Where’s the warranty?

It always happens just as the warranty expires, doesn’t it?

That dishwasher you bought for the staff lunch room, the fork lift for the warehouse, or the ute the supervisor’s been driving out to site these past 12 months.

It’s almost as though these pieces of hardware know when the warranty is up.

But at least you got a warranty, right?

That new hoist you just invested in comes with one. So does the massive commercial fridge you just bought. Even the state of the art video-conferencing equipment you had installed to cope with the lightening fast lockdowns that have become a part of the norm in this COVID world of ours has one.

Hardware of all sorts of shapes and sizes come with one.

What the hell am I talking about, you’re wondering?

I’m talking about warranties.

It’s an expectation that we get 12 months minimum warranty on the hardware we purchase – especially when we’re spending upwards of $40,000 on some of those items.

But what about the new employee who’s going to cost you a minimum of $50,000 this year in salary?

They cost the same but don’t come with a warranty, do they? 

I guess you could argue that probation is a warranty of sorts, but in my experience, this asset usually starts to play up just after that warranty is expired!  Just after the recruitment agency has passed the asset completely over to your full-time care.

No warranty on an asset that’s going to set us back anywhere from $50,000 – $200,000+

So why don’t we spend more time making sure the employee we’re considering hiring is really the right person for the job? Has values that align with ours? Has an attitude of willingness to learn? 

If the commercial fridge breaks down we can get it repaired. Worst case scenario we can sell it and recoup some of our initial outlay. But when an employee goes off the rails, not only have we got to keep paying them while we performance manage them, it costs us a heap to release them! (we’re talking a minimum of 30% of annual salary to release and replace someone)

OK – so an employee is never going to come with a warranty, but there is so much we can do – before we employ and in the first 8 weeks of employment that can save us from ever wishing there was a warranty in the first place.