Hireside chats are in partnership with The Resumator, bringing recruiters, hiring managers and heads of talent or HR the latest thinking around both how you hire and who you hire to consistently outperform.
In today’s competitive hiring environment, an average, albeit qualified, employee may not be enough to set your company apart—in the market or from competition. Sure, that employee might get the job done, but will they do much else? Will they grow profits or drive sales? Will they work productively and efficiently, getting more done in less time? Will they inspire the same in others?
The answer is no, they won’t. Because average employees are what we call paycheck employees, and by definition, paycheck employees aspire only to collect their wages and go home.
Mediocrity begins with paycheck employees
Paycheck employees aren’t bad employees; that’s what makes them so dangerous. By nature they don’t stand out. Instead, they blend into the background, not raising flags, eyebrows or the bar.
Here’s what you can expect from paycheck employees. They:
Contribute less
Lack passion and enthusiasm
Make excuses for poor performance
Prefer not to work with or help others
Do not invest in their personal or professional growth
Are satisfied with the status quo
Paycheck employees are the opposite of performers -- we'll go into a little more detail about them in a second. Paycheck employees are disengaged and they’re dragging you down. Not only do disengaged employees cost $3,400 for every $10,000 you spend on their annual salary, but they also tend to stay with your company for many years, sapping productivity and eating up management’s time.
The opportunity cost adds up.
The antidote to mediocrity: Performers
Can you remember your last exceptional hire? You know the type:
Accomplished and engaged
Passionate and experienced
Accountable and self-motivated
Innovative and creative
Efficient and productive
Because these people identify with your company’s mission, in helping you meet it they realize their own career aspirations, too. They consider your company’s success their success, and thus make both a top priority. They’re force-multipliers who make the difference between single- and triple-digit growth.
In other words, they’re performers.
One performer, two performers, three performers, more
Filling your company with performers is more than a nice-to-have; it’s crucial in this economy. Here are some compelling truths about performers in the workplace:
The top 5% of a firm’s workforce produces 26% of the output
Top performers in technical jobs produce 25 times more than the average employee
Performers reach expected time-to-performance in half the time it takes others
Performers produce in multiples of their salaries for a high pay-to-output ratio and one of the highest ROIs within all of HR
If one performer is magic, imagine how much a team of performers might be worth to your company.
Learn more about the stats above and the power of performers here.
How do you define performance at your company?
Mashable Job Board Listings
The Mashable Job Board connects job seekers across the U.S. with unique career opportunities in the digital space. While we publish a wide range of job listings, we have selected a few job opportunities from the past several weeks to help get you started. Happy hunting!
Datapresence Systems Engineer at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon
Social Media Specialist at Helios HR in Alexandria, Virginia
Digital Communications Specialist (Digital Transition Technical Lead) at UNICEF in New York, New York