Paper Example on Hiring Process: How It Can Affect the Organization

Introduction

The hiring process entails all the pre-employment procedures that organizations must observe before filling in positions with new employees. It is the process of reviewing applications, choosing the candidates to interview, testing the candidates, and settling for the appropriate one to fill the required positions. Recruitment processes aim to help the organization in identifying the right candidates and filling in positions with the most qualified personnel (Gusdorf, 2008). The process can vary significantly from one organization to the other due to differences in company culture and hiring needs, but there are some core steps involved. Reviewing job applications, testing candidates, conducting interviews, choosing the appropriate candidates, and performing background checks are some of the commonly used steps in hiring employees. Every business must concern itself with hiring- whether in staffing a new post, planning for management succession, or filling a vacancy- since it contributes towards the organization's overall performance and productivity (Kanyemba et al., 2015).

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Hiring Process Affects Productivity

Organizations aim to maintain high levels of productivity at all times and sectors, and one way to do it is by maintaining a suitable work environment (Kanyemba et al., 2015). However, the working environment is only as good as the workers who are employed in the firm. Companies need to have a suitable way of hiring employees who can come in and contribute positively towards the success of the organization. An effective selection and recruitment process will ensure that organizations hire the right candidates for a given role thus boosting productivity. If the process is well designed, it will identify the most competent candidates and accurately match them to their jobs. Using the proper recruitment and selection devices increases the likelihood of matching the position with the right personnel. When the best people are selected for each position, efficiency, and thus productivity, increases. An effective process will identify employees who are innovative and high performing, which is the foundation of staff productivity. Hiring and retaining employees with self-motivation and exceptional capabilities is the most impactful factor in workforce productivity (Rauf, 2007). HR managers should ensure that they can attract, identify, and hire the most qualified individuals.

A robust hiring process will ensure that each employee is the right fit for the organizational objectives and culture. Such workers are happy and dedicated to their work since their qualities and ambitions are matched to their postings. The employees will function at optimal levels since they are specialized for their roles, and hence they can achieve the highest possible standards of productivity. There will also be few quarrels and workplace conflicts, which can derail the primary objectives of focusing on improved performance (DeLeon, 2015). While the management is spending resources on training and retraining new hires, or solving personality conflicts, the business is likely to suffer productively. CFOs surveyed by Robert Half International indicated that bad hires had led to a drain in productivity with 11% pointing to a decline in sales as one of the performance impacts (DeLeon, 2015). The study also showed that supervisors spent 17% of their time managing poorly performing workers.

Productivity is the efficiency in the production process of organizations obtained from a particular set of inputs (Kanyemba et al., 2015). Productivity is expressed as an input-output ratio hence all the factors that contribute to production must perform at optimal levels for the best results. Labour is one of the core factors of production, and therefore staffing is a crucial contributor to productivity. Empirical studies have identified the human element as a critical competitive advantage thus underscoring the importance of proper staffing techniques (Kanyemba et al., 2015). The appropriate selection and recruitment processes will ensure that the right staff is absorbed thus helping the firm to meet it short and long-term objectives while maintaining high levels of productivity.

Hiring Process Impacts Company Finances

Utilizing a proper hiring process identifies the right candidate thus enabling organizations to cut down on some costs incurred by HR departments. Bad hires are a drain on the organization's finances since they receive a salary yet they do not perform to expectations. Some firms are forced to go the extra step by setting aside funds to train and develop the employees. If the right individuals are chosen in the hiring process, they are already well qualified for the position and only need minimal on-job supervision. When the people hired are not qualified, the high costs of training them will be a significant drain on company finances.

The hiring process must ensure the right people come on-board, and are retained, since recruiting the wrong people will also contribute to a high turnover rate. When managers hire correctly, the likelihood of that employee staying with the company increases. The hiring process identifies individuals who are the best fit for the organizational culture and long-term objectives. Losing employees can be expensive since the company incurs further costs in recruiting new ones. According to the US Department of Labor, a bad hire an equal 30% of the potential first-year earnings of the employee (DeLeon, 2015). A flawed hiring process can select individuals who do not identify with the culture and objectives of the firm. Such employees will struggle to fit in the company and eventually they will resign or get fired. Losing an employee forces the company to look for another to fill the vacant position. The firm will incur costs of financing another round of advertising, interviewing, screening, and hiring. There is also the cost of training since the company has invested significant amounts in skill development and experience.

