“Hire Fast, Fire Fast’: Ashneer Grover Advocates for Shorter Hiring and Notice Periods
"Hire Fast, Fire Fast': Ashneer Grover Advocates for Shorter Hiring and Notice Periods
Grover suggests rapid hiring and firing practices, emphasizing task-based performance assessment over lengthy hiring processes
Ashneer Grover, former co-founder and managing director of fintech brand BharatPe recommends that businesses adopt a “hire fast, fire fast” culture. He argues that lengthy hiring processes often fail to yield the desired results, as candidates are on their best behavior during interviews. However, may not meet expectations once hired. In a podcast with YouTuber Ishan Sharma, Grover emphasized the inefficiency of extended onboarding and notice period procedures.
Grover criticized the current hiring processes, stating that multiple interview rounds do not guarantee a successful hire. He believes that candidates, naturally, are on their best behavior during these rounds. He insists, only after assigning tasks can their true performance be assessed. He shared, “Many don’t agree with this…it’s hire fast, fire fast. Today, you are investing so much in hiring someone…you are going through multiple rounds. The candidate is also, naturally, on their best behavior. Someone is selling themselves to you, the salesman in them is at their peak. Whether the person will work or not can be determined only after giving them tasks.”
Highlighting the inefficiency, Grover added, “We spend three months on the hiring process and the candidate says that they have to serve two months of notice period at their existing firm. You have invested six months into filling the role and when that person joins, it becomes natural to give them at least six months to perform. A year later, you realize this is not working.”
Grover advocates for bringing in new hires quickly, within 15 days, and immediately assessing their performance. He calls this the ‘hire fast, fire fast’ method.
Joining him on the podcast were Asish Mohapatra, co-founder and CEO of OfBusiness and co-founder of Oxyzo Financial Services, Sarthak Ahuja, director at Niamh Ventures and content creator, and Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder of Info Edge, which owns Naukri.com.
Asish Mohapatra shared his experience, noting his preference for hiring freshers with 0-3 years of experience and molding them for the role. He believes these employees are often more loyal and eager to prove themselves. However, he acknowledged that freshers might take longer to understand the nuances of the role compared to experienced employees. Mohapatra also mentioned that they aim to create a college campus-like environment at work, which helps employees bond better and reduces attrition rates.
This is not the first time Grover has advocated for such business practices. In March last year, he advised college students to not be afraid of skipping the notice period at their current firms. At an event at the Institute of Management Technology (Ghaziabad), Grover remarked that while companies require employees to sign notice period agreements, these clauses are not enforceable in courts. “If you leave the company the next day without serving the notice period, no one will be able to do anything about it,” he recommended when asked about dealing with lengthy notice period clauses.
