Toxic workers can affect a firm much more than superstar employees, according to a study by Dylan Minor at Harvard Business School and Michael Housman at Cornerstone OnDemand. Analyzing data on 11 global companies and 58,542 hourly workers, they found that roughly 1 in 20 workers was fired for egregious company policy violations, such as sexual harassment, workplace violence, or fraud. They calculated that avoiding such workers can save a company $12,489 in turnover costs — more than twice as much as the $5,303 in savings that the most productive star performer would generate. Managers need a more holistic hiring approach that actively focuses on avoiding bad hires at least as much as, if not more than, attracting superstars, the authors suggest.
Source: It's Better to Avoid a Toxic Employee than Hire a Superstar
