Every time a manager makes a bad hire, it costs the company on two levels: tangible and intangible.

The tangible costs are the ones we can attach a dollar figure to. These include things like

• Paying a salary (and sometimes even bonuses) to someone who’s not performing
• Covering that individual’s benefits
• Footing the bill to fix the mistakes he or she makes
• Lost opportunities you couldn’t pursue because the unfortunate inapt hire stood in your way
• Money wasted on training someone who never returns the investment

It’s estimated that these costs can end up amounting to anywhere from two to five times that individual’s annual salary, depending on how high the person’s job sits on the organizational chart. No way around it — a bad hire is a big financial pain.

But you know what often hurts even more? The intangible costs. The unquantifiable things kill you in an entirely different way. Consider the price you pay when:

• Your otherwise strong team is distracted, annoyed, and held back by an under-performer.
• You spend far too much time pushing, prodding, and begging an individual to do the job at the expense of other, more productive activities.
• Other departments are irritated by the internal service they get from your problem employee.
• You find yourself putting off making decisions or starting key projects because you know you need to deal with this people issue first.
• Your customers, vendors, and/or contractors walk away with negative feelings about your company every time they deal with your bad hire.
• Your credibility as a manager is undermined because the bad hire reflects poorly on your judgment and hiring skills.
• You’re exhausted by the amount of mental time and energy you expend trying to figure out how to get this unsuitable hire on track.

And the really ugly part? The longer it takes for a manager to realize his or her hiring mistake and correct it, the more these costs mount. But whether unfit hire is on the job for weeks, months or years, it’s too long!

So the next time you’re tempted to rush through your hiring process and settle for a warm body or even go with a mediocre choice and “just see where it goes,” I hope you hear a loud “cha-ching” in your head. And I hope you realize how much you’re going to pay for this choice.

What’s been your experience with a bad hire? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

Janna Mansker is vice president of client services for Berke, a human resources consulting firm, where she leads the company’s education initiatives and advocates for clients. She can be reached at janna@berkegroup.com.