Who's Responsible When a New Hire Quits After Just 4 Days? Let's Discuss!

Assessing Responsibility in Quick Employee Departures

If an employee has joined a company through a placement consultancy and leaves the company within 4 days of joining because he was offered a higher pay, is the consultancy at fault? Or is it the company at fault? Should these details have been verified by the company? What should be done in this situation?

In such a scenario, it is important to assess the circumstances surrounding the employee's quick departure. The company should review its recruitment and onboarding processes to ensure that all necessary checks and verifications are conducted before bringing new hires on board. Additionally, the consultancy should also be mindful of recommending candidates who are genuinely interested in the position and committed to staying with the company for a reasonable period.

Effective communication between all parties involved is crucial to address any issues that may arise from this situation and to prevent similar occurrences in the future. It is recommended to have a clear understanding of expectations, responsibilities, and terms of employment to avoid misunderstandings and sudden departures.

Generally, recruitment agencies are paid for their candidates after 30, 60, or 90 days of joining, depending on the agreement you have with them. This is done to ensure that if the candidate leaves during that period, it is the agency's responsibility to replace him/her at no additional cost.

However, I have had experiences with recruitment agencies that place candidates saying that they just need to work for 2-3 months, and then they will place them somewhere else after the organization pays them. You might want to check with the candidate why they have left and see if there are gaps in what you have told the recruiter and what the recruiter has told them. More often than not, the agencies are under pressure to meet their targets and often lie to the candidate. This is often a major reason for the new joiner leaving within the first 2 weeks.

Unfortunately, at times, the candidate will leave if he is not comfortable with the team he is placed in.

Cheers,
Keith

Hi,

Few people have the tendency to appear for interviews in multiple organizations for different positions, and at times, they succeed in getting multiple offers simultaneously. I know one person who is a Chartered Accountant and was recruited for my company. While working for a month or so, HR conducted a background verification for this person from another company. When they spoke to this person, a very interesting thing was revealed. It was his hobby to apply for different positions in different organizations at the same time with modified CVs matching each position he applied for. He justified it as a measure to judge his capabilities to acquire a job in any position. In a very famous BPO, he even did not disclose his professional qualification to get a call center job, and he got it but left after one week. For such people, neither the recruitment agency nor the HR can be blamed for wrong recruitment. However, precautions can be taken by checking the previous experience and the tenure to assess the stability of a candidate, provided he/she does not belong to the above category. Furthermore, before making any offer to any candidate, a background verification/last employer verification is imperative to minimize such incidents.

All the best,

Gopal

Hi Keith,

I agree with you here. However, in this case, the placement was not paid anything for the applicant yet. On finding out the reason, it was told that he got a good offer in a big company, and he will be dealing with international clients as well. Regarding the comfort of the applicant, it was just 4 days since he had joined. He was not even placed in any team until now. He was doing individual study, yet if these things happen only for having received a big offer.

Mr. Gopal,

Even I have seen people applying for interviews at the same time. They even negotiate with another company using one company's offer letter.

Thank you for your replies, and I will consider all those things mentioned here that I have been missing out.

Thanks, Keith. Thanks, Mr. Gopal!!

Hi,

In this type of situation, neither the placement agency nor the organization is at fault. If any person gets a high pay, then it is obvious that he/she will go for the higher pay. If the employee was recruited with the help of a placement agency, then according to the terms and conditions, the process will be completed.

The organization gives a minimum time period to the agencies. If it is not completed, then the manpower is replaced by another.

Here, HR plays a very important role by verifying the actual situation. In this scenario, HR should find the core reason behind the employee leaving the organization and act on that.

Please check the agreement signed by you. Usually, they will mention that if the employee leaves within three months, they would give a replacement. Employee leaving within a short period for better prospects is becoming common these days. I think we as HR need to do something about this. Any suggestions?

Hello,

Let me first state that there is a word in English, "ethics," which is losing its meaning, for which all of us have to be blamed since we have not been taught properly.

Now coming to the subject:
- It is not a question of who is right or wrong.
- The consultancy people will register each and every candidate who comes to them or is referred to them. So, they are doing their business. As someone has pointed out, the payment is to be given after 2-3 months, and there would be one more clause in the agreement (always an agreement is a must). Suppose the candidate leaves, the replacement would be given free of charge.
- Also, it is the duty of HR to check the candidate's background, history, and if possible, contact the previous employer or its HR (unofficially) to know more about the candidate.
- In fact, within the city, HR people know each other (there is a forum, circle), and they will be able to know about the employees.
- But nowadays, HR is keeping aloof from the employees. That is another reason we do not have proper information.
- Ultimately, the candidates have chosen what they want. Let the company look forward to a better candidate instead of post-mortem and learning lessons from such incidents.

