UK Managers losing twenty-six days a year to poor performers

New research shows that managing under-performing employees is one of the worst hidden costs facing UK companies. The research by SHL, the world-leading provider of psychometric assessment and development solutions, reveals that managers waste twenty-six days a year dealing with the under performers in their teams.

By not matching the right people to the right job, UK companies are compromising the productivity of their experienced, well-paid managers. Senior executives claim they spend just over five weeks a year managing poor performers. This time could be more productively spent on value-adding tasks.

Kevin Kerrigan, Managing Director UK, SHL said: Imagine the impact on the bottom-line of having an extra five weeks of productive work from your best managers every year. This is what most UK organizations are missing out on.

Due to a lack of investment in rigorous employee selection, organizations are failing to select the right candidates. Our research aims to quantify the actual cost and the opportunity costs stemming from these person-job mismatches. The time managers are wasting on the underperformers could be spent on more productive work, and collaborating with high performers to improve overall results, he said.

The good news is that change is possible, and companies that improve
their hiring and management practices can reduce costs, increase productivity and rejuvenate their workforce in doing so.

The report - Getting the edge in the new people economy - conducted by The Future Foundation and downloadable from www.shl.com/edge is the latest tranche of research in an ongoing program exploring the hidden costs of hiring, selecting and managing employees. The report uncovers the root of underlying problems and draws attention to the
solution: a new breed of manager, a new look at culture and assessment, and a more comprehensive understanding of the workforce.

SHL funded the report to find out if it was possible to quantify the true cost implications of selection errors and to investigate the potential value that exceptional people can bring to a business. The report uncovers the underlying reasons behind the colossal amount of money wasted on hiring the wrong people and draws attention to the need for further investment from firms in the selection process.