What to do When a New Hire isn’t Working Out

So you’ve successfully hired someone for your team, but a few weeks go by and something’s not right. Is it possible the new hire isn’t quite the person they presented throughout their interviews? Either their skill level is not where it needs to be to be successful at the job or they are clashing with everyone on the team. Regardless of the reason, this is a tough situation. How should you proceed? We have some advice on how to handle this situation.

Step 1: Have a One-on-One

Your first goal is to understand the entire situation as thoroughly as you can before moving to the next step. Meet with the new hire to first understand what the issues are by coming from a perspective of genuine interest and eagerness to help them. Ask open-ended questions. Take notes on the issues so you have a record for both of you. Get specific on the expectations for the role and provide feedback on where they are now in that spectrum of performance—and what they could do better. Meet once a week to check on progress. There's a good chance the issues will clear up after a handful of these one-on-ones. But if it’s a deeper issue…

Step 2: Provide A Support Plan

It's time to start involving HR. Also called a performance improvement plan or PIP, this is a plan that you develop together. You outline what’s expected in terms of growth and set an end date for the person to meet these working requirements. But this plan should also outline what you, as the hiring manager, will do in order to help them meet their goals. You agree to offer mentorship, regular feedback, touch-bases and more in order to set them up for success. Document your plan as well as their development along the way, whether favorable or not. And make sure your HR team has a copy of this plan.

Step 3: Know When To Let Them Go

Sometimes a person simply isn’t a right fit for myriad reasons—and that’s okay! But before you let them go, you will want to make sure you’ve done at least these three things in the process:

• Documented all the ways you’ve tried to set them up for success, plus their response or resulting work
• When you are letting the person go, have a meeting that includes their direct manager, someone in leadership, and someone from HR present. If your company has it in their budget, offer counseling recommendations as the person will likely be grieving this loss or seeking help in finding their next job.
• Acknowledge that this relationship may not be working because the two parties are incompatible. Do not resort to blame or shame, but rather acknowledge all the ways that this is not a good fit for the both of you.

Hopefully, after you’ve taken these three steps, the former employee will be in agreement and might even feel it’s in their best interest to move on (the best case scenario). You can not predict the worst, unfortunately. All you can do is remain practical and outline all the ways that this is not a mutually beneficial working relationship.

The Bright Side

Take the time to understand what mistakes were made in recognize a good culture fit next time, how to better assess skills through quick testing, and update your hiring process to reflect these changes.

Every mistake provides a learning opportunity to do better. If you need help finding a freelancer to fill a current gap in your team or need help finding your next full-time hire, stat, this is exactly what we’re here for. Our recruiters at Artisan are ready to help you with any of your hiring needs.