Dr. Nagaraj

Look, I work for an MNC that is involved in sourcing candidates and payroll services. It is never our endeavor to source candidates who would eventually quit. It is not in our interest because there is a replacement clause which states that for a specific period of time, in the event that our candidate leaves within that period, we have to source another without any fees to replace them. So, what this situation practically does is increase our costs without adding any value. Additionally, MNCs generally focus on their long-term gains, and in this age of cut-throat competition, we cannot entertain such short-term gains.

Why I am sharing this with you is that it is important to understand who you are partnering with. A placement agency will never consider such aspects. There are many big players in the market who have to consider various variables, which may not receive any attention from placement agencies. Therefore, please choose an option that will benefit you in the future. A right partner will leverage your competencies, and you will not have to worry about such issues.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. I personally believe that we need to mature a bit in this situation and consider the resources' perspective as well. It's common for a resource to seek the best offer, whether it's directly or through a recruitment firm. I think that's what happened in the scenario mentioned earlier.

Regarding background checks, there's no need to call anyone. You can simply check Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., to gather information about the resource. By making unnecessary calls, you only make things more difficult for everyone and risk spreading rumors. Nowadays, references are usually shared only after the final offer to avoid such unnecessary inquiries. In my experience, calling rarely provides more information than what can be found on social media platforms.

We should strategize on how to prevent these situations. We can learn a lot from how U.S. employers treat new employees compared to our practices. Let's reflect on this and plan accordingly. There is much we can learn from the approaches in the U.K. and the U.S. regarding this matter.

Of course, consultancy is at fault.

Generally, when you start recruitment through a consultancy, it should be made clear that you believe in good quality candidates who are not job hoppers. In this case, it's not only your loss but also the consultancy's because if you have a replacement clause, then the consultancy will be replacing that candidate. However, try to clarify your expectations to the consultant again and try to assess these things during the interview.

All the best.

Hi, as far as my understanding goes, there is a written contract between the company and the consultancy. Usually, consultancies are paid when a referral has worked for a minimum of 3 months. If the employee leaves before 3 months, they provide a replacement for free.

Thank you for the replies received so far!

Nimesh,

As mentioned by you - "correct pay scale on the basis of employee ability."

I believe that the factor of knowing an employee's ability will come into the picture only after seeing him perform. Just going by market standards and offering a huge pay because others are, is not what we indulge in. And when a high pay in a huge MNC is offered, nobody will stick to a company of 40 people.

Also, if the applicant thinks he is not offered well as per his ability/capability and any such factors, it is better for us if they do not join at all and are directly rejected.

Viral,

The core reason for leaving is mentioned in my reply to Nimesh above.

Nagaraj,

In a way, I haven't understood your point. The beginning of your post explains ethics. The end says, "at the end ultimately the candidate has chosen what he wants; let the company look forward to a better candidate, instead of post-mortem and learning lessons from such incidents."

Where are your ethical issues in the beginning pointing towards?

Most of the replies received so far to my post state about free replacement from consultancy. But, this would not be the answer to the situation. A few have mentioned verification and background checks of the resource, which could be considered as an option of finding out about the applicant.

Anyways, this looks like a general trend of backing off after accepting the offer or leaving within a week after joining. Moreover, when a big company offers you lucratively, the applicant opts to move out of the company that has only 40 people.

In such cases, why does he not ignore or reject the offer at the beginning if he thinks he is worth something more? My answer would be the resource himself is not confident and therefore surrenders himself to minor problems, leading to joining somewhere in haste.

I pity such people. And it's good that they leave; at least one month's salary is saved instead of paying such people.

Nice posting and nice replies. These seem to be the most thought-provoking. If one employee (direct recruitment) joined and left the job within 4/5 days, is the company liable to pay that 4/5 days' salary or need not to pay (if there is no agreement)? If the company wants to deal with that employee, what can be done? Please clarify.

With regards,
Sudheer

Generally, the contract/agreement you have with a Placement Agency contains a clause which stipulates that payment for placing an employee would be released only after a certain specified period. It can be one month or even three months after the employee joins the company. Different companies have different rules in this regard.

There is a Free Replacement Clause which is incorporated in the agreement with a Placement Agency which takes care of such unfortunate "accidents."

