What You Need to Know
I just hired someone who I firmly believe is the best person for the job, but other members of the team disagree. What can I do to reassure them about my choice?
Your recruit may have an unusual personal style, a different set of values, or a different way of working from existing team members. If this is the case, make sure you spend as much time as necessary integrating the new person. This may mean bringing the team together for some relationship building and setting expectations around how each will contribute to the team’s role in the company. Make this a priority early in the tenure of your new hire. Acknowledge the differences and deal with them; don’t pretend they aren’t there. Addressing this change will help everyone move past potential friction points much faster—so they can focus their energies on working together.
My organization recently recruited a senior executive who relocated at considerable personal and financial cost. It has become apparent, though, that things just aren’t working out. Where do we go from here?
First, don’t allow the circumstances leading up to the hiring decision to affect the decision you need to make now. If you try to avoid the issue, delay the inevitable, or pretend things will get better by magic, you aren’t going to help anyone.
The executive’s employment contract should have a clause specifying what level of compensation he or she is entitled to for termination. Interpret it liberally to minimize the distress and inconvenience the person will undoubtedly face.
Once you’ve decided that you made a poor hiring decision, bite the bullet and waste no time in issuing notice of termination. This hurts in the short-term, but it really is in everyone’s best interest to end a true mismatch (no matter how carefully you tried to avoid it) sooner rather than later. When the fit truly is a bad one, cut the tie and move on.
A new employee frequently smells of alcohol, and he often arrives late for work. What’s the best approach?
Alcohol abuse in the workplace is dangerous: the International Labor Organization (www.ilo.org) has reported that between 20 and 25 percent of all workplace accidents involve people who abuse alcohol and those they injure in the process. If this person is still performing adequately and not endangering others, perhaps a warning is all that’s necessary. But if the problem persists and starts affecting the person’s work and relationships, stronger measures will be required. Refer to your employee manual for guidance on the appropriate action to take. Many company policies require the employee to participate in a rehabilitation program and join Alcoholics Anonymous. If your organization has no such manual, consult a professional or trade association or a government agency that deals with health and safety issues. If all else fails, you may have little recourse but to terminate the person’s employment; be sure to consult with your company attorney.
What to Do
Admit That There Is a Problem
Facing up to the fact that you may have made a bad hiring decision is extremely uncomfortable. You may be embarrassed that you failed to notice warning signs during the interview, or worry that you’ve wasted precious time and resources. Furthermore, you may feel frustrated and guilty about what lies ahead—the prolonged and uncomfortable process of firing one person while beginning recruitment all over again. Still, all is not lost: coaching, support, and further training may rectify the situation. Once you’ve acknowledged this serious challenge, you need to take several specific steps before you decide whether to terminate the person’s employment.
Set Clear Objectives
People starting a new job often find that the job requirements are ambiguous. If you suspect you’ve made a bad hire, go back to the job description. Make sure it’s clear, and satisfy yourself that the new employee understands his or her responsibilities and objectives. Clarify any questions or uncertainties. Monitor your associate’s performance frequently and closely.
Coach the Employee
Although coaching takes time, it’s a good investment if it turns the employee’s performance around. (And that performance isn’t likely to turn around without it.) Good coaching techniques can develop the employee’s resourcefulness and are much more productive than merely telling him or her what to do. Observe how the person responds to helpful—not punitive—suggestions. Signs of steady progress and improvement—you don’t have to keep coaching on the same behaviors or activities—probably indicate that things can work out.
Provide Additional Training as Appropriate
It’s not at all unusual for there to be a skills or knowledge gap between someone’s former job and the requirements of the job you hired them to do. Maybe you didn’t make a bad hiring decision, maybe your new hire just needs some additional training and development to be proficient in the position. You don’t necessarily need to turn to expensive external training programs; it may be a question of having the new employee spend time with a coworker who is accomplished in a particular skill and arrange for a period of coaching.
Check That You Are Giving Enough Support
Often, people coming into new jobs with lots of experience are expected to begin working without a lot of supervision. But for someone to adapt their skills and experience to your workplace, they may need a little more guidance than anyone thought. Jump in quietly, with no fanfare, and provide supervision, guidance, and support until your new hire learns how to meet the demands of the new job. You may well have hired great people who just need a little boost to get out of the starting gates. Once they’re off and running, they may need less—and maybe very little—support from you.
