The True Cost of a Bad Hire

How important is it to fill your team with the right people? Well according to research, the cost of hiring the wrong employee could be astronomical.

A CareerBuilder study found that 27% of US employers surveyed said that just making one bad hire could cost their company upwards of $50,000.

And that number may be on the low side.

According to Jörgen Sundberg, CEO of Link Humans, the cost of recruiting, hiring, and onboarding a new employee can be as much as $240,000.

In This Article

Why the enormous costs?
So how do you avoid making a bad hire?

Why the enormous costs?

Lisa Frye of the Society for Human Resource Management identified several variables that go into calculating the cost to replace a bad hire, including:

• Recruitment advertising fees and staff time.
• Relocation and training fees for replacement hires.
• The negative impact on team performance.
• The disruption to incomplete projects.
• Lost customers.
• Outplacement services.
• Weakened employer brand.
• Litigation fees.

So how do you avoid making a bad hire?

In this article, Falon Fatemi of Forbes discusses their “5 Basics for Better Hires”, such as:

• Go with your gut
• Reference the references
• Add an outsider’s perspective
• Date before getting married
• Set clear expectations (and fire fast if they’re not met)

Unfortunately, there is no magic cure-all that will make all of your recruiting headaches vanish into thin air. There will still be times when new employees don’t work out, or when good employees leave your company. However, if you’re able to better understand what causes these situations to occur, you’ll be in a much better position to minimize their effects in the future.

Be sure to read our article on 4 Unique Strategies to Maximize Employee Happiness for a look at what some progressive companies are doing to minimize turnover.

For over 70 years, Motorlease has been helping our clients strengthen their recruitment and retention efforts.

Check out the video below to hear our clients describe their drivers’ experience with Motorlease in their own words.