Well, if you do not have any agreement with the Placement Agencies empanelled with your company, then you could ask them to arrange for a free replacement and request them to raise a bill for the new person after they join your company.

Best Wishes,

Vasant Nair

Sudheer,

Whether direct or through a consultancy, the company need not pay the salary for those 4/5 days. The company can get in touch with the person and ask him what went wrong. Most of the time, it is due to having received a good offer from some X company. Or possibly because the person has joined the company in haste just because he wants to change or quit the current organization or for traveling inconvenience, and does not like it anymore.

Would request all those posting on my query to kindly read all the replies and then comment. This would reduce the repetitive comments, and we can share and receive more different thoughts.

There are just 14/15 replies to my post till now, so I request you to take a look at the replies and then put forward your thoughts. Thanks

Dear Readers

Having worked as ITes BPO recruiter and have experienced this situations many times over. And I m sure that my colleagues here have worked as BPO recruiters at some point of their career. I may not go over listing all the challenges of BPO recruitment from consultancy point of view as most of you are aware of the challenges recruiters face. I would like to share certain approach I adopted to face this challenges. My Experience of facing these challenges has been limited to BPO recruitment; however I feel that the suggestions may be applied to any industry.

1) The recruiters have the pressure to present the lineup of candidates for interviews to Client's HR representative. So this makes the sourcing a hurried task, this is where the problem starts. Sourcing and screening of candidates should be done so well that recruiter should be able to understand the thought flow of the candidate from his/her CV, preliminary face to face interview or telephonic interview. Recruiter shall get friendly and develop a rapport in order to understand the thought flow and his/her plans to make a career. Then we can ensure some stability in decision making process in candidate's mind.

2) Research about the candidate from various sources which is rightly mentioned in the forum above like face book, orkut, LinkedIn, this social networking websites can help recruiters understand the personality and nature of the candidates, then on understanding the client organization culture you may evaluate the compatibility of the candidate & organization.

3) Assess or evaluate the candidate from a neutral and unbiased point of view, sometimes we recruiter get into halo effect of the candidate's personality, good communication skills, presentable, well groomed, qualifications, bias favoritism etc, on the other hand discriminating them on basis of race, religion, color or appearance and over look certain aspects which would come back to trouble us if candidate ditches the commitment later on.

4) Evaluating candidate's needs is equally important as client's staffing requirements, also by this process we can screen and filter candidates just shopping around or one who are looking to warm up their interview skills.

Hope this was useful contribution to my fellow colleagues !

Best Wishes

Hussain

Have you gone through the terms and conditions of the consultancy agreement? That agreement will provide you with the right suggestions.

Thanks & Regards,
Vipin Kumar
HR Executive

Dear Vandana,

I do not agree with your reply. Consultancy doesn't have any fault. Can't the company's HR assume the right candidate? They conduct face-to-face interviews. The consultancy lines up candidates for the company, but now the consultancy has to provide replacements for those candidates.

Regards,
Vipin Kumar
HR Executive

Vandana,

I too feel that the consultancy should not be at fault. Though all candidates say they are good, none will state their quality without being put to the test... This is as routine as when people ask a vegetable seller while buying veggies - "Bhaiyya, yeh accha hai na?" As if he is gonna say No. :-)

Hussain,

Your reply was good. Though some were repetitions, the way of presenting and your 1st point was to be thought for.

Vipin,

Placement people always have this free replacement like it's a scheme. But this will not solve the problem of employees not quitting.

Definitely, the consultancy should not be the one who fills up target positions. The same is applicable to HR (in this case, myself).

I guess some research should also be done as to something on the consultancy and its effectiveness as we do it for the applicants...

Would also like to state that choose the consultancy that suits your company profile and size. For Example: my company size is 40. If I go for a consultancy who has tie-ups with huge-sized companies and has never sourced for smaller ones, it would be difficult for them I guess because the attitude of an applicant is different when working in 40 people and 400 or 4000 people.

Would like your opinion on my last para if it's right...

KSGopal,

The purpose of raising this so-called issue is not just because I need an answer. I also want to know what different solutions and thoughts can be arrived at by people. Also, even if we have all answers, we still find that few points have been missed out. I have replied accordingly to people who commented on my post and have also appreciated their good points, and also those where I found repetitions. Just because I have answered on the posts, does not imply that I have all the answers. Sharing what you know is not a negative thing to do.

So many people ask questions... they get replies for their posts... but how many of them really go through each and every reply to their post. Not many would do that if they find too many people replying. Then where do you get to share your thoughts and concerns on what people have posted??