Written by

Frank Aneke

In today’s competitive business landscape, the only sustainable competitive advantage of a company is the recruitment and retention of the best talents; talents are a company’s best asset. But what happens when vital positions within your business remain unfilled? The impact goes beyond the obvious gap in manpower; there are hidden costs lurking beneath the surface.

In this edition, we’ll uncover the unspoken costs of unfilled position(s) and shed light on why timely recruitment is crucial for businesses of all sizes.

1. The Financial Impact: A study by Dr. John Sullivan, a well-known author, international speaker, and advisor to Fortune 500 & Silicon Valley companies, sets the cost of a vacancy in the thousands of dollars per day. In some key roles, a single vacancy costs the company upwards of US$7,000 daily. Some engineering positions could be as high as US$20,000 a day.

2. Decreased Productivity: One of the most apparent consequences of an unfilled position is decreased productivity. Considering that departments within a business work closely together to develop and produce products and services; any disruption in a department adversely affects the others. This means that existing employees may need to take on additional responsibilities to compensate for the gap, often resulting in overworked and stressed teams. This can also lead to burnout, lower morale, and high attrition down the track.

3. Lost Revenue: Unfilled positions can directly impact revenue. For instance, sales position(s) play significant role in generating income in businesses. So, when a sales role remains vacant, potential deals may fall through the cracks, and sales targets may not be met. Additionally, product launches or project completions could be delayed due to a lack of necessary personnel which result in missed revenue opportunities.

4. Impact on Employer Brand: Excessive or extended employee vacancies could adversely affect your company’s reputation as a choice employer in your industry. The more your business reputation is associated with high attrition, the less likely you will attract top-level talent to join your team. These could impact on your hiring screening process and potentially allow poor performers to slip through the gaps and join your team.

5. Loss of Market Share: Considering that sales positions are the primary source of generating new customers for any business; each day a sales position is open means new business is not being generated in the territory. It also means your business brand recognition in the territory is gradually receding while at same time ceding valuable market share to fully-staffed competitors as weeks turn into months.

In view of the above, if you need help with filling existing vacancies in your business, we at FieldWork Recruiting is here to help.  We are specialists in recruiting top-tier business development and account management talents across many business sectors.  We can offer you obligation-free consultation that could help you fast-track your hiring process.

We equally offer bonus employer brand management consultation for our clients. Just reach-out to our friendly team on 1300 375 910 or better still, email me directly.

You can also follow or connect with me on LinkedIn to get notification each time I post a new blog.

 In next week’s edition, we will be examining the second part of the series: Do You Know the Cost of Unfilled Vacancies in Your Business? (Part 2). Watch this space!