The role of technology in reducing the cost of a bad hire

Hiring is a long-drawn and costly process, and despite the best efforts, it can lead to bad hires. These employees not only increase the hiring cost but also impact the business productivity. Therefore, organizations must explore ways to reduce cost per hire using efficient hiring techniques.

This blog looks at ways to reduce bad hires and the role of technology in reducing hiring costs

A bad hire can make you lose money and negatively impact your business. Apart from the tangible losses, there are also intangible ones, like loss of morale and work environment degradation. Hence, it is critical to understand what makes an employee a bad hire; some common traits exhibited by them are:

• Lack of enthusiasm and commitment toward the job
• Not meeting the minimum standards expected
• Not being productive during work hours
• Displaying a negative attitude
• Poor feedback from colleagues and customers

A bad hire can increase hiring costs for an organization, making it vital for recruiters to choose the right candidates while recruiting.

What is the cost per hire?

Before we look at ways to reduce costs using technology in recruitment, we need to understand what cost per hire (CPH) means.

CPH is a human resource metric. It is the total recruitment cost your company bears to fill a vacant role. Usually, CPH is calculated using the following formula:

Instead of calculating the cost for every hire, companies often use this formula to get the average cost of filling up a position.

An ATS, like the Mercer | Mettl Hiretrack, is software that simplifies the hiring process by automating the whole hiring process. It electronically filters, organizes and streamlines job applications as per the openings. ATS provides a simple centralized platform. Recruiters can view applicants, track their progress and filter applicants based on different requirements for different job roles.

Data has slowly become an integral part of almost every function of an organization and recruitment isn’t far behind. Utilizing data and analytics allows recruiters to make better hiring decisions. It can help HR identify bottlenecks by tracking different recruitment metrics and KPIs. Furthermore, it aids in decision-making with candidate information data analysis.

Also, by analyzing the current workforce’s data, HR can learn what to look for in prospective employees. Data helps you determine skills, traits and demographics that lead to better retention and company culture.

While ATS may automate the recruitment process, the final decision is still for the recruiter to make. They still need to sort through a candidate pool and find the perfect one. For this, HR needs a reliable screening method, especially for tech roles where resumes are insufficient to judge candidates. Assessment tools help recruiters control the hiring cost by minimizing bad hires. Assessment tests further help HRs evaluate candidates with different experience levels. These tests identify applicants’ skill sets, behavior and job compatibility and help recruitment teams make smarter decisions by eliminating inherent bias.

Automating repetitive tasks can help you lower your hiring costs significantly while improving the recruitment process efficiency. For example, time-consuming tasks, like follow-up emails, candidate screening and notifying different stakeholders, can be easily automated to improve efficiency and reduce cost per hire.

For automation, you can use recruitment software like ATS. The software screens candidates and allows you to post jobs on multiple job boards with just a few clicks. Allowing you to reach a wider pool of candidates, which reduces bad hires.

With over a decade of experience providing HR technological solutions, Mercer | Mettl offers various solutions that allow your organizations to streamline and execute recruitment strategies while reducing costs and bad hires.

Mercer | Mettl’s Hiretrack combines features of three systems in a single platform. It manages applications and creates and customizes workflows with ease. The platform allows your recruiting team to appraise candidates through online assessments. The assessments give a holistic view of the candidate’s psychometric, cognitive and domain competency. Furthermore, you can organize online interviews with collaborative and structured grading while keeping digital records of everything.

You can simplify hiring with Mercer | Mettl’s Hiretrack in four steps:

Configure your requirements:

Create specific job roles and define competency on the platform with ease.

Screen candidates:

Filter out applicants using assessments and psychometric tests that can be scheduled at your convenience.

Organize interviews:

Create a panel of interviewers and schedule interviews to select the best from the screened pool of candidates.

Make the final decision:

Decide to hire after looking at briefs from the recruiting team and the candidate’s score.

The recruitment process involves many resources, especially financial ones. Hence, it is vital to know ways to reduce recruitment costs per hire while reducing the chances of hiring a bad employee. A bad hire can cost a lot of money while hampering team morale.