What happens if the person I hire doesn’t work out?

Attracting and engaging the best talent can transform your organisation, but recruitment is far from simple.

Hiring the wrong person can be incredibly costly and have an impact on productivity and employee morale, not to mention the time and cost of finding a replacement.

Estimates suggest hiring the wrong person can cost up to 1.5 x their salary.

We’ve written an ebook about how to avoid hiring the wrong person but here we explore what to do when your new employee isn’t working out. For the purposes of this article, let’s assume the person who isn’t working out is a newly hired, permanent employee.

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The ideas below are not intended to be a step by step process to be completed in order, but rather a list of suggested actions to help you uncover what may have gone wrong and how to get things back on track.

1. Speak with your recruitment partner as early as possible

Explain your concerns and discuss options to support both employee and hiring manager. Recruitment is a professional service and an ongoing partnership - a quality recruiter will help you retain, not just hire.

2. Go back your recruitment strategy

Think about why you needed to fill this particular vacancy in the first place. Has anything changed since the beginning of the recruitment process? If you were replacing someone who left the organisation, was hiring someone similar / with the same background and skills the best approach? How does this role and recruitment fit in your wider organisational strategy?

3. Consider if this is definitely a permanent appointment

If your organisation is going through any kind of change, growth or a restructure, you may want to consider hiring a temporary or contract staff member. Adaptable resources can be very useful for an organisation with changing requirements and engaging temporary staff can provide many benefits including unparalleled flexibility and reduced costs.

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4. Review your interview and selection process

Did the hiring team uncover enough of the right insights through the previous interview process?

Did you effectively engage the candidates in the process and demonstrate why they should choose your organisation? Would a practical exercise or presentation enhance your ability to select the right person for the role?

Most recruitment agencies will support you to develop an effective and robust interview and selection process that is fit for purpose and enables you to uncover the most useful information and insights.

We’re pretty passionate about this, so we’ve created a series of ebooks and webinars to support leaders and hiring managers with their interview and selection process. You’ll find some links at the end of this article.

5. Finally, look at your onboarding process

Finding, attracting and engaging great people is only the beginning. Providing a supported, positive and flexible onboarding experience is critical to employee engagement and retention.

If you’re working in a hybrid office and remote working model, take into consideration how this might impact the early days and weeks for your new employee.

Learn About Activating Your Recruitment Guarantee

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What to do if your new employee leaves

If you’ve hired a permanent employee via a recruitment agency and they leave after a short time (usually 3 months), you may be able to use your replacement guarantee, if your recruitment partner offers one.

You can read more about the guarantee this in this article , but in summary, a typical recruitment guarantee will provide that if your new employee leaves inside the guarantee period (usually 3 months) for a reason other than redundancy, restructure or any change in the original job specification, the recruitment business will find a replacement, without additional costs.

If you need to use your guarantee, follow these steps:

Ensure the placement fee invoice is paid on time. Late payment may void the conditions of the guarantee.

If you have concerns about your new employee’s performance, speak with your recruiter as early as possible. A good recruiter works with you in partnership and is invested in getting it right. Explore options to support both employee and hiring manager to remedy the situation.

If your new employee decides to terminate their employment, ensure an effective and transparent exit process, including an exit interview.

Meet with your recruitment partner to discuss the recruitment strategy to find a replacement. It’s important to have an honest conversation about why the previous employee didn't work out. Be sure to discuss the key skills, experience and approach your ideal employee will bring.

Make any necessary changes to the job description and recruitment marketing content.

Agree a recruitment timeframe for the new search.

“Good recruitment doesn’t happen by accident. Hiring managers and recruitment partners must work together in a consultative partnership to drive the best results”

Hiring resources to help you make the right hire

Finding needles in haystacks is what we do best. We use traditional and algorithmic-search techniques, video recruitment, and behavioural economics to find you the best talent in the market.

Our guide to 44 high impact questions will help you draw on real-life examples of previous experiences, actions, and behaviours to gauge skills, approach and fit.

Find out the Ultimate interview question that will help you uncover the most useful insights, regardless of the role you’re recruiting.

Beyond the obvious like typos and sloppy errors on a CV, turning up late to an interview and poor eye contact, our guide to Recruitment red flags contains a list of key things to look out for to avoid making the wrong hire.

If you’ve never been sure about the true value of reference checks, this helpful resource will explain why they are important - and how to conduct a good one.