As an entrepreneur, you probably believe that you are the heart and soul of the business, and you are the most influential person in your company. However, this is not always the case. One bad employee who has a negative attitude or simply has no customer service skills can damage what you spent long years building. It is important that you choose your team members carefully, so you can rely on your staff in every situation and make sure that their interest is aligned with your business goals. If you would like to avoid letting one bad staff member ruin your business, check out the below list of what to look out for when choosing your employees.

Low Productivity

Employees who simply don’t care at all about your business will not do their best. They will be in the office simply to survive the day and get the paycheck at the end of the month. This is not a helpful attitude, and not good for you or your business, either. You will have to spend more money on employee costs, as your workers will only want to do the bare minimum. This will not help in the competitive marketplace, especially if you are engaged in a price war with some of your competitors. It is crucial that you make sure that your employees are as committed to your business goals as you are.

Waste

Of course, you will have more waste if your employees are not taking into consideration the interest of your business. It is, after all, not their money they are wasting, and they will get paid anyway. However, increased waste in your company can hike up your regular bills and make your operations less cost effective. There are many ways of reducing waste in your company, such as implementing Lean principles, but you will also need to focus on employee training and motivation, setting clear policies and standards.

Reputation Loss

If your employees are not able to manage the business as well as you, your reputation will suffer. No matter how motivated you are, when things go wrong, accidents happen, or blunders are not dealt with correctly, you will lose your reputation on the market, and – consequently – your customers and profits. Ignoring customer contact and complaints alone can start off a spiral of bad reviews on social media and review sites, and recovering the damage will cost you a lot of time and money. It is a good idea to set clear behavior and customer contact standards and policies in your business, so you can avoid problems and discipline staff when they are not acting in your best interest.

Compliance Issues

One of the most dangerous consequences of bad employees is breaking the law or not complying with industry standards and regulations. You will not only get fined by the authorities, but also get your reputation damaged. Once there’s been a customer data breach, for example, you can’t expect new customers to trust you, especially if the case was featured in the media. You need to prevent compliance issues by hiring the best people and helping them update their knowledge. You must also implement some spot checks so you can identify the “bad apples” on time, before they ruin your business.

Losing Customers

If you can’t maintain a good reputation and communicate with your market effectively, you will eventually start losing customers. The reasons for losing your market share will not always be obvious, so you have to monitor feedback and client satisfaction. It might also be a good idea to ask for feedback on individual employees’ performance, so you will know exactly what needs to improve and which employee is causing the most damage for you. Customers will leave you if they feel that they are not respected and valued by your employees.

Business Partner Relationships

You need to maintain a positive relationship with your employees, your suppliers, business partners, and customers to succeed and run your business effectively. If you put the wrong person in charge of managing contractors or suppliers, you will lose your valuable connections and increase your costs. Whether your contractors are unhappy about your lack of communication, late payments, or the fact that the terms of their contracts are changed regularly, you will have to intervene and find out if you need to replace the employee or they simply need more training and one-to-one coaching.

Brand Credibility

If you are running a business consultancy firm, and your employees are not engaging with clients in a professional way, you will lose your brand’s credibility. It is crucial that you create a consistent brand image across the board and make sure that all your employees share your values when it comes to dealing with clients or the public. Look out for the little things, such as your employees smoking outside the building, using inappropriate language in front of customers, or posting negative comments on social media.

Good Employees Leaving

You need to choose the right employees every time, as one mistake can cost you your business. If you make one bad choice, and you hire a staff member who is making the life of the rest of the team a misery at work, you will end up losing the committed and engaged workers and will be left with someone who doesn’t care about your business, only their own goals and ego. It is your job as a business leader to monitor the relationships among your team members and identify potential problems before they escalate and your valuable workers simply walk out of the office.

Lack of Collaboration

If you have unengaged and unmotivated employees in the team, chances are that they will not be willing to share and utilize their knowledge. They will not go out of their way to help others or train new members, This will have a negative impact on your business. When selecting new team members, you will have to make sure that you are hiring a team player instead of a selfish lone wolf. Check out The 16 Best Restaurant Interview Questions to get help with identifying people who are not likely to collaborate with their team members.

Fraud

Unengaged and distant employees who are not committed to your business goals and values are more likely to commit fraud and steal from you. Whether you can spot it on time or not, this will damage your authority as a leader, and jeopardize your brand’s value. While there are several fraud prevention methods employers can use to avoid losing money and business, the first thing you have to do is vet your applicants and identify potential risks. If your employee is simply there because they need the money and the job, they will be more tempted to take advantage of situations that will benefit them financially.

Employee Morale

One bad employee with a negative attitude and passive behavior can poison the rest of your team. If you let them get away with things other team members wouldn’t even think about doing, employee morale will suffer. It is crucial that you apply equal norms and rules to everyone, and create a whistleblowing and behavior policy that applies to every staff member. You will also have to create a disciplinary procedure in your business, so you can deal with behavior issues as soon as they arise, and prevent your employees from going further and committing more serious offenses.

Workflow Interruptions

Bad and lazy employees will do anything to do as little at work as possible. They will come up with creative ideas to sabotage your business productivity. This can include failing to backup the files, deleting databases, damaging equipment, or even faking an accident. This will not only cost you money and lost profits, but affect the productivity of the rest of the staff. If one of your employees ignores the needs of other staff members and doesn’t complete their part of the job on time, other employees might be sitting around waiting for hours before they can start their work again.

Increased HR Budget

Your business budget is going to suffer in different ways if you choose the wrong staff member. First of all, you will have to train them and go into the expense, and they might not do their best or leave after a few months. Second, you will have to deal with reduced employee retention, due to the bad morale. Third, engaged, motivated, and committed employees are easier to manage and train. You might end up wasting time and money on training staff who simply have no interest in the job, or involve legal companies to deal with fraud or disciplinary actions.

Choosing the right team is essential to managing your business effectively and reducing your cost. Only one hiring mistake can cost you thousands in HR costs, legal fees, or damages. You will not only risk your reputation, but the existence of your business as well. Bad employees can hurt your business in more ways than you would think.