Sometimes this happens: You feel you chose the right person for your organization or company, but their performance is not as expected. 

Their resume is brilliant, they have an enthusiastic personality, and you think:‘this the person I was looking for!’ The truth is, only 19% of new hires are considered successful. If you ever experienced this, you might find yourself in a dilemma. This is a problematic situation because hiring new employees is expensive. 

Bad hires are not, by default, bad. Sometimes, they find the job to be not as they expected. Perhaps the work culture is not suitable for them, the responsibility is too big, or a hundred other reasons. You have to ask if it’s worth keeping them or start looking for a replacement? As an organization that grows from challenges, AIESEC has experienced this situation.

Replacing the hire without having tried several methods to make them perform is not on our list. In AIESEC, we offer them capacity-building spaces, mentorship, and coaching, before any ultimate decision. But indeed, the culture in AIESEC is different from the corporate world. However, we both work with people. Therefore, before you decide, it’s better to consider a few things:

Seek to understand

Start to examine why the new hire isn’t doing well. Maybe they couldn’t keep up with the job load, the responsibility is too big for such an inexperienced employee, or they are on bad terms with the other colleagues. There are no right or wrong answers. 

As an organization driven by empathy, AIESEC empowers its leaders to have one-to-one conversations continuously. It’s a chance to understand the current state of our members and support their journey as a leader during their organizational period. The members are empowered to reflect on their goals, values, and personal ‘why’ so they can better understand their role to have a better performance afterward. 

Don’t avoid needed conversations

“We need to talk” is, for many, a scary line to hear. No one wants to have uncomfortable discussions. But the reward is worth stepping out of the comfort zone.

It is of utmost importance, to be honest, and vulnerable in this space. In this exchange of views and feedback, you can judge for yourself whether the employee is open to improvement or not.

We never develop our members too scared of feedback. By giving honest yet insightful feedback, we expect our members to be self-aware and grow. Even the members can support their team leaders with feedback as well. It’s part of the journey to be an open individual and, indeed, an open leader. 

Identify the hidden costs

A new hire is a costly investment, but keeping a bad one can be more expensive. Lousy employment or employees can be affecting the bottom line of your company financially, affecting the employee’s morale, productivity within the workplace, and many other things that you don’t want to happen in your company or your organization. 

The other employee could also be affected and make them start to look for new jobs. This is why you need to consider if it’s worth it to keep them, or is it better to let them go once the efforts are made to assess and improve the situation.  

Then, what’s next?

Remember, everything related to the company’s performance need consideration, including the decisions for bad hires. Keep in mind that bad hires aren’t bad by default. They could be an excellent indicator for your company, whether you are doing the right thing or not.

To reduce the chance of a regrettable hire, consider hiring talent with AIESEC. We have an extensive pool of young and talented students and recent graduates selected before the interview with your company. For more information, visit our page.