Good New Hires Raise the Bar for the “Old”

The comparative benefits of the “new” versus the “old” have been dissected and discussed for decades.

But hiring the “right” new employees by following proven behavioral interviewing techniques can and should have a positive impact on everyone around them…including the “old.”

For example, according to recent studies, competing supermarkets improve when a new Walmart arrives in their geography. Because of the competitive pressure, local supermarkets respond by reducing stock-outs by an average of 10% and by boosting product variety. While competition from Walmart has also been linked to increased bankruptcies, it seems as well to spur innovation and improvement of the "old” and established companies.

It is similarly true when you bring new high performers into your organization. They bring fresh ideas, new energy, and increased expectations and performance pressure to those around them. In other words, they make everyone better by setting higher standards that help to weed out weaker performers.

However, if you do not follow behavior-based interviewing best practices to find the “right” hires, your chances of hiring someone who will succeed in your unique culture and improve those around them is cut almost in half. Hiring underperformers does the opposite. It decreases performance.