06-19-2024
Waze's co-founder Uri Levine believes new hires should get 30 days to prove they are right for the job. If they cannot be successful within that period, Levine says employers should fire them. Levine made these comments in a recent episode of "Lenny's Podcast." According to Indeed, companies generally invest $4,000 to $20,000 when hiring a new employee. Levine said he spoke to the heads of failed startups. From those conversations, he learned about half of the CEOs from those failed startups believed not having the right team was the source of their failure. Levine said most of these founders knew they had the wrong employees within a month after starting. He asserts these CEOs did not make the right decision and fire those employees immediately.
Levine has started ten companies, served on 20 company boards, and advised over 50 startups. He states that underperforming employees can "corrode company culture," negatively impact top performers, and make success "mission impossible." (Yahoo Finance) For those reasons, Levine counsels companies, “Every time that you hire someone new, what I really want you to do is mark your calendars for 30 days down the road and ask yourself one question: Knowing what I know today, would I hire this person?” When the answer is yes, Levine says to reach out to the employees and give them more equity to build loyalty. If the answer is no, then Levine suggests firing those employees.
The Street publication points out that many factors may contribute to a new hire's success within a new company. These factors include insufficient training, no clear points of contact for questions, and lack of access to essential tools.