Avoiding Toxic Hires

What are the 5 R's? Refer, Recruit, Recognize, Reward and Retain. The keys to attracting and keeping the people that will drive growth and profitability. We are delivering this brief newsletter to Company Executives, Managers & Human Resource Pro's who have the responsibility of recruiting and retaining the best talent for their organization.

We all have those colleagues who criticize co-workers behind their back, make rude remarks about dress or demand extra work from everyone but themselves. These toxic behaviors might be annoying and unpleasant, but they're also extremely costly to companies, according to new research. A Harvard Business School study has found that avoiding hiring a "toxic worker" can save companies $12,500 or more.

The researchers used employment data from around 60,000 workers at 11 companies, focusing only on the toxic behavior that resulted in a firing. For the purposes of the study, toxic employees were identified as those whose hostile style or manipulative actions could turn the workplace into a poor work environment.

Toxic employees are so costly because their behavior drives out other workers, drives away customers and forces companies to spend big money hiring and training replacement workers. The bad apples also make frustrated co-workers less productive. "In extreme cases, aside from hurting performance, such workers can generate enormous regulatory and legal fees and liabilities for the firm," the study says.

Conclusion: How do you avoid toxic workers? The simple answer is find out as much as you legally can about an individual before you hire them. The best and most objective way is to use a proven pre-employment assessment. An assessment can help you:

• Identify toxic personalities and predict performance before you hire

• Replicate your top performers

• Stop wasting time with the wrong candidates

• Identify future leaders

• Better manage and develop your employees

• Reduce employee turnover

Leverage the scientific selection of assessments to help you hire a more productive workforce while avoiding the costly toxic hires.