Hacker News Reader

Comment by emoII | Hacker News Reader

If it's easy to fire you won't have to be as thorough when hiring because if the new employee doesn't fit - just waste him/her. If it's difficult to fire the company will put potential employees through hell before deciding. I don't think there's any country where the actual process of hiring someone is a legal nightmare

View on HN

> If it's easy to fire you won't have to be as thorough when hiring because if the new employee doesn't fit - just waste him/her.

That's super bad for morale and companies generally don't do it unless high churn is normal (retail).

US companies have hiring processes which are HARDER to go through, not easier, on average, than European companies. For example background checks almost never happen, as well as reference requests.

Hiring processes in American companies are still as arduous and drawn out as European hiring processes though. You're still looking at a 4-16 week process, you don't just snap someone up in a week if they're on the market.

It's not necessarily the process, but more the number/type of open positions. When it's difficult to fire, it's very common for people to start with a temporary contract or two before being offered an unlimited one. Likewise, I believe contractors are more common. Basically, anything that offers flexibility.

Also, companies are just more reluctant to open a position.

I'd say the UK has generally had a pretty good ratio of protection from firing and having reasonably sensible interview times. Although some companies do seem to have picked up longer interview practices more recently, this actually seems to be an import from the US in trying to emulate Google, etc.

There's already probation - 3 months in the UK. It doesn't make us less careful though because we don't want to waste our time.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com