Almost three in four employers admit they made a bad hire for a position. Amazon has a program that pays full-time employees $5,000 to leave the company, and Better.com fired a number of employees on an online call while admitting they overhired and hired the wrong people. These actions are based on an old concept in business that you should hire slow and fire fast.
Hiring slowly doesn’t just mean replacing someone who left the company. It’s really crucial to take your time when bringing in someone new to your organization. This can involve understanding the company’s expectations, needs, and goals before drafting up a job description and knowing what kind of characteristics candidates should have to fit in with the rest of the team.
Firing quickly can happen when you hire someone who isn’t a good fit. However, these kinds of firing incidents can be avoided if you are more forgiving of small mistakes, treat all employees with compassion, help new hires throughout their transition process, and concentrate on seeing hires benefiting the company in the long term. Understanding that firing can be considered a hiring mistake and addressing the issues up front will also help reduce firing opportunities.
However, there are some actions that do not follow the hire slow, fire fast business concept. You do not hire someone without taking everything into consideration, even if the candidate is the first to apply. Do not expect every hire to be the perfect match for the company or role. Excellent employees can be trained to meet company expectations.
Firing quickly does not entail firing an employee on a whim without giving them a chance. Although selective hiring is a luxury, it should not be done with overly high expectations because it makes it harder to create a company people want to work for.
In order to effectively hire and fire for your company, you should find the right hiring and firing speed. Doing this right can improve teamwork, make employees happy, increase company success, and secure long-term success for everyone.
November 2021 saw 4.5 million people deciding to leave their jobs. Are you hiring employees who want to stay at their job for the long run?
