Stop 'People Hiring & Firing'

Want to know the health picture of your company in terms of its most vital resource, manpower?

How many employees have left your company in the last two years? What was the average length of stay in your company and what were the reasons for leaving? (The sad thing is many companies don’t even conduct a professional exit interview.) Compare your company results versus the average percentage within your industry. Is the turnover higher, lower, or on par?

The realization today in many organizations is that manpower/human resource eats up a big chunk of budget and expense. Why so? The time to recruit and find the right applicant, the time spent training and coaching the employee, the time spent to motivating and aligning staff, all these impact your bottom line! And leaving these unanswered or unaddressed would eventually hurt the company!


How can the expensive exercise of 'People Hiring and Firing' be minimized, if not entirely avoided?

It’s a Partnership

HR and Recruitment is usually left to source, interview, screen and even, at times, decide who gets hired. This practice shows a weak understanding of what HR can and cannot deliver. In some companies, HR is blamed for hiring the wrong person. But why did the requesting department not get involved in the hiring process?

Hiring is a partnership, with the requesting department representative working hand-in-hand with the HR department. HR facilitates the sourcing and, after this point, it becomes a tie-up with the requesting department. Additionally, when performance is discussed, this can only be measured when the new employee starts working in the department to, hopefully, perform. Therefore, HR and Recruitment cannot be entirely blamed when someone does not perform.

Be Clear on Intentions

Do you need warm bodies? Then continue the practice of hiring. This, however, loses the value of the process. Many companies now realize that what they should have done was to hire talent and develop performance. The old adage 'hire on attitude and develop skills' does not lead to productivity.

Have a Realistic Career Path

After hiring, what happens next? Is the company or requesting department clear on the career journey for each employee? More importantly, is there a career path? Is it realistic? Realistic means

a) The employee is committed to do better and your company is the company they would want to be with;

b) The supervisor/manager needs to counsel or coach properly as well as professionally; and

c) Top management understands and will support these endeavors.

Plant Seeds of Capability

A concern of many companies is the frustration when employees don’t perform. Reasons cited by the managers is that their employees don’t have the right capabilities. This point of view is valid but, moving forward, the seeds of capability are a combined effort between employee and supervisor/manager.
There are three levels of building capability according to behavioral specialists and performance management experts.

a) Culture Fit

Does the new employee adjust and eventually align with the personality of the people in the company?

Does the new employee relate with the company culture?

Does he understand the essence of the company?

b) Motivational Fit

Does the new employee understand the leadership style of the supervisor/manager?

How does the supervisor/manager motivate employees?

Is there a rewards and incentive program to challenge employees to perform even with higher targets or more difficult situations?

c) Competency Fit

Attitude is not enough. Skills, training, job experience and even level of comprehension are vital components that an employee should posses to match the demands of a position.

Transform Your Mindset

Employees are not machines. Give and prepare them for the chance to share and shine. Their ideas may truly help in improving work processes and corporate practices. At the end of the day, the objective should be less about hiring and Firing, but more about hiring and maintaining.

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