True Cost of an Employment Vacancy…

…can often be difficult to measure. After all, each person and role within your organization brings different strengths and responsibilities to the table. Not to mention, the same role can mean very different things to a company’s bottom line depending on industry served, market share, geography, time period, economic climate, etc. For example, a Software Engineer at a global product development company with $500 million in annual revenue might be much more impactful on the company’s profitability than that of a Software Engineer for a rural hospital system. Some of the major impacts of an employment vacancy to consider are:

The impact on your Staff…
* Are they working more hours to make up for the void?
* Are they missing critical deadlines or deliverables?
* What if someone falls ill or has a planned vacation, but there’s no backup resource?

The impact on the Hiring Manager…
* Is their team growing disgruntled and more difficult to manage?
* Is the manager spending too much time helping the team execute and therefore not able to focus on strategy, policy, efficiency, etc.?

The impact on the Company…
* Product delays
* Customer service and satisfaction decreases
* Market share declines
* Staff job dissatisfaction leads to higher turnover
* Stale or frequent job postings builds a poor reputation for your company’s turnover or ability to fill openings

These are several consequences your company may experience from leaving an employment vacancy open for too long, and depending on your business and the role, can cost you well into the six figures in lost revenue, this according to Dr. John Sullivan’s article “The Cost of an Unfilled Opening.”