Challenges in Lateral Hiring
1. Cost: The main challenge which arises when thinking about lateral recruitment is its cost. For hiring skilled, experienced talents from other companies, companies have to provide good compensation offers such as high salaries, more benefits, etc., which would be expensive for the companies. This is especially true for those companies which are having economic downturns.
2. Competition: Lateral hiring can be competitive because every organization wants to have a skilled and talented workforce. So, every organization looks for the same pool of talent, which will provide choices for experienced employees and create challenges for the organisations. Because of this, the existing employee may feel devalued.
3. Cultural fit and integration: Different organizations have different work styles, cultures, and ways of working, so it’s important that during the interview, employees are checked for cultural fit for their organization. Also, integrating new employees into the existing team could be challenging. So, human resource managers should encourage open communication, team building, and collaboration programs to avoid conflicts with existing employees.
4. Misalignment of expectations: The hired employees may be overqualified for certain job roles, which will lead to boredom, frustration, and high turnover rates for them. It will also lead to loss of skill and resources. So, clear communication about the expectations and requirements is urgent during the hiring process. Also, job roles should be made clear and descriptive to avoid these problems.
5. Potential Resistance from Existing Employees: The new employees hired by lateral entry might feel threatened because lateral entry employees are directly hired at higher positions. This can cause stress, concerns and job security in employees. To fix this, transparent communication should be made between employees and managers. Reasons for lateral hiring should be made clear.