Hiring & Firing with Fexingo: Recruitment, Performance, and Workforce Decisions

In this episode of Hiring & Firing with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore the counterintuitive strategy of a no-notice resignation policy. When a mid-sized tech company in Austin eliminated the standard two-week notice requirement, they expected chaos. Instead, voluntary turnover dropped by 51% within 18 months. We unpack the psychology behind this: how removing the guilt and friction of quitting actually made employees more likely to stay. Lucas walks through the company's data — including a pre-policy turnover rate of 28% versus a post-policy rate of 13.7% — and discusses the spillover effects on manager behavior and team culture. Luna challenges whether this would work in every industry, and they discuss the conditions under which a no-notice policy backfires. The episode closes with a practical framework for leaders thinking about implementing their own version. A donation segment near the end reminds listeners that small contributions at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo keep the show ad-free.

#NoNoticePolicy #EmployeeRetention #TurnoverReduction #HRStrategy #WorkplaceCulture #TalentManagement #VoluntaryTurnover #PeopleAnalytics #HRMetrics #AustinTech #ManagementPhilosophy #CounterintuitiveHR #TrustInTheWorkplace #Business #HiringAndFiring #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #RecruitmentInnovation

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Episode 68 of Hiring & Firing with Fexingo explores why traditional experience-based hiring fails and how one company cut mis-hires by 40% by screening for curiosity instead. Lucas and Luna drill into a specific case: a mid-size tech firm that replaced 'years of experience' requirements with a three-question curiosity assessment. They discuss the research behind curiosity as a predictor of adaptability and long-term performance, and share practical ways to identify curious candidates without extra testing. The episode offers a concrete alternative to the resume-first approach, backed by data and real hiring outcomes.

#Curiosity #Hiring #Recruitment #TalentAcquisition #ExperienceVsCuriosity #PerformancePredictor #Adaptability #CandidateAssessment #HiringBias #CultureAdd #Retention #MisHires #Business #HumanResources #InterviewTechniques #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #HiringAndFiring

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This episode explores a counterintuitive hiring strategy: tapping the pool of candidates you previously rejected. Lucas and Luna examine research from a 2025 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research that tracked 1,200 hires across 50 companies. The study found that candidates who were initially rejected but later re-recruited for a different role performed 15 percent better on average and stayed 40 percent longer than traditional hires. The hosts break down why this works: rejected candidates have lower expectations, higher motivation, and a more realistic understanding of the company. They also discuss how to set up a talent pipeline to re-engage past applicants without making the process feel like a second chance. Practical takeaways include building a candidate relationship database and sending quarterly market updates to keep former applicants warm. The episode closes with a question about how this strategy might change if AI-powered candidate matching becomes widespread.

#Hiring #Recruitment #TalentAcquisition #RejectedApplicants #CandidatePipeline #NBER #HiringStrategy #EmployeeRetention #Performance #WorkforceDecisions #HumanResources #RecruitingTips #TalentPool #BusinessStrategy #Business #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #HiringAndFiring

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Most turnover models predict departure too late. In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine a finding from a 2025 Gallup meta-analysis: the employee's 90-day mark is the single strongest predictor of voluntary turnover in the first year, stronger than salary, commute, or manager relationship. They break down the data—why the spike happens, what the exit surveys actually show, and how one mid-sized logistics company used a structured '90-day pulse check' to cut first-year attrition by 28 percent. They also discuss what the metric means for recruiters: if you're not tracking who makes it to day 91, you're flying blind on your own hiring process. Specific, actionable, and grounded in one number you can pull from your own HRIS.

#EmployeeTurnover #RetentionStrategy #GallupMetaAnalysis #90DayMark #HiringMetrics #FirstYearAttrition #PulseCheck #ExitInterview #RecruitmentROI #Onboarding #PeopleAnalytics #TurnoverPrediction #HRMetrics #TalentRetention #Business #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #HiringAndFiring

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Episode 65 of Hiring & Firing with Fexingo explores the untapped potential of boomerang employees—people who leave your company and later return. Lucas and Luna dive into a 2024 study by the Workforce Institute at UKG that found rehires are 40% more likely to stay longer than first-time hires, and often reach full productivity 2-3 weeks faster. They examine why companies like Starbucks and REI formalized return programs, and contrast that with the stigma many managers still attach to boomerangs. The hosts discuss a case from a mid-sized tech firm where 15% of new hires were boomerangs, accounting for 30% of top-quartile performance ratings. They also address the risks: salary renegotiation, cultural drift, and the importance of exit quality. Lucas argues that the best retention strategy might be to let people leave gracefully. Luna presses on whether boomerangs can truly reintegrate. The episode closes with a question: if you left your job today, would you want to come back? A low-key listener support segment for Buy Me a Coffee is included early in the episode.

