Sometimes companies and small business owners wonder whether it is
wise to spend money for a consultant to come in and help them establish
benchmarks when their own internal people can do the same thing and
there won't be any consulting fees.
Keeping things simple, a
hiring mistake with a minimum wage team member can cost an organization
about $10,000. "WHAT? Are you nuts? At minimum wage? That can't be!" How
does that happen? Simple.
Let's look at it this way. Right now,
the US Minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. That represents a full-time
equivalent investment of just over $15,000. Most experts agree that at
minimum, even a minimum wage employee with no benefits to speak of costs
an employer at least 30% in added costs, and it is more likely closer
to 50%. For the sake of argument, let's use the lower number. That 30%
brings the one year full-time equivalent cost of a minimum wage team
member to $19,500 or just under $20,000 in the USA. (these added costs
include unemployment insurance, worker's compensation insurance,
employer contribution to Social Security and Medicare and the
administrative overhead required to process their pay and to manage/lead
them.)
What if the team member you bring on is mediocre. Not so
bad you have to get rid of him or her, but not so good that you are glad
you have them. They might be around for a long, long time, doing the
job just half as well as it could be done. Every time you look at the
team member you know the position could produce so much more.
You
might let someone go fairly quickly if they are a really bad fit. So you
keep the loss to a minimum. But what if the person is just plain
average at the job, not good, not bad. They can be very hard to deal
with because they aren't horrible, and as people they are even usually
likeable. They just don't quite fit. You could be feeling the same way
in 10 years. What you see is what you get and are going to get.
What
about the person you hire who does not love their job? Perhaps they do
it okay, but they are like a square peg in a round hole. The job may
stress them out. If you asked them if they like your work the most
positive thing they can say is "it's good to have a job." Perhaps behind
the scenes these individuals are complainers and they can see
everything wrong all around them you might call them a Debbie or a
Donnie Downer. They show up every day and even do a decent job but they
bring morale down wherever they go.
This is where a highly trained
and highly skilled consultants may be worth many times his or her fee.
When we sit down with your team and look together at why the job exists,
the key accountabilities of the position and the characteristics of the
person that would do well in the position we can help you get off to a
very good start. Add in our research into people holding similar
positions and other companies or people who have been very successful in
your company. Then we look for those who have done poorly and looked at
their characteristics. We develop a matrix. After the job has spoken as
promising candidates present themselves we put them through a series of
assessments and we can tell you the likelihood of fit with your
benchmark. We can give you an excellent idea of how they will fit within
your already existing corporate culture. A person might have the
skills, credentials and training to be a bookkeeper, an accountant or
even a chief financial officer. As we compare them to the benchmark we
can tell that they are likely not to fit. Perhaps they are more people
oriented applying for a position calling for a task orientation. Perhaps
they are slow and steady wins the race and your environment is
high-paced and fast-moving. They might do the job, but it will be
stressful to the point of burnout and at some inopportune time down the
road they will leave, and you might not be sorry to see them go.
When
a consultant uses a sophisticated and accurate benchmarking process and
candidate assessment suites he or she helps you to follow best
practices and increase your chances of selecting and retaining team
members whose behaviors, values, skills and emotional intelligence that
the position. What would it be worth to you to have the right person
doing the job in the right way? What would it be worth to your bottom
line to cut turnover significantly and to help you avoid turnover you
can only hope for?
This approach is based on thorough research and
statistically validated assessments and processes. Still, it is
intended to comprise approximately 1/3 of your selection process. The
process needs all EEOC requirements for fairness. The other two-thirds
of your selection decision is based on the candidate's resume of
experience, impressions from the interview, references and experience. Like I asked earlier, what would it be worth to your bottom line? That's all for now, "Enjoy Your Coffee"
Be sure and check out The Corner Market-ing Blog for related posts as well as opportunities for advancement.
Michael Stanley
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