Revamped Hiring Processes Net $35M in Savings over Five Years

The success of an organization depends on how well it is able to deliver the customer experience. Key to delivering an extraordinary customer experience is staffing the business with employees who stay at their jobs long enough to get really good at what they do so they can give more focus to how they do it. Because of this, low employee turnover is essential to success. The case study below illustrates how one organization used assessments to make a significant reduction in their hourly employee turnover while delivering a memorable and compelling experience to their customers.

The Challenge

When a large restaurant chain set out to implement a strategy of becoming a “cult brand” for their customers, they immediately realized that their employees were a key element to consistently delivering products and services that customers “gotta have.” Their attention quickly turned toward the fact that their hourly turnover was significantly higher than other restaurant organizations of their size. Not only that, but the organization believed that successful businesses achieve greatness by hiring and retaining great people. As they put it, “Hire a warm body, and you get lukewarm sales. Hire amazing talent, and you get amazing results.” Consequently, the company embarked upon a process to determine how to hire the best individuals who would be able to perform the job, fit the company culture, and stick around long enough to get really good at delivering memorable customer experiences.

The Solution

The organization implemented a comprehensive selection solution for their hourly hiring which consisted of an application, assessments with a focus on customer service, problem solving and self-responsibility and structured interviews. Managers were trained on how to properly screen the application, administer the assessments and conduct an effective interview. After a brief pilot period, in which restaurants with the hiring system saw a 26 percentage point drop in turnover compared to control restaurants, the hiring process was rolled out company-wide to over 1,000 units.

The Result

The first year of using the hiring process across the organization resulted in a 24 percentage point drop in turnover. This trend of decreasing turnover has continued over the last five years. As exceptional individuals were hired using the selection process, the result has been an environment of strong teamwork and excellence, motivating the best workers to stay with the organization.

In addition to a steady decline in turnover, a strong relationship has emerged between compliance with the assessment and turnover results. The more consistently a restaurant has used the assessment results to make hiring decisions, the lower the restaurant’s turnover. For example, restaurants that followed the assessment results for at least 85% or more of their hiring decisions experienced an additional 6 percentage point drop in turnover compared to restaurants that used the test results less consistently. Even more impressive, restaurants that followed the assessment recommendation for 100% of their hires have seen their turnover decline 15 percentage points more than all other restaurants.

Based on these turnover trends, the customer estimates that using the hiring system saves the company $35 million in turnover costs each year.

The Bottom Line

Corvirtus hiring assessments have a significant impact on employee turnover by reliably identifying top-quality candidates who have the right skills to do the job, fit with the culture and have the ability to consistently deliver the brand to drive customer loyalty. The result is substantial savings in hiring and training costs as well as an improved employee and customer experience.