Hey, it's Luzbei. Today we're talking about something that's probably costing you a lot more money than you realize: inefficient people systems.

Here's a question: Do you know how much your current hiring process is costing you? Not just in recruiter fees or job posting costs—but in the weeks or months a role sits empty while revenue opportunities pass you by?

Do you know how much turnover is actually costing you when you factor in lost productivity, recruitment expenses, training time, and the impact on team morale?

Most CEOs don't. They know these things are problems, but they don't know the actual dollar impact. And if you don't know what it's costing you, you can't know if you're solving it efficiently.

That's what we're talking about today: Human Performance Optimization—how to turn your people operations from a cost center into a profit driver.

Let me paint a picture of what I see constantly:

A CEO has an open role. They post it, they review resumes, they conduct first-round interviews, they bring finalists back for second interviews, they check references, they make an offer, they negotiate, they wait for the candidate to give notice to their current employer, and finally—90, maybe 100 days later—someone starts.

And then it takes another 4-6 months before that person is truly productive.

So you're looking at 6-9 months from "we need to fill this role" to "this person is contributing at full capacity."

Meanwhile, what's happening to your business during those 6-9 months?

Projects are delayed because you don't have the capacity. Client work suffers because your team is stretched thin. Growth opportunities are missed because you can't confidently take on more work. And the team members who are covering that empty role? They're burning out.

And here's the kicker: After you finally get someone productive, there's a 30-40% chance they'll leave within two years. And then you start the whole cycle again.

This isn't just frustrating. It's expensive. Conservatively, every time you lose someone and have to replace them, it costs 1.5-2x their salary when you factor in all the hidden costs.

So if you're losing 3-4 people a year, and those roles have an average salary of $70K, you're hemorrhaging $300K-$500K annually just on turnover.

And most CEOs don't even realize it because it's not a line item in their budget labeled "money we're lighting on fire."

Here's the root cause: Your people operations are running on duct tape and hope instead of strategic systems.

You don't have a systematic hiring process—you post roles, review resumes as they come in, conduct interviews whenever you can fit them into your schedule, and make decisions based on gut feel. So hiring takes forever and quality is inconsistent.

You don't have structured onboarding—new hires get a laptop, maybe a buddy, and they're expected to figure things out. So it takes 4-6 months before they're productive instead of 60-90 days.

You don't have performance management infrastructure—so underperformance goes unaddressed until it becomes a crisis. And by then, you're either stuck with someone who isn't working out, or they've already decided to leave.

And you don't have retention systems—so you don't know who's a flight risk until they hand you a resignation letter.

Every one of these problems is costing you money. Every single day.

But because these costs are hidden—they show up as lost revenue, delayed projects, team burnout, rushed hiring decisions—most CEOs don't treat this as the urgent financial problem it actually is.

So what needs to change?

You need to shift from treating people operations as administrative overhead to treating them as infrastructure that generates ROI.

Every dollar you invest in people should produce measurable returns. And every inefficiency in your people systems should be eliminated the same way you'd eliminate inefficiencies in your operations or technology.

Think about it this way: If your technology systems were costing you $300K-$500K annually in lost productivity, you'd fix it immediately. You wouldn't say, "Well, that's just part of running a business."

But that's exactly what most CEOs say about people inefficiencies. "Hiring is just hard." "Turnover is just part of business." "It takes time for people to ramp up."

No. Those are symptoms of broken systems. And broken systems can be fixed.

So let's talk about what Human Performance Optimization actually looks like. There are three core focus areas:

First: Strategic Hiring Systems.

This means building end-to-end infrastructure that takes you from "we need to fill this role" to "this person is productive" in 60-90 days instead of 6-9 months.

That includes:

●       Sourcing strategies that generate qualified candidates proactively, not just when you post a role

●       Screening criteria that filter candidates efficiently before you waste time on interviews

●       Structured interview processes with scorecards so you're evaluating candidates consistently, not based on who interviewed them last

●       Decision frameworks that move candidates through your pipeline quickly without sacrificing quality

●       Offer protocols so you're not losing candidates to negotiation delays

●       Onboarding systems that get new hires productive in 60-90