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Although new hires will have an initial adjustment period, it’s crucial to take immediate action if you’re concerned that your latest employee doesn’t seem to be acclimating into the role. You can either get the employee on the right track, or if they are realistically beyond improving enough to get to a satisfactory level, you can cut your losses before you invest more time and resources. Learn more about what to do if your newest hire isn’t working out:

Take a Look at Training

As the hiring manager, it is ultimately your responsibility to provide adequate training to set your new hires up for success. Be objective and take a look at the training the employee has received so far and determine if it was comprehensive enough. If not, offer your new hire additional training to see if it helps their performance. 

Communicate Expectations

If your new hire has been appropriately trained but still isn’t performing to your standards, it may be an issue of misunderstanding what you want from them. Communicate your expectations clearly, whether it’s specific processes you want them to follow, results you want to see, deadlines to meet, etc. This will help you figure out if your new hire has the best of intentions but lacking awareness or if they are actually low performers. 

Clarify Skills Gap(s)

Once you feel confident that your new hire has been provided the information they need and yet are still not meeting expectations, narrow down the source of the problem. Clarify the skills gap(s) your new hire has, and make a judgment call on if you think they could get up to speed with coaching or if the disparity is too much. Then, have a frank conversation in which you let them know their performance issues, what improvements you need to see within a specified time period, and what the consequences will be if the results are not met. Ensure you also document these terms to have records of the conversation and plan. 

Know When to Part Ways

After the determined timeframe for improvement has passed, it’s time to decide if your employee has met the performance standards you agreed upon. If not, you’ve done everything you could to ensure they had the tools to succeed, and they still were not able to work out. At this point, it’s time to contact your HR or company counsel and officially terminate the employee. 

Evaluate What Went Wrong

Whether the new hire ends up improving and meeting standards or ultimately being terminated, set aside time to debrief your hiring process, evaluate what went wrong, such as red flags you ignored in the interview or the criteria you used to make your decision, and put steps into place to prevent it again in the future. 

Attract Top Talent

Find employees to join your team by working with the experienced staffing firm PrideStaff Akron. Our staffing experts will assess candidates and connect you with the ones with the right qualifications. Contact us to learn more about our services. 

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