Not surprisingly, I spend a lot of time talking with managers about their employees’ performance. Truly my favorite part of my work is coaching a manager to develop talented, productive, happy employees. Inevitably, however, I also spend a certain amount of time coaching managers in responding to unsatisfactory performance through a verbal or written warning. At some point in that process, we stumble on a phrase that goes something like this: “We will review your performance again in 30 days.” Not in my memo, we won’t.

Our employee’s been out on short-term disability for five months and still has no definite date to return to work. Are we allowed to terminate this person? That question has started many a client relationship for us. What happens is that two decision-making processes get tangled when an employee is not able to work.

Many companies budget new hires at the beginning of the year, which means many of you are busy slogging through resumes. Recruiting is unavoidably labor-intensive, but here are some ways to save time and find the great candidates who make that time investment worthwhile.