Hiring Process Affects Employee Motivation

The role of the HR department in any organization is to ensure that the right employees are absorbed into the company and to maintain a harmonious working relationship. It is hence vital to ensure that the hiring process identifies the right fit since a wrong candidate could affect the performance of others as well as that of the firm. Chief Financial Officers involved in a survey identified the impact on staff morale as the most significant effect of a bad hire on the organization. 95% of the survey respondents said that poor hiring decisions impacted the morale of the team in some way (Maurer, 2015).

Organizations need a thorough hiring process to match employees with their positions correctly. Making bad hiring decisions can cause a ripple effect that affects the morale of other employees. Hiring a bad fit leaves the other staff members with the burden of picking up the slack and damage control. Other workers are forced to redo work that was done poorly by the wrong fit employee, and this additional pressure affects their morale since they expect everyone to play their part (Maurer, 2015). A demoralized workforce will start displaying signs of poor attitude and declining productivity which can severely harm the organization. A rigorous selection and recruitment system provides the successful candidates with a sense of elitism which shows how much they are important to the firm (Rauf, 2007). It imparts high expectations on performance standards since the final candidates are the most qualified of the lot.

The experienced staff members could be forced to look elsewhere for employment, and hence the organization risks losing a valuable asset that is expensive to replace (Maurer, 2015). The hiring process is also meant to ensure that the new employees find their job satisfactory, but this is not always the case. If the employee is the wrong fit, they will not experience job satisfaction and could end up looking for it elsewhere. It forces the organization to go back into the job market again to get another candidate.

Wrong-fit employees could be as a result of a personality mismatch or a lack of the requisite skills. Organizations are also under pressure to fill positions and hence the process may be rushed leading the management to settle for less (Kanyemba et al., 2015). Testing candidates, conducting reference checks, and interviews are procedures aimed at screening people to determine those who will be a good fit for the organization. These methods are not fail-safe, and hence some candidates can exaggerate their work experience or employment history to appear qualified (Maurer, 2015). Hiring managers must, therefore, be thorough in their efforts of pre-employment screening to get the right-fit people, and thus avoid dampening the staff morale in the entire organization.

The hiring process can also affect staff motivation if it recruits from within for certain positions. Employee motivation is a crucial factor for management, especially those in the HR department. Part of the hiring process involves hiring the people to fill the necessary positions. The primary purpose of recruitment is that it creates a pool of qualified individuals from where the organization can proceed to identify the most appropriate candidate (Ekwoaba et al., 2015). The hiring process can choose to recruit from within when considering people to fill top managerial positions. The promotion policy of any organization has a significant impact on the hiring process (Gusdorf, 2008). Promoting people from within shows that the organization trusts their track record and believes in their abilities. Such action will spur the upcoming employees to work hard and aspire for a similar promotion in future. Many organizations promote employees from within as a way of rewarding and motivating them for longevity and good work.

Hiring Process Affects Organizational Reputation

The hiring process identifies the right candidates to fill vacant positions before selecting the most qualified. A poor process might negatively affect the reputation of the firm in a given market. Interviewers are as much on the spotlight as the interviewee during the interview session. New research suggests that a poor recruitment experience can turn candidates, and other people, away from the brand for good.

Treating the job applicants positively and professionally is likely to leave them with a positive outlook of the organization, whether they were successful or unsuccessful. Most selection and recruitment procedures have aspects of subjective judgment (Ekwoaba et al., 2015). Experience has also indicated that appointing the right people can have a ripple effect beyond the immediate scope of the organization. The hiring process is an opportunity for the company to present itself in a favorable light and enhance its reputation. In 2014, Virgin Media incurred costs of up to PS4.4m due to poor candidate experience. Over 130,000 candidates applied to work for the company, 18% of whom were existing customers. However, more than 7500 candidates canceled their subscription services and switched to a competitor due to the poor candidate experience (Chahal, 2016).

In today's digital world, there is widespread transparency in many sectors. The internet has allowed the quick transfer of information, and hence the interviewees can communicate their hiring experiences with the rest of the world via social media. The quality of a firm's workforce depends on the caliber of applicants it attracts. Organizations that attract high-quality applicants will achieve high levels of utility in their selection systems. A firm's ability to recruit a high-quality applicant pool depends on its reputation as an employer (Kanar et a...