Hiring new employees is an expensive process with advertising, recruiting, reviewing candidates qualifications, background checks, drug testing, training…and the list goes on. According to Investopedia, even a minimum-wage employee costs around $3,500 to hire and train.

 

As these expenses start to pile up, you might be tempted to cut corners. However, a background check is one thing you should absolutely keep on your checklist. Hiring the wrong person can cost significantly more than taking the time to hire the right person.

Why You Should Use Employment Screening Resources

The risk isn’t worth the faster turnover when it comes to hiring new employees. With 40% of candidates misrepresenting information on their resumes, verifying background and employment information will help you weed out the frauds. Part of the monetary cost of a bad hire includes productivity and time wasted on picking up the slack from an unqualified employee.

 

A new hire with an improper background history and misleading references can slow down productivity. It’s estimated that after training, new hires operate at only 25% productivity and don’t reach 50% until after they’ve been working for over a month. If that’s how long it takes a good candidate to fit in and get situated at their new job, imagine how unproductive a bad hire will be after a month – and how much longer it will take to hire and train a replacement. Here are some statistics to help you understand the real cost of a bad hire:

 

  • According to CareerBuilder.com, 27% of U.S. employers claim a single bad hire can cost around $50,000.

  • 11% of companies didn’t perform thorough reference checks, which resulted in a bad hire according to Mindflash.

  • 38% of companies hired the wrong candidate because they needed to fill a position quickly according to Mindflash.

  • Poor hiring decisions result in about 80% of employee turnover according to Harvard Business Review.

  • 37% of employers in a study conducted by the National Business Research Institute said that a bad hire had a negative impact on employee morale.

 

When you hire in a hurry or skip steps in the hiring process, you risk losing significant amounts of money. And you definitely don’t want to end up like the taxi company Uber, where a driver accused of sexual assault didn’t even undergo background screening. Not only is the situation costing Uber money, but it’s also affecting their brand negatively. Doing your due diligence is a critical part of the hiring process no matter how big or small your company is.

 

A new employee is an investment and you want to conduct thorough research before you invest your money. It takes 5 or 6 months to reach the break-even point for hiring a new employee, so don’t waste time and resources on bad hires. You can avoid an expensive hiring mistake by using a screening service, such as JDP, where we have unmatched reliability and time-efficient services tailored to meet your needs. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions!