How Can We Ensure Candidates Commit After Accepting Job Offers? Seeking Innovative Solutions

It's a widespread problem within companies where candidates, after accepting the offer letter and waiting for up to 90 days, do not join. All the efforts made go to waste, and there is a need to start all over again with the recruitment process.

Seeking Innovative Solutions for Candidate Commitment

Can anyone suggest good, innovative steps or policies where the candidate will feel the pinch for not joining and will think twice before accepting the offer? This, in turn, will be a great time-saver for HR.

Regards,

Hello Kalyani, Below is an article from the Economic Times that will help you in framing policies for the subject mentioned above.

Rejecting a job offer? Get ready to pay penalty - Economic Times

Thank you.

Regards, Ashish

Hi Kalyani, don't waste your time on policies and systems that will never yield results on how to deal with someone who did not accept your offer. It's like chasing a rainbow. I believe you should instead focus on making your offer so irresistible, competitive, and attractive that a new candidate would want to join your company the moment you extend the offer.

For Example:

1. Offering a joining bonus equivalent to 3 months' salary, paid in 3 installments over the year if the candidate joins within 1 week of the offer.
2. Providing a 10% additional salary increase if the candidate accepts the offer within 1 week.
3. Covering the notice period for the candidate if they join within one week of receiving the offer, among other incentives like interest-free loans for purchasing a car payable in equal installments through deductions, and more.

Good luck.
Regards,
Ukmitra

There are a few things within your control and some that are not, so it's better to adopt a proactive and preventive approach rather than dwelling on things beyond your control. Mr. Ukmitra has provided an excellent example. Follow it, and it will surely help you avoid such situations—not 100%, but to a reasonable extent.

We have to see both sides of the coin:

- Employees refusing to join after accepting the offer.
- Employers refusing candidates after giving the offer letter due to budget problems or other reasons.

If you are framing a policy for employees, ensure that it also assures candidates that your company will hire them after the offer letter is issued.

Seniors, please shed light on this.

Thank you,

Regards,
Ashish

The Issue with Extended Notice Periods

The biggest issue here is the length of the notice period that every company has. A 90-day notice period is the root of this problem. It's very significant. In general, a notice period should be 30 days, as my personal experience indicates. I spend 15-20 days on knowledge transfer, and the remaining 70 days pass by in idle time or job searching. This is a total waste of an employee's time and increases the risk for other organizations.

Recommendation to Reduce Notice Period

The notice period should be reduced. Imposing a penalty is not the solution since the core issue lies in the 90-day notice period. By reducing it to 30 days, 90% of the problems faced by HR will be resolved.

Thank you all for your inputs. Ashish, I have already gone through the Economic Times article. That clause is a deterrent, and big companies can go with such a clause.

Ukmitra, thank you for your suggestion. I will work on this and put it forward.

Most people who suggest squeezing the employees are actually HR professionals from companies who toe the line set by top management. These HR professionals do not care about employees. Why would someone be compelled to join your company even if they have a better offer in hand? Can you provide any guarantee that they will be retained in case of redundancy? No, right? Therefore, the prospective employee has every right not to join your company.

I am tired of witnessing how employers attempt to squeeze their employees. You are fortunate that India does not have tort laws and there are no mandatory compliance laws concerning employee benefits. You take advantage of this situation by not providing maternity benefits to employees and by deceiving them during interviews, painting a deceptive picture and ensnaring them with convoluted company policies. I genuinely hope that there will be changes in labor laws in India that benefit employees as they do in the West. This would put an end to all this HR nonsense entirely.

I agree. Trying to force an employee to join you against their will is exploitative. Focus on attracting smart employees instead of forcing them.