“HIRE SLOW, FIRE FAST” IS IT A GOOD PIECE OF SUCCESS ADVICE?

When I first heard about the term “Hire Slow, Fire Fast”, I thought does that mean taking months to find & hire a good candidate and if things did not work out then say a goodbye immediately. But if we start doing this often, does not that mean we are going to waste a lot of our resources from people to money only on this one process?

This is an exciting topic and I decided to read few articles on HBR, Forbes, Entrepreneur, INC, LinkedIn etc, to understand what others have to say about this concept. It was a mix reaction, some saying it’s a bad concept and some said if an organization has to survive and progress then this is a must.

In my opinion “Hire Slow, Fire Fast” is a good piece of success advice for any business or manager.

Let me explain how…

Imagine the opposite “Hire Fast, Fire Slow”

Usually we fall in the trap of Hire Fast because:

• Pressure to close the position
• Current work is getting hampered
• To avoid the extra burden of work that is now shared by the remaining team

But at the same time, we Fire Slow because:

• Hard to acknowledge that we have made a mistake
• Avoid hard conversation with that employee
• Again, going through the process of Hiring & Training and managing work by putting extra burden on current team
• Fear of Unknown – Managing a known poor performer is better than any new employee, who may perform

Effect of Hire Fast, Fire Slow:

• It has an effect on the overall company culture and performance, as employees get a message that this organization / manager tolerates low performers
• You loose respect as a manager because of your indecisiveness and avoidance to hard conversation
• If Hire Slow, Fire Fast sound harsh, imagine the pressure on the teammates due to culturally unfit or poor performer. You may also end up losing good performers
• It is quite possible that the poor performer is just in a wrong environment and he / she could do better in some other organization where he / she is more culturally fit
• What could be more harsh than letting an employee go fast? - Letting that employee go when the organization is not doing good, but he / she has spent fair amount of time in your organization and is not prepared for the market

What Hire Slow means for me

I know a lot of people would say that any valuable in-demand candidates are likely to be quickly out of the job market and if you don’t act quick, you will miss that candidate. I agree with that, but for me Hire Slow does not mean take months to analyse the fitment of a candidate, but all I mean here is don’t take decision so quick or without analysing the fitment through proper techniques that next thing you are planning is how to deal with the exit of this employee.

I suggest take time to plan the role and prepare JD and let that candidate go through few tests and interviews with different decision makers so that a sound decision can be arrived at. One may say that this could take a lot of time, but I say you could collate all the tests and ask the candidate to do it at one stroke. Also, you may plan interviews in such a way that the candidates can go through 2 interviews in a day rather than asking them to come back again and again.

Reasons I think Hire Slow is a good Strategy

1. Team may not need additional resources –

At time when as a manager you put some extra reasonable work pressure on the remaining team member, they quickly adapt to take up this responsibility effectively.

2. Spend time working on the JD & Role –

A lot of time we look at role from the point of view of what the employee holding that role was doing. Which may not always be apt because at times some employees take up additional responsibilities and some employees do not even fulfil their required responsibilities.

So, I suggest spending some time to think and prepare a role and proper JD in writing to have more clarity in what kind of employee will be a fit for that position.

3. Make time to evaluate candidates using different tools and techniques –

I believe that the quality of hire will be better if we use few techniques for selection rather than depending on the traditional Interview technique only.

• Assessments – Technical (up to some level), Cognitive and Personality Assessment can be one of the techniques. It may or may not act as eliminator but can be used as a support to make a sound decision
• Work Sample – I think it is one of the best way, where you can ask the candidates to submit some sort of project which is based on the kind of work he / she will be involved in.
• Structured Interviews – Interviews is a good technique but if you are not prepared and do not conduct a structured interview a lot of biases can lead to bad hire. Also, you must let the candidates go through more than 2 or 3 interviews with different assessors so that these biases are nullified.
• Background Verification – Make few calls to the previous bosses or colleagues to understand the working style and personality of the candidate to make a sound decision.

4. Cultural and Team Fitment –

Every organization and team have a way of working (culture) and unless you are deliberately trying to change it, it will not be a right decision to bring an employee who does not fit in. Imagine, selecting an over competitive employee in a team where team work is more important or selecting an “A Player” in a team where you already have one but no role to keep both of them engaged.

All I am trying to say is don’t just look at current inconvenience or pressure and take hasty decisions. But take time to plan and select a candidate only after proper scrutiny which will not only fit well but will also help elevate the team performance.

What Fire Fast means for me

A lot of time we fire slow with the hope that things will improve and with this hope we postpone the decision for months if not for years. But we need to understand that a bad hire could have irrevocable effects on the organization / team performance and culture.

I am not suggesting that a small dip in performance and you should start planning the exit of that employee, instead you must unbiasedly analyse the reason. If the issue is of Knowledge, Skill or Ability, you can give an opportunity and help the employee improve. Or if it is due to lack of resources or obstacles of work environment or some personal issue or burnouts, I suggest you can find a way to help. But if the reason is lack of willingness to learn / adapt or if the issue is of team / cultural unfit, then it is a wise decision to let the employee go.

Reasons I think Fire Fast is a good Strategy

1. Procrastination is not doing any good to anyone –

You will not only loose respect as a manager because of your indecisiveness, but it will also have an effect on the team morale and performance. Also, imagine not communicating the same to the employee and simultaneously giving low rating will be so demoralizing to that employee.

Let’s say you keep tolerating this underperformance / cultural unfitness for years and when the company is not doing well you decide to let that employee go. At this time how hard it is going to be for that employee who is not prepared for the market.

2. It could just be a culture fitment gap –

I like to believe that not all the underperformance is due to Knowledge, Skill, Ability or Willingness gap. At time it is also due to employee not able to fit in that culture. Imagine an employee who likes to collaborate and have small talks while working and the organization culture is to always keep heads-down in the work. Its better to let such employee make this understand and let him / her go, because he / she may have a bright future in an organization where he / she fits well.

3. Bad effect on the whole team –

If you tolerate employee that does not fit with your team, you are sending a wrong signal to the team. Let’s say you tolerate underperformance, the message you are sending is that performance does not matter to you. Or if you tolerate bending of company rules by a high performer, the message is clear that one can get away with just about anything, if he / she is a high performer.

4. Effect on Productivity –

The lowest performer in your team will drag down the performance of the whole team. And this could be demotivating for the whole team. Also, the extra pressure that the remaining team is carrying may lead to burnouts and deterioration of team spirit.

Again, I am not suggesting to create a culture of Hire and Fire, all I am saying is give enough opportunities and support to the struggling employee, but once you are clear that it is not working, then don’t drag this further and just let the employee go.

Final Take

The biggest advantage of hiring slowly is that it gives you more time and data points to evaluate a candidate. By doing so you will be able to identify not only the most interested and qualified employee, but also an employee which fits well in the team and the organization.

Firing fast, however harsh it may look is important to maintain the health of the team and the organization. But we all will agree, that the bigger goal here is to set up a slow and effective hiring process so as to avoid costly hiring errors.

Don't forget to share your thoughts.

Aniket A. Sonar