.

In their recent study, Glassdoor and Brandon Hall Group found that 69% of employers reported a bad hire was the result of a broken interview process, whilst investing in candidate experience and employer branding significantly improves the quality of hires.

Using video interview as part of a robust recruitment strategy can help assess for a candidate’s cultural fit and offers the opportunity to actively engage your employer brand and creative a positive candidate experience.

We’ve created this Infographic showing the true cost of a bad hire: