Employee selection in human resource management is critical to a company’s success. This is particularly true in small businesses, where employee contributions have a higher level of impact on the company’s fortunes. Developing a strong HR selection process can help ensure that your company hires competent, loyal employees who help you to reach your business goals.
Good Hires Are Good Business
In small businesses with few employees, everybody’s contributions are critical. When an employee performs poorly, either due to a poor work ethic or skills mismatch, the entire company suffers.
All businesses need to establish human resources policies and procedures that ensure that the right person is selected for each job within the company. These processes should be created and reviewed against current best practice standards within the human resource management community.
Tip
After drafting an employee selection process, have an employment lawyer review it. You want to make sure that your hiring practices are compliant with federal, state and local employment and anti-discrimination laws.
Improved Employee Morale
When hiring a new employee, it’s important to consider the impact of that hire on the rest of your staff. An employee with poor work habits or who is incompetent will slow down productivity and creates more work for the rest of your employees.
It’s important to note, however, that even a highly skilled and competent worker may not fit in with the rest of your staff. Consider your office culture and the personalities of your best employees. When talking to applicants, consider whether they will be able to adapt to your way of doing business. Personality conflicts can transform a productive workplace into a toxic environment that negatively affects your business.
Employee Turnover Is Expensive
Hiring a mediocre or poor worker will eventually cost your company money. These losses are the result of multiple factors, including:
- Poor performance. When an employee can’t, or won’t, do her job correctly, mistakes are made, the pace of work slows down and opportunities are missed.
- Reduced morale. A discouraged and frustrated staff is less productive than a staff that’s challenged and engaged.
- Staff losses. You will likely need to fire the employee, and to start the hiring process anew. You may also lose other good workers, as a result of morale issues.
Some experts place the cost of employee turnover at 33% of a worker’s salary. This figure reflects the costs of hiring and training replacements. The importance of selection processes cannot be overstated: Rushing to hire someone just because a job position needs to be filled often results in a poor hiring decision.
Ways to Improve Selection and Retention
Good hires don’t happen by accident. Instead, the most successful companies develop strong recruitment and orientation processes. Here are some ideas:
- Understand the job role. How do you – and the rest of your team – understand the role for which you are hiring? It’s difficult to hire for a position, if nobody understands what the person in that position will do, what is expected of him and what that person will need to achieve. Work with your team to write a job description, along with interview questions that are relevant to the skills needed for the job.
- Don’t rely on one-on-one interviews. Instead, ask multiple people in your office to speak with a candidate. When possible, have these folks interview the candidate multiple times. Multiple perspectives provide a more holistic understanding of the candidates.
- Consider compatibility. Don’t overlook red flags about a candidate’s personality or character, simply because he has the skills or experience that you are looking for. Check out the candidate’s social media platforms and check references. If you suspect that this person won’t fit in at your office, move on to the next applicant.
- Develop a robust onboarding process. Even very strong candidates can become frustrated if they are not provided with a quality onboarding process. Develop a plan for orienting a new hire to your company and culture, and create processes for training and assessment.
