Summary:  Are you hiring warm bodies? Are they helping or hurting you? What is the true effect on your business?

It can be easy to find someone to fill a job if your only criteria is required skill. However if you don’t take other things into account, you may end up with a warm body. A warm body, as the name suggest, is a person who is living and breathing however they are missing a personality or attitude that fits your culture and a genuine interest in their job.

Warm bodies are everywhere in organizations,  mostly out of a mismatch.  I must admit that I do believe there is an appropriate job or organization for everyone… it just may not be yours and that is ok.

If we follow the desire of not settling for average and wanting to be the best (both personally and professionally), does the warm body help or hurt us?

Both.

They help us because the job gets done…eventually.

They hurt us because they don’t allow us to move forward and upward.

We allow this to happen due to having a lot of work to get done, not having the time or interest in changing it or we don’t want to see why it makes a difference.

Think of your favorite restaurant. One of the reasons you like it is because of the food and the other is most likely the service. Now imagine that same place with a warm body type serving you, would it still be your favorite? Would you go as often? Don’t your clients feel the same way about your company?

How many warm bodies do you have?