Every company, every workplace, sooner or later reaches the moment when someone has to be hired. Either because they're doing what they do very well, or because someone needs to be replaced.
All this so that the team's workload is reduced. Will it actually be reduced?
Let's first look at what mostly drives the employer. First of all, find someone quickly, someone reliable, who can start producing as soon as possible, who knows what needs to be done, and doesn't ask for much. On top of that, they should commit for the long term and be enthusiastic about working here.
At the interview, the HR person and the managing director say a lot of great things. There's everything here — home office, cafeteria benefits, tiered pay with performance-based advancement, a company phone, and love.
On the other hand, what drives the employee? If they're experienced and seasoned, they want to earn more money, and preferably crave a leadership role where there's more responsibility and a company car. Aside from experience, this kind of person is easy to find.
If they're inexperienced and their chances aren't great, then mostly what they want is to get hired and be able to prove themselves. And, of course, to be accepted and liked.
Let's say the employer and the employee, after a shorter or longer courtship, get engaged, if not forever, then at least for a while. What happens next?
Just like in a marriage, once the honeymoon is over, harsh reality quickly sets in. Since there's so much work — that's exactly why the whole interviewing circus took place — the pressure from the employer's side keeps growing that things need to get done.
Meanwhile, the new colleague becomes more and more desperate. Since there was too much to do from the start, no one has time to explain how things actually work around here. The poor person wants to prove themselves, but is afraid of only causing trouble. They become overwhelmed by loneliness and a feeling of worthlessness.
The employer, meanwhile, believes they've done everything. They gave an opportunity. They gave work. They gave a phone, a desk, love. In reality, though, they left out the essential thing: any kind of more detailed description, video, or manual about how things actually work here, about how to acquire the missing skills needed for the job.
What's more, whoever left before never wrote down more than a single A4 page, and besides, there's so much work anyway that there's no time for that kind of thing.
In the end, hiring the new colleague hasn't solved anything.
