Instead of hiring people who fit the best to company culture and for certain positions companies often hire personnel simply because they're convenient and cost-effective.
At first, this may not seem like a problem. But down the road, most of these employees end up dragging down your business more than providing a return.
Particularly startups and many small businesses deal with "the warm body syndrome."
A “warm body” is an employee who is physically there but who is not engaged. That employee either doesn't get it, doesn't want it or can't do it, or even a combination of those three.
As a result, you get the following drawbacks:
Loss of Productivity
When you have a major part of “warm body” employees, it’s an absolute loss of productivity. Important tasks are usually undone or done poorly. These types of employees usually don’t realize it and is hard to motivate for being more productive.
Deterioration of Client Relationships
With a “warm body” on the team, it may worsen relationships with your clients.
Whether they‘re verbal about it or not, clients can sense that an employee isn’t engaged. When clients aren’t receiving an excellent experience in the service or product you offer, expect a deterioration in your relationship with clients as they become distant over time.
Well-formed client relationships can handle a few mistakes and a few ups and downs, but if this continues, the relationship with the client suffers. Eventually, they’ll form a relationship with another company.
Important advice to be prepared for interviewing potential employees.
The key is creating a new pattern for hiring that is focused on core values rather than time constraints. Creating a detailed, unambiguous job description through a job analysis is crucial.
Don't get hung up on a bunch of interview questions like "Describe, how are you going to handle a certain situation, what method, the technique you will apply to solve this?"
Instead of this introduce your company goals and mission to potential employees and just ask is he or she are confident in their abilities to accomplish these goals considering their experience, knowledge and professional skills. Do they ready to contribute all their skills and experience and be part of your company's culture.
Confident, experienced and accomplished people will not afraid of these kinds of questions because they do have ideas and expertise on how to implement it. And, in essence, you don't care what strategy and tactic they're going to use to get a result if those align with a company's culture and policies.
Handling “Warm Body” Issues
In our employee engagement program, we’ll guide you on how to avoid hiring a “warm body.” If you already have a “warm body,” we’ll guide you on how to give that employee every development opportunity to grow. If it turns out there are some people who unwilling to develop into a high-functioning team member, we'll discuss the safest and most effective ways to make a separation.
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