It's no secret that stellar executive leadership is necessary for company excellence. But finding the right person to fill this role isn't as easy as it sounds. It turns out that hiring executive leadership is extraordinarily difficult, and the costs of hiring the wrong person can be enormous.
Bad hires are suffocating your company
A lackluster employee is a recipe for disaster for your company for many reasons. First and foremost, these hires can lead to low productivity in their own departments and in their own job roles. This can lead to a measurable loss in profit and productivity, and entire departments can lag as a result.
However, the more significant damage that comes with a bad hire is the lowered levels of employee morale and confidence in the company, as Deberah Bringelson details on Forbes. A bad hire, especially at the executive level, can wreak havoc on your internal operations and create tension between different departments. This person's behavior can also lead other employees to question the overall health of the company, as well as the judgment of other members of management.
The expenses behind finding new hires
Bad hires do more to hurt the company's bottom line beyond their poor performance. When it comes to replacing these people and searching for better talent, the costs are staggering.
The Society for Human Resources Management 2017 Talent Acquisition Benchmarking Report uncovered that in 2016, the average cost of replacing an employee was $4,425. However, that cost soared to $14,936 when the search was for an executive! These costs include the time spent searching for, interacting with, interviewing, training, and supporting the new hire. The report also found that it took roughly 36 days to bring a new hire onto the team—over one month of lost productivity for the company.
That high cost of replacement, plus the intangible costs of company-wide morale and confidence, prove that companies should strive to hire the right person the first time around. The real cost of a bad hire extends far beyond the tangible assets and can affect your company at the foundation.
Final thoughts
By hiring the right person, your employees will trust your judgment more, company morale will improve, and your overall profits will likely boost. Add in the fact that McKinsey reported an 800 percent higher productivity rate in high performers in complex occupations and the business case is clear.
It's well worth it to invest your time into finding the person who will stick around longest and lift your company to the next level. At YES Partners, we're proud to help companies find the executive talent that they need.
To see some of the roles we have already successfully placed, click here.
Finding people is easy, but finding the RIGHT people is not. YES Partners helps companies FIND the right people for all company functions, across many industries.
