Staci Hegarty, Envision RISE, Vice President of Equity & Inclusion
Most people with the responsibility of hiring new employees have had at least one experience with a “bad hire.” I don’t love that phrase, it somehow places blame on no one and everyone without encouraging any accountability within the process. But for lack of a better phrase, I’m going to use it.
Bad hires are expensive for the company and the culture. Salary, benefits, maybe relocation, and training are all sunk costs for every new employee. The hope is that the new employee will contribute to the organization in a way that is productive, thus justifying these costs. A new employee likely left another job to accept this opportunity. They accept that there are costs to a new job, even if it is a higher salary. For a while, everyone is investing, and no one is really seeing dividends. Most of the time the investment pays off and the new hire works out.
When they don’t work out, there are consequences for everyone. Not just the monetary output from the company, but what a bad hire can mean in the long run. An underperforming employee often comes with a negative attitude, which has an impact on colleagues and customers. That negativity can spread quickly to employees who used to be contributors. There are expenses that are difficult to quantify, such as lost productivity during the initial training and learning period. Most projections are that when a new hire doesn’t work out, it is often a cost of more than $100,000 to the company in losses.
What happens when a “bad hire” is your Chief Diversity Officer (CDO)? The field of diversity, equity, and inclusion is notorious for high turnover and burnout. The qualifications for the role are often unclear. What kind of degree should the person hold, if at all? How many years of experience are appropriate (hint: stop looking for the “10 years of experience” unicorn, there aren’t many of us who meet that requirement)? For many organizations, this is a new role, with a vague job description, minimal budget, no staff, and a reporting structure that can be stifling for a DE&I expert to execute their duties. Yet the expectations for measurable, immediate change are high (if not impossible).
While sometimes they are reviled, other times they are encumbered with unrealistic expectations of patience, compassion, and forgiveness. A bad hire in this role can set your DE&I efforts back more than not having created the role in the first place.
Everyone in your organization is watching your CDO. They set the tone for what the cultural shifts will look like. They are responsible for the psychological safety of your employees, often while sacrificing their own. While sometimes they are reviled, other times they are encumbered with unrealistic expectations of patience, compassion, and forgiveness. A bad hire in this role can set your DE&I efforts back more than not having created the role in the first place. Before you hire, take the time to create a detailed and robust job description. Build a budget for the role, including a salary which is commensurate with the responsibilities. Take the time to vet any internal candidates thoroughly. Sometimes an internal hire makes perfect sense, other times it may not. This is not the time to be in a hurry to close the job requisition.
Finally, the entire leadership team needs to be aligned in their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Your Chief Diversity Officer will be a member of the leadership team and must be viewed as such by his/her/their peers. If the rest of the team isn’t ready, take the time to work through it. This is where a third-party can help with an Executive Alignment program. These programs are reasonably short but can have a big impact on the effectiveness of your leadership team and your DE&I efforts.
Adding a Chief Diversity Officer to your organization is ideal for establishing a culture of belonging. Invest the time, money, and effort to do it well the first time.
