Learning how to measure quality of hire was the turning point for us.
When we first started helping companies hire remote developers, we thought success meant filling roles quickly with people who looked great on paper, with:
- Clean CVs
- Impressive portfolios
- Sharp interviews
But we soon realized the true test came after someone joined.
Some hires quietly became the backbone of a team, while others, despite strong credentials, didn’t quite land and sync with the team.
The difference wasn’t obvious at first.
But over time, patterns began to emerge.
That’s when we knew we had to take quality of hire seriously, not just as a gut feeling, but as something measurable.
Fast forward to today, and quality of hire sits at the center of how we work at Remote Crew. It influences who we put forward, how we support onboarding, and how we iterate on our hiring processes.
If you’re in a position where you’re not quite sure how well your hiring is actually working, we’ve been there.
This article is a look into what we’ve learned, and how we now help companies hire remote talent that actually sticks.
What Is Quality Of Hire?
Quality of hire is one of those concepts that’s frequently discussed but rarely pinned down with precision.
At its core, it’s about the value someone brings to your company after they join.
Not just in terms of hitting targets or completing tasks, but in how they influence culture, collaborate with others, and help push your team forward in meaningful ways.
When a developer joins a team and begins to consistently ship, communicate well, and improve team velocity, without needing their handheld, that’s quality.
But it’s more than just output.
You’ll find that great hires lift the people around them.
They reduce the noise rather than add to it.
They also build momentum without drawing attention to themselves.
We’ve seen firsthand how a strong hire can unblock bottlenecks, clean up technical debt, and help a scattered team find its rhythm again.
On the flip side, we’ve also seen how a technically skilled hire can quietly slow everything down.
You end up with misaligned expectations, poor async communication, and not enough initiative.
It doesn’t always show up in performance reviews. Sometimes, it’s just the energy of the team subtly shifting over time.
Why I’m Always Measuring Quality Of Hire
For a long time, I assumed our hiring process was working because the outcomes looked fine on the surface.
Roles were being filled. Projects were moving. Nobody was raising major red flags.
But beneath that, there were signs I had ignored.
New hires who left quickly. Teams that felt off balance. Goals that were met late, or not at all.
Then I came across a stat that stopped me cold.
One in three new hires leave within the first 90 days.
I thought back to some recent departures.
We had chalked them up to bad luck, personality mismatches, or poor timing.
But seeing the data made me realize it wasn’t isolated. It was a pattern.
Measuring quality of hire gave me a way to uncover what was really happening.
It helped me identify what made certain hires successful and where we were going wrong with others.
It created a feedback loop that made our hiring sharper, our onboarding smoother, and our retention stronger.
More than anything, it shifted my mindset.
I stopped viewing hiring as a success the moment someone signed the offer.
I started asking, “What’s this person’s experience going to be like 30 days in? Ninety days? A year?”
The long-term lens made all the difference, and it’s something we’ve now applied to our work for clients at Remote Crew.
5 Key Metrics That Helped Me Measure Quality Of Hire
We don’t measure quality of hire with just one number.
Instead, we look at several indicators that together paint a clearer picture.
These are the five I’ve come to rely on:
1 - Performance Ratings
This was one of the first areas I looked into.
We started collecting early performance data, things like manager evaluations, progress toward KPIs, and peer feedback.
What we found was that high performers made themselves known pretty quickly.
They didn’t need a year to show value.
Even within the first month or two, you could see who was adapting fast, contributing meaningfully, and showing signs of long-term potential.
It’s not about expecting perfection early on.
But when someone hits the ground running and starts solving problems without needing to be micromanaged, it’s a strong sign they’re a quality hire.
2 - Retention Rate
This one was simple but revealing.
If someone left within a year, we counted that as a miss, no matter how talented they were.
Great hires stick around. They invest and integrate.
If people were leaving quickly, we knew something was off, either in the role, the culture, or the expectations we had set during the hiring process.
Tracking retention over time gave us a sense of how good we were at finding the right match, not just for the business, but for the person as well.
3 - Productivity Metrics
For some roles, we started tracking output during the first 90 days.
This wasn’t about setting unrealistic goals, but rather observing how quickly someone became productive.
Were they shipping code? Closing deals? Leading meetings?
