Recruitment Dilemma: How Do You Handle Candidates Who Accept Offers but Don't Show Up?

Recruitment Challenges: Candidates Not Joining After Accepting Offer Letters

I hope everyone has faced this kind of situation at least once while doing recruitment. I have come across a few instances where candidates accept the offer letter but do not turn up on the joining date. I wonder if this is happening quite often in the IT industry only. Is there any possibility to avoid such scenarios? These situations might not affect a broad range of organizations, but mid-size organizations might not be able to afford giving two to three offer letters for a single vacancy. We really invest our whole trust, time, and several other costs while waiting for the candidate.

Legal Actions and Alternatives

Can I take legal action against candidates who accept the offer and do not turn up? Do we make any employment legal contract? Kindly let me know. If this is not the way to handle it, I would appreciate learning some other ways from you.

Thanks in advance!!

Regards, Meghana

Addressing the Complexity of Offer and Appointment Letters

Though I can try to keep this simple, legally, it is a complex problem.

Address Issue 1: Offer Letter vs. Appointment Letter

There are two documents - the Offer Letter and the Appointment Letter. This creates all the problems. By creating these two documents, it looks like the "Offer Letter" is an "Invitation To Offer" rather than an offer itself. As the "Appointment Letter" is made the final acceptance document, it appears that the offer made by the employee is accepted by the employer by appointing him. See Rookie v Dawson for the difference between an offer and an invitation to offer.

Address Issue 2: Loose Drafting of Offer Letters

Contracts create a "Jus in Personam" rather than "Jus in Rem." So we can include any term not repugnant to the Indian Contract Act. Add a phrase in the offer letter deeming it to be an offer rather than an invitation to offer. Also, state that acceptance of this will be deemed a contract.

For more information, please visit http://www.shramsamadhan.com/

Regards

Issuing Appointment Letters in Advance

How can anyone issue an appointment letter in advance, especially 1-3 months beforehand? It is highly improbable. Even though there is a contract involved, no employer can force any employee into bonded labor.

This issue is not only prevalent in IT industries. It is the same case with all organizations. Many shortlisted candidates may have been offered a job opportunity but do not show up in the end. There may be genuine cases where the existing employer retains the employee due to performance or dependence. However, in many cases, candidates have multiple offers and will choose the organization offering better pay and benefits.

Your perception is incorrect in stating that small organizations will be affected more than large organizations. Every organization faces the same problems, including dealing with no-shows on a larger scale. Nowadays, due to various reasons, organizations do not have multiple offers for a particular position.

Legally, no one can address these issues directly, but there are alternative ways to try and reduce no-show cases using various techniques such as frequent follow-ups and providing clear details about the organization, vision, mission, etc., during interviews.

For more details, you can reach me.

Regards

Thanks to #Labour Law Index and #Jeevarathnam for your timely response. I agree with your response and have already tried the other methods stated by Jeevarathnam (like follow-ups, etc.). Hence, I am posting this query for some more suggestions or any new practices.

I would like to rephrase the offer letter as suggested by Labour Law Index. If it makes any change, I will definitely update it:-) Thank you once again for your immediate response!!

Thanks, Meghana