#BoomerangEmployees #Rehires #WorkforceInstitute #UKG #Starbucks #REI #EmployeeRetention #HiringStrategy #Recruitment #TalentAcquisition #HumanResources #BusinessPodcast #HiringAndFiring #FexingoBusiness #WorkforcePlanning #Onboarding #ExitInterviews #ReturnToCompany

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In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore a startling hiring experiment: a mid-sized logistics company eliminated the standard two-week notice period for new hires, allowing them to start immediately without notice. The result? A 47 percent drop in first-year turnover. They unpack why the policy works—it signals trust, reduces anxiety, and filters out candidates who are already half-out-the-door. They also discuss the hidden costs of the two-week notice trap and how other employers might adapt the idea without disrupting their own operations.

#HiringAndFiring #Recruitment #Turnover #TwoWeekNotice #NoNoticePolicy #EmployeeRetention #LogisticsIndustry #HiringExperiment #TrustInHiring #BusinessPodcast #FexingoBusiness #HRStrategy #HiringMetrics #WorkforceDecisions #Onboarding #JobSatisfaction #TalentAcquisition #PerformanceManagement

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Episode 63 of Hiring & Firing with Fexingo explores how written application materials — cover letters, short-answer responses, and even email replies — can predict on-the-job performance more accurately than traditional interviews. Lucas and Luna examine a 2025 study from researchers at the University of Minnesota that analyzed 1,200 hires across four mid-sized tech firms. The study found that candidates whose writing showed high 'cognitive granularity' — using precise, specific language rather than vague corporate jargon — were 34 percent more likely to exceed performance targets in their first year. The hosts discuss why structured writing prompts outperform unstructured ones, how to design a simple three-question writing exercise that takes applicants 15 minutes, and why many hiring managers overlook this low-cost signal. They also address potential bias concerns: the study controlled for education level, native language, and socioeconomic background, and the writing signal remained significant. If you've ever felt that polished interview answers don't reveal much about actual work quality, this episode offers a practical alternative.

#HiringAndFiringWithFexingo #Business #Recruitment #PerformancePrediction #WritingSamples #CognitiveGranularity #HiringBias #StructuredInterviews #CoverLetters #JobApplications #DataDrivenHR #TalentAcquisition #UniversityOfMinnesota #HiringMetrics #WorkforceDecisions #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #HRTech

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In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine how algorithmic hiring tools inherit and amplify human bias using the example of Amazon's abandoned resume-screening AI. They walk through the specific feedback loop: historical hiring data taught the algorithm to penalize resumes containing the word 'women's,' degrade candidates from all-women's colleges, and favor verbs more common on men's resumes. The hosts discuss why this happened despite engineering teams having no explicit gender filter, and what it means for companies rushing to deploy AI in hiring today. They also touch on the broader lesson: bad data in means bad decisions out, and why human oversight isn't a fix if humans don't know what the model learned.

#AlgorithmicBias #AIHiring #AmazonResumeScreener #HiringTechnology #MachineLearningBias #HRTech #PeopleAnalytics #BiasInAI #RecruitmentTech #TalentAcquisition #DataEthics #WorkforceDecisions #Business #HiringAndFiring #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #AIEthics #HiringAlgorithms

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For decades, recruiters have relied on gut feel, reference checks, and structured interviews to gauge how long a new hire will stick around. But a 2025 meta-analysis of 47 studies across industries found that a single question asked during the first screening call predicted 12-month retention with 71% accuracy — beating every other common hiring metric. In this episode of Hiring & Firing with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down the question, why it works, and how one logistics company used it to slash first-year turnover from 34% to 11% within two quarters. They also discuss the surprising reason most hiring managers resist asking it, and how you can implement it without overhauling your entire recruitment process. If you've ever hired someone who seemed perfect on paper but was gone within a year, this episode offers a concrete, evidence-based fix.

#Retention #TurnoverPrediction #HiringMetrics #EmployeeRetention #RecruitmentStrategy #InterviewTechniques #PredictiveHiring #WorkforcePlanning #TalentAcquisition #HRMetrics #PeopleAnalytics #HiringScience #OneQuestion #BusinessPodcast #FexingoBusiness #HiringAndFiring #LucasAndLuna #RecruitmentTips

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In this episode, Lucas and Luna examine a startling hiring study: how a simple change in the first five seconds of an interview, allowing candidates to speak uninterrupted, reduced bad hires by 60 percent at a midsize tech firm. They break down the psychology behind interviewer interruption bias, where managers form snap judgments that derail accurate assessments. Through a real case study from a company with 400 employees, they show how implementing a rule where the candidate speaks first for two minutes without interruption improved interview validity. The hosts also discuss the surprising link between listening and offer acceptance rates, and how this approach counteracts the 'similarity bias' that often plagues unstructured interviews. If you've ever left an interview feeling like you barely learned about the candidate, this episode offers a concrete fix.

#HiringAndFiring #Recruitment #InterviewTechniques #BiasInHiring #ListeningSkills #CandidateExperience #MisHires #InterviewInterruption #SimilarityBias #UnstructuredInterview #OfferAcceptanceRate #TalentAcquisition #HRMetrics #BusinesPodcast #FexingoBusiness #Business #WorkforceDecisions #DataDrivenHiring

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