Employee performance determines your company’s results
I It’s not news to anyone that the most valuable asset of a business is the human capital, some businesses underestimate the importance of their employees to the company results, while others understand the importance of the human workforce, however they spend too much time, resources and money to find the right match on their own. One of the main reasons some companies undervalue the significance of the people who work for them is that human capital is an intangible asset, thus giving it a value on a balance sheets is a challenge to say the least. A study conducted by Korn Ferry Institute (”The trillion-dollar difference”) reveals that “For every $1 invested in human capital, $11.39 is added to GDP”. The study further concludes that “The return on human capital—value versus cost—should give a clear signal to CEOs: Investing in people can generate value for the organization over time that significantly exceeds initial financial outlay.”
As we live in the era of technology, business owners tend to invest more in technology and less in their employees as technology performance is easier to measure than human performance over all. Employers should take into consideration that investing in their workforce is a good idea because people can do things machines cannot, namely they can gain experience and knowledge over time in a manner that algorithms cannot. For the success of an organization it is essential to create a partnership between humans and machinery.
There are two key factors that determine employee performance, namely talent acquisition and employee retention. The first step is of course attracting the right candidates for the company vacancies. This is a complex process that needs to be done right as it sets the ground for the future of the employee-company relationship. Recruiting can be a long and costly process as there are so many things you have to take into consideration. Let’s break it down to what the recruitment process truly implies:
1. First of all you have to outline the position you need to fill and determine the ideal candidate profile for it.
2. Deciding where you are going to advertise the position, how you are going to do that and how much you are willing to spend. This means creating accounts on job boards and other platforms, and researching their costs, how they perform and so on.
3. Creating the job vacancy announcement and distributing it in the channel/channels you have decided upon. This is when the waiting game begins.
4. Scrolling through applications and selecting only the ones that match. Most of your applicants will most likely have nothing to do with the ideal candidate profile you have created for the position you need filled in.
5.Contacting the applicants you have selected. This has to be done by telephone and it will take quite some time as some people will not answer the telephone, some might have bad reception and you will not be able to communicate with them properly and in due time.
6. Conducting the first interviews. You will find that some applicants do not show up for the interview, some have embellished their resume and some are just plain weird.
7. Conducting the background check. Yes, people lie. You have to check all the information your candidate has given you, from work background to legal and medical history.
8. The final interview and offer. Now that you have conducted all the research, it’s time for the final interview and making your hiring proposal. This is where all the parties involved bring forward the best they have to offer.
Unfortunately, even after the last step of the process is made and all details have been set, some candidates do not begin work and what is worst, some don’t even tell you. In this case, you have to go back a few steps (if not all) and go through the process with another applicant. This situation is not ideal, but at least it will cost you less than hiring the wrong employee and then having to redo the entire process.
Some companies do not go through all the steps, but they have a higher risk of employing. Here is how you recognize a bad employee:
- Low quality work. If the employee makes frequent mistakes and does not detect faulty products, you should be concerned.
- Misguided priorities. If the employee focuses on less important tasks, you should ask yourself if he or she has understood what the position requires or if they are simply not a good match for the job
- Missed deadlines. If the employee constantly misses deadlines that are completely under their control, the person might not be fit for the job at hand.
- Poor attendance and time commitment. If an employee calls in sick often, misses work meetings or comes in late frequently, there is clearly a lack of motivation in what they are concerned
- Unwillingness to learn new skills and improve old ones. A good employee is always open to learning new skills and sees missteps as opportunities to improve and learn.
- Inter-employee conflicts. Your business works because of team efforts. If one member of the team does not work well with others, the whole team will suffer.
It’s clear that business do not need to hire wrong employees. For most organizations outsourcing the recruitment process is a great way to minimize risks, costs and to reduce time spent looking for the right employee.
It is encouraging to see that more and more companies understand the importance of hiring the right employees and the positive effects that recruiting with professionals has on their business activity overall, from saving resources to saving time, which they can further invest in improving company activity.
