What a Long-term Vacant Job Does to Your Company

A vacant position is far more than an empty desk and chair—it has ramifications that can negatively affect your company, especially if the job is left empty for a long period of time. What damage can a long-term vacant role do to your company? The following 6 negative effects are the most common.

1. Project Slowdown: Important projects will slow to a crawl when you leave your team short handed for the long term, particularly if there’s more than one vacant position at the same time. These project slow downs could disappoint or damage client and customer relationships.

2. Extra Burden on Your Employees: To avoid project slow down and to keep up with their usual workload plus the workload of a vacant position, your employees will definitely be feeling this extra burden. Want to avoid more employees burning out and jumping ship? You need to avoid long-term job vacancies.

3. Revenue and Productivity Losses: Projects slowing down doesn’t just disappoint your clients and customers, it damages your company’s overall revenue. Maximizing productivity and revenue is essential in any business and a long-term job vacancy results in the exact opposite effect.

4. Employees Second Guessing: If a job is left vacant for too long, even your happiest employees may start to second-guess themselves. They may start to wonder why they work somewhere no one else wants to and that’s not good for your retention. With morale and productivity low, more employees will see the negative aspects of their jobs rather than focusing on the positives. If they’re unhappy for too long, they’ll look for employment elsewhere.

5. Low Morale: Have you ever been a part of the excitement and high-energy environment that comes with a company in the midst of a growth spurt? There are new employees coming in regularly, eager to get to work and share their infectious positivity. On the other hand, a company that’s regularly losing employees or taking a long time to hire new ones can create the opposite culture. This will lead to low morale across the board and no one wants to stay in a negative environment where everything seems to be slowing down and sinking.

6. Significantly More Expensive: Lengthy hiring processes have a lot of negative effects on your company, but they also damage your company’s bottom line. It’s significantly more expensive the longer you leave a position vacant—both in lost revenue and the amount of money you need to invest in finding the right candidates, interviewing them, onboarding, and potentially training them.

To avoid these harmful situations, you need to make your search for the right technical professional more urgent. Light a fire under your search for the perfect employee or these 6 negative effects of leaving a job vacant for the long term could start to damage your company.