Meet with the New Employee
A new employee who is performing poorly will undoubtedly be sensitive to the new boss’s disappointment, not to mention anxious about his or her future with the company. An early, one-on-one performance review may be helpful in allowing both of you to raise issues of concern. When you meet with your new hire, agree on performance targets and time frames for acceptable performance. If the new hire eventually turns out to have been a true hiring mistake, the record of this meeting will be important evidence in any termination procedure.
Think About Extending the Employee’s Probation
From a practical standpoint, it’s much easier to fire someone if the new employee is still in the probationary period; once “regular” employment has been confirmed, the legal requirements are more complex. Sometimes, it can make sense to extend the employee’s probation to give other interventions time to work. Make sure the person understands exactly why this extension is being given, and give him or her explicit verbal and written warnings of what the consequences will be—including possible termination—if performance doesn’t improve. Use an extended probation period sparingly and only for a very good reason, such as certain training not being available earlier.
Have a Contingency Plan
It is extremely expensive to leave key roles vacant or in transition for a long time, and most organizations can’t afford it. As a result, whenever hiring is done, it is wise to draw up contingency plans to cover the job should it be vacated again. These may include bringing in temporary support staff, borrowing an associate from another team, or allocating specific tasks to others capable of meeting the performance criteria.
Before you decide to fire the questionable new hire, consider whether the person might be better suited to another job in the organization. If not, and the firing comes after the probationary period is over, be sure you follow your company’s procedures to the letter to avoid complaints or, worse, a lawsuit.
Prolonging the discomfort of a bad hire isn’t good for anyone. Tackling your mistake promptly and professionally is best for both the employee and the organization.
Review Your Employee Orientation Practices
It’s not necessarily easy for a newcomer to feel at home in an unfamiliar organization. Orientation programs can go some way toward easing the transition. Some new employees may still step on some sensitive toes and create a poor first impression. This is unfortunate, because newcomers frequently bring experience and fresh ideas that can shake up stale organizational habits. When bringing in “new blood” to your organization, strive to strike a balance between promoting innovative ideas and remaining sensitive to the organization’s equilibrium.
What to Avoid
You Hire Carelessly
The better you get at your screening and selection before making a hiring decision, the less remedial managerial work you’re going to have to do with your new hires. Take your time, follow a detailed, careful process, and be very sure before extending an offer. That should reduce the number of new hires you need to try to retrofit.
You Assume This Is the New Hire’s Problem, Not Yours
Underperformance by a new hire often results from management failings instead of merely an individual’s inability to do the job. If your organization’s recruitment, hiring and orientation processes don’t give new employees every opportunity to perform well, review those processes to see how they can be improved.
Performance problems by someone new to the organization frequently stem from poor communication. Make sure you’ve clearly articulated your expectations, thoroughly explained organizational processes and systems, and provided appropriate support to deal with your new employees’ questions or concerns.
You Don’t Give the New Recruit Time to Improve
You shouldn’t let a bad situation fester, but at the same time, in fairness to the person you hired in good faith, you need to give the employee time to understand how seriously you take the situation and help in remedying it. This means giving early feedback, guidance, and advice, and meeting regularly to monitor the individual’s progress. You should still be aiming for the original outcome of the hire that you both intended: for the employee to function as a high-performing member of the team.
You Wait Too Long to Address a Potential Mis-hire
The biggest mistake you can make when you think you might have made a hiring error is waiting to address the issue directly. The sooner you intervene with helpful support designed to encourage your new hire to be successful, the sooner that new hire either will get up to speed or speed off your payroll (having proved to be a bad hire). Either way, you’re going to get positive resolution of the situation. If you sit by and let a new hire founder, you’re hurting productivity, the morale of your other associates, and possibly even your quality and customer satisfaction.
Where to Learn More
Books:
Becker, Brian E., Mark A. Huselid, and Dave Ulrich.
Fein, Richard.
Yate, Martin.
Web Sites:
“Streetwise Tips on Hiring,” BusinessTown.com: www.businesstown.com/hiring/hiring-advice.asp
“How to Avoid Five of the Deadliest Onboarding Mistakes,” EmploymentTimesOnline.com: www.employmenttimesonline.com/employers/article.php?ID=643
