5 Unexpected Results From Improving Your Hiring Process

Thinking about improving your hiring process? It makes sense on so many levels. If you are like most employers, you are highly motivated by the promise of better employee performance, increased productivity and greater employee retention. Why? Because those are direct paths to cost reduction and revenue generation.

But don’t overlook the many additional benefits you can realize by giving your hiring process an upgrade. Some of these are less tangible, but together they support the goals you are reaching for. Most of them relate to happiness in the workplace. After all, happy employees lead to improved performance and productivity and greater retention (according to Gallup research published in 2010). And that should make you happiest of all.

1: Reduce the Time and Resources Spent on Hiring

Solid hiring processes reduce turnover (it’s the #1 way to do so, according to the Wall Street Journal). When you hire correctly the first time, you increase the likelihood that person will stay with your company. When the wrong person is hired, they never really take flight and succeed in their role. This puts an additional burden on the other team members and creates frustration. Repetitive hiring and onboarding for the same position means other employees pick up the slack for extended periods of time. Performance, quality of work and contentment may suffer. Work is lost, and the cost of hiring is multiplied each time an employee separates. With the right person hired, your employees gain a team member who can carry their own weight and contribute effectively.

2: Less “People Drama”

If you aren’t hiring strategically, using a repeatable hiring process, then you are likely overlooking the importance of cultural fit. Cultural fit in the hiring process is something we specialize in at VisionSpark. It makes all the difference to hire the best candidate for your company. When you get a corporate culture misfit in your mix, they usually end up leaving. But until they leave, conflicts occur, things don’t get done, and your company brand may suffer both with future candidates and customers. The best way to hire for cultural fit is to understand what your company’s culture is and incorporate it into your interview process. People drama can be further reduced by involving employees in the hiring process and securing their buy-in.

3: Joy

Work should be something you love, something you feel passionate about, something you believe in. When the right people are hired, and a great team is in place, working is fun. The pursuit of fun is not frivolous; it’s practical. Great work doesn’t occur when people dread going into work because they are stressed out over conflicts. Great work happens when everyone gets to work with good people whom they respect even when they disagree — people who inspire them. The workplace atmosphere is energized, creating an environment where productivity and innovation can thrive. Read more about the bottom-line impact of happy workers in the New York Times here and in the Harvard Business Review here.

4: Lightened Work Loads

When you hire the wrong person, work takes longer to get done, has to be re-done, and your team can’t function like a well-oiled machine. When you hire the right person, they will complete their responsibilities properly and look for additional work to take on and ways to improve processes for greater efficiency. The right hires are capable, bring new ideas and new ways of looking at things, and will lighten the burden for your team instead of adding to it.

5: More Sales

If you are hiring correctly, you will end up with happier employees. Just as customers, prospects, and prospective job candidates can sniff out dysfunction and unhappiness in the workplace (and run the other way), they can also see when a company is thriving. Happy employees treat your customers better. They aren’t stressed out, rushed, overworked, or ill-suited to the position. They are ready, willing and able to help serve your prospects and clients, to resolve their complaints, answer their questions and — most of all — keep them happy. That means greater customer lifetime value and more sales revenue for your company.

Which of these benefits is most compelling to you? Have you found additional unexpected outcomes through instituting better hiring systems? Let us know in the comments.

Related content around the web:

• Read more about the impact of a positive workplace on productivity in the Harvard Business Review.
• Read a report on The Impact of Employee Engagement on Performance by the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services.
• Read how employee engagement drives growth in the Gallup Business Journal.

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