The results were often surprising. Some hires who didn’t say much in interviews turned out to be extremely effective once they had a chance to get going.
Others who impressed during the hiring process needed more support than expected. Measuring real-world productivity helped us cut through assumptions and get a clearer view of value.
4 - Cultural Fit
Cultural alignment is one of the hardest things to measure, but also one of the most important.
We started collecting informal feedback from peers and running short culture-fit surveys after the first month.
This gave us insight into how well someone was adapting. Not just to the work, but to the way we work.
There’s a difference between someone who simply follows processes and someone who brings energy, thoughtfulness, and collaboration to the table. The latter creates momentum. The former just ticks boxes.
5 - Hiring Manager Satisfaction
We introduced a one-question check-in for hiring managers: “Knowing what you know now, would you hire this person again?” The answers were usually more honest than the performance reviews.
This gave us a valuable gut check.
If a manager hesitated or gave a lukewarm answer, we knew to dig deeper.
Often, they had spotted something we hadn’t measured yet, like attitude, learning speed, or team dynamics.
We have worked directly with HR teams to solve problems in their hiring processes, and simple questions like this really help to keep things grounded in reality.
How To Calculate Quality Of Hire
Eventually, we needed a way to bring all this data together. We landed on a simple calculation that worked surprisingly well.
Quality of Hire Score = (Performance + Retention + Cultural Fit + Satisfaction) ÷ 4
Each category is scored out of five, based on the data we were already collecting. Here’s what that looked like in practice:
- Performance based on manager reviews and early KPIs.
- Retention, which scores highest if the person stayed over two years, and lowest if under a year.
- Cultural fit based on peer surveys and qualitative feedback.
- Hiring Manager satisfaction with a 1-5 scale from their manager.
So if someone scored:
- 4 on performance
- 5 on retention
- 3 on cultural fit
- 4 on manager satisfaction
Their overall QoH score would be (4 + 5 + 3 + 4) ÷ 4 = 4.0
We weren’t aiming for perfection. We just wanted a system that could help us spot patterns across hires.
Over time, we started noticing which hiring sources delivered consistently high scores. We also identified weak points in our interview process that were leading to lower-scoring hires.
Here Are Some Tools & Methods That Made This Easier
At first, we tracked everything manually. It worked for a while, but as we grew, the friction started to build.
That’s when we moved to a more structured setup using an ATS and an HRIS that could surface the right data with less manual work.
We also started using lightweight assessments during the hiring process.
These gave us a better sense of how someone thinks, not just what they’ve done in the past.
It helped us identify candidates who had real potential, even if they didn’t check every traditional box.
We’ve applied the same approach to our hiring process for Remote Crew clients.
4 Things I’ve Done To Improve Quality Of Hire For Clients
Once we had the data, the next step was acting on it. These four changes have had the biggest impact on clients at Remote Crew:
1 - Structured The Interview Process
We moved away from informal chats and started using consistent scoring rubrics and interview panels.
This helped reduce bias and made it easier to compare candidates objectively.
The conversations became more focused, and we were better able to gauge how someone might perform in real scenarios.
2 - Overhauled Onboarding
We turned onboarding from a checklist into a structured 30-day journey.
Every new hire got a mentor, a clear roadmap, and regular check-ins.
This dramatically improved engagement and made new hires feel supported from day one.
3 - Created Feedback Loops
We introduced new hire surveys at the one-week, one-month, and three-month marks.
The insights were incredibly actionable.
We learned where people were getting stuck, what felt confusing, and what was helping them succeed early on.
4 - Committed To Iteration
Every quarter, we reviewed our hiring metrics, discussed surprising outcomes, and looked for ways to refine our process.
It wasn’t always comfortable, but it pushed us to get better with every hire.
What You Should Take Away From This
Here’s what I’ve learned from tracking and improving quality of hire over the years:
- A good hire will elevate the team around them.
- Retention is one of the most honest metrics for alignment.
- You can’t improve what you don’t measure.
- Data creates clarity, but it needs to be paired with real-world context.
- Having the right hiring partners makes a huge difference.
There you have it. Five key learnings from the experience I’ve accumulated.
If you're looking to bring in remote developers who stick, contribute meaningfully, and genuinely care about doing good work, you should partner with us at Remote Crew. Start hiring today!