What you don’t know about… Hiring Risks 🤪

Hiring employees. 

It’s risky business. It’s also necessary.

Knowing the risks of hiring makes you less likely to run into them. This is why I spoke with Charlotte Merritt. Charlotte works at Insperity and her mission is to reduce employee turnover. 

“​​Each time you hire – whether to backfill or grow, you are opening yourself and your company up to exposure.”

Let’s hear what Charlotte has to say about the risks:

1. When you want to hire
2. In the process of hiring, and
3. Once you have hired

So you want to hire

You post a job description and ask people to apply.

What you may not have thought of, is that you are offering an “opportunity to peek behind your curtain”. 

Now everyone can see who you are, what you do, and how you think. Make sure all those things are legal and compliant.

The challenge with hiring laws is twofold:

1. There are so many of them
2. They are constantly changing

Here’s a bonus challenge: they change from state to state. 

And don’t think this is limited to your HR people if you have any. Charlotte points out: “We mostly see this when someone is promoted to a role where they manage a team, but haven’t had HR training or received certifications. “

You are in the process of hiring

This is where it starts to get expensive. 

Hiring is time-intensive. 

“Taking the time to recruit, screen, interview, and onboard takes someone away from their revenue-generating activities.”

You have to do it multiple times before you find the one person that you hope will make you money once they’re on board.

And remember that exposure? Now it is all in action too, and “if holes in your HR are discovered and exposed, you are open to fines and fees as well as time-consuming and costly litigation.”

You have hired

Congratulations, you have a new employee. 

Your work is far from done. 

You have to properly integrate that employee’s skills, and personality into the company culture. 

Get this right from the beginning, because “team culture and engagement can prevent a lot of issues down the line”. 

Don’t think this will magically happen: you have to make a practical effort to get integration right. 

“Dark corners grow mold, and in HR those dark corners breed resentments and toxic culture that can bring a department or company down”. 

On the other hand, a “cohesive team will engage and work together to drive revenues”. 

What next

Define your culture – yes it can be done – before you work with the trained professionals you need to hire and keep the best talent. Contact me to learn about how we can create, define, and enforce your unique company culture.