Employers don’t always hire the right people for a job. However, a business concept exists that helps address this issue. An extreme case can be seen by Better.com’s firing of 900 employees over Zoom in 2021, but essentially companies use the “hire slow, fire fast” approach.
Hiring slowly means providing yourself enough time to properly evaluate your company’s business goals and needs in order to find the right candidate who can fit into the team and have the right skills for long-term success. Firing quickly means being compassionate and helpful during the transition process, forgiving small mistakes, and acknowledging the long-term benefits of a hire only to end up with an employee who is ultimately not the right fit and should be let go.
It’s important to understand that “hire slow” doesn’t entail hiring someone because they look good on paper instead of taking the time to consider every candidate. It also doesn’t mean expecting the perfect hire to clearly appear in front of you because in many cases the right training can help make an employee excel in their role. Firing employees on impulse is not the right approach to “fire fast,” and selective hiring or having overly high expectations is not how you should consider “hire slow” to be.
Understanding the right speed to hire and fire comes with several benefits. A supportive corporate culture can be built with teams that are able to naturally work together. Employees are able to work happily without bureaucratic issues which will mean better long-term success for everyone, including the company.
With a currently growing job market, companies will be able to benefit from knowing the hiring strategy that works best for them in the long run.
