Getting the right people for every job is one of the keys to business success. If you’re a business owner, finding the right personnel cannot only help you achieve your goals, but it can also help you expand your business and bring it to the next level.
On the flip side, the hiring process is not as easy as picking an apple from a tree.
It involves a lot of effort, time and money in order to achieve the results you want. Many business owners would tell you that the key to getting the best talents is by looking at the person’s attitudes, his or her background, and personal perspective on your company’s goals.
There are a lot of companies that have succeeded in finding the right employees for them, but even more companies end up with a misaligned staff.
In order to assess if you’re in a bad-staffing position, the best thing you can do is to check for signs and listen to what your employees have to say when a new employee joins your team.
Here are the four telltale signs you made a bad hire.
1. Newbie is unable to blend in
The importance of company culture has been highlighted by many business owners and researchers alike. A company’s culture reflects who the people in each organization are and what they value. Every organization, no matter its size, has a unique culture.
Having good culture helps a company keep important team members in place, and it saves costs down the line in having to hire new employees all the time.
Noticing a negative culture is one of the most obvious signs that you might have made a mistake in hiring an employee. When the new hire is out-of-place, he or she may begin to drop off the level of productivity and have a negative aura that can infect other people around him or her.
Unfortunately, there are times when new hires tend to hurt a company’s corporate culture as they come in. They create a bump in the road when they focus on themselves too much or choose to work as a separate individual rather than be one with the team. Whether they do this intentionally or not, it can still disrupt the existing harmony within the company.
2. New hire always complains
In today’s typical workplace, disengaged employees are the norm. In fact, a research poll conducted by Gallup shows that only 13 percent of employees worldwide are engaged in their work. When employees are not engaged, it can lead to negative attitudes and low output.
It’s not that there’s no place for disappointment at work, but when your new hire complains a lot, he or she is not doing your business any favors. Disgruntled employees may talk negatively about the company to their fellow coworkers or find excuses not to do their tasks. They tend to push-off responsibilities that they don’t like doing. Disgruntled employees don’t take initiative or feel positivity about the company.
When it reaches this point, you know you’ve hired the wrong employee. A disgruntled employee is just going to make your company a toxic workplace. It’s time to tell them where to look for another job, and show them the door.
3. Newbie doesn’t work for company’s success
Often times, a company’s success hinges on your employees doing work outside of their job description.
Although your employees probably know what their specific job is, you can easily spot a good employee if he or she is willing to go beyond and do more. In a dynamic workplace, job responsibilities sometimes evolve and change quickly. A new hire must be willing to adapt to this environment, and even handle tasks that aren’t in the original job description.
On the flip side, you can easily spot a bad hire if he or she is always fronting with “it’s not my job” statements and repeatedly citing his or her job description. This is not only a bad attitude that you would not want to witness as an employer, it is also toxic for other employees who are trying to be productive for the company success.
Bad news travels fast. The same is true with water-cooler tales of a new hire’s bad behavior. If one person in your company is unwilling to make things happen for you and your team, it is obvious that you’ve made a big mistake in hiring the sore thumb employee.
4. New hire is still “in the old job”
There are times when you would want to hire an employee with great experience in your line of work. This is beneficial since he or she can impart his or her knowledge to other workers. However, there can be downsides with this hiring choice.
When your new hire came from another company, there is one thing that you should always be on the lookout for. If the comparisons to his or her previous workplace never cease, then you’ve hit a big blunder. The “in my old job” line is always on the loose. This is not only a bad thing for your workplace. This makes it impossible for a person to fit in a system or belong on a team.
This can only lead to conflicts, workplace drama, and, eventually, the demolition of your hopes to ever succeed with this employee. At that point, it might be a good decision to give the pink slip rather than keeping him or her just to save on hiring costs.
About the author: Susan Ranford is an expert on job market trends, hiring, and business management. She is the Community Outreach Coordinator for New York Jobs. In her blogging and writing, she seeks to shed light on issues related to employment, business, and finance to help others understand different industries and find the right job fit for them.
