How to Deal with a Bad Hire

Determine the reasons for the bad hiring

Before taking action, investigate why the employee isn't working out.

Is it a problem with organizational fit or a skill gap? Was the employee's expertise or lack thereof misrepresented? Is it all of the above? Or perhaps you made a hasty judgement and ignored potential red signals. Whatever the reason, once you find the source of the problem, you'll know whether it can be fixed or if termination is the best option.

Determine the problem and the reason

The first step is to assess and document the employee's performance. Identify trends and determine whether the problem is the result of a flaw in your hiring procedure or the employee's own mistakes. According to Thompson, common recruiting mistakes include rushing to fill a position, hiring based on a resume rather than a skill set, listing insufficient talent demand skills, and forgetting to check employment references. If you made one of these internal hiring mistakes, you must first change your hiring procedure.You should also evaluate your training procedure to ensure that the individual obtained the necessary training to flourish in their role.

Think about whether reassignment is an option

Consider the individual in question is well-suited to your office atmosphere but is having difficulty using an essential piece of machinery or software for your firm. Those abilities are frequently teachable. Alternatively, if a person isn't the ideal fit for the position but possesses skills that are useful in other roles within the organization, don't dismiss them too quickly. Instead, consider reassigning them to a different role.

You don't want to lose someone who is a good cultural fit and a good team player, especially if they have the abilities to flourish in another position. These characteristics can be difficult to come by in today's competitive employment environment. If they have true potential and training them for a new role costs less than restarting the hiring process, bad hires may be worth keeping.

If you decide to give a terrible hiring a second chance, state your expectations clearly. A detailed performance improvement plan that lays out measurable targets and a schedule to reach them is one method to accomplish this.

Discuss the issue as soon as possible with the employee

If the problem is directly related to the employee, communicate your concerns with them and provide them the opportunity to correct their errors. It is critical to address staff performance and attitude issues as soon as possible so that you can correct them before they spiral out of hand.

Many businesses have introduced more frequent performance evaluations or performance improvement strategies. Many businesses think that taking action early gives them the best chance of success, giving an employee the opportunity to change before they suffer irreversible reputational damage for failing to reach the company's goals.

Evaluate both the current and future expenses.

In some cases, the detrimental impact on other team members or the business makes looking for other internal opportunities or investing in continuous growth unfeasible. In one instance, a senior executive who had previously worked for a very large public corporation joined my client, a midsize family-owned business, with such unrealistic expectations about resources and autonomy that he cost the company dearly. Giving him feedback was ineffective, and transferring him to a different function would not have remedied the situation.

Find a replacement

If a new hiring isn't working out, Hill suggests looking through your applicant pool for other potential prospects before terminating the employee. However, don't contact anyone for interviews until you've officially decided to fire the present employee. It's nevertheless advantageous to have potential replacements in mind so that redoing the recruitment process isn't too time-consuming.

Avoid making poor hiring decisions in the future

Every business owner makes blunders in hiring. But they aren't a total waste if you learn from them and utilize what you've learned to make better recruiting decisions in the future. Examine what happened and why it happened to avoid making the same error again.

Your hiring and interviewing practises are a fantastic place to start. Where are you looking for people? What questions do you ask job applicants? Perhaps they aren't specific enough to detect potential problems. And are the folks asking the questions adequately trained in interviewing? The right question can assist discover potentially problematic habits or attitudes, as well as whether prospective seekers have the abilities they claim to have.

Next, make certain that job descriptions are clearly communicated to job candidates. Detail your expectations for the role while reinforcing your organization's culture. Job prospects should understand that you're searching for the whole package: an employee with the necessary abilities who is also aligned with your company's culture, mission, and values.

If you discover a new hire is missing in culture fit or certain skills, it's best to provide feedback within 30 to 45 days. Give them the opportunity to take action. Don't let the matter fester any longer.

Recognizing that you made a poor hiring decision is an unpleasant reality. However, if you move swiftly and sensibly, you may make the best of a terrible situation and avoid future recruiting mistakes.