Underperforming Employees Cost Managers About One Work Day a Week

When employers don’t hire the right candidates for the job, it may cost them some valuable work time.

Managers asking themselves “Where does the day go?” may now have an answer. Chief financial officers (CFOs) recently surveyed by Robert Half International said that, on average, supervisors spend 17 percent of their time — nearly one day per week — overseeing poorly performing employees.

However, managers aren’t the only ones to suffer the effects of a bad hire. Ninety-five percent of respondents said a poor hiring decision at least somewhat impacts the morale of the team, with more than one-third (35 percent) saying morale is greatly affected.

Max Messmer, Chairman and CEO of Robert Half International

“Bad hires are costly, not just for the drain they place on the budget but also in terms of lost morale, productivity and time,” said Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half International and author of Motivating Employees For Dummies^®. “Underperforming employees also require significant attention from employers, distracting managers from business-critical initiatives and causing other team members to pick up the slack.”

Messmer added, “Bad personnel decisions rarely happen by chance. In retrospect, managers usually discover they failed to give proper attention to the hiring process.”