Recruitment spend is the small part. Here is what a mis-hire actually costs a team.
Recruitment cost is the visible tip. The real bill for a mis-hire lands over the following months, in places the finance system doesn't tag as "recruitment."
Advertising, screening time, induction, PPE and training all get spent twice, once on the wrong person, again on the replacement. For salaried roles, add any placement fee and the salary paid while performance was managed.
An underperforming worker on a line or site doesn't just underperform individually; the crew reorganises around them. Supervisors spend disproportionate time managing one person, and output planning quietly assumes less than full capacity.
Team morale when someone unreliable keeps their seat. Customer impact when quality slips. H&S exposure when corners get cut by someone who was never properly vetted for the role. These dwarf the advertising bill.
Slow down exactly two steps: verification (licences, tickets, references, actually checked) and fit (does this person suit these shifts, this site, this crew). Or borrow those steps: a trial-to-hire placement through an agency lets performance prove itself before the permanent commitment, and if we got it wrong, replacement is our cost, not yours.
Last updated: 3 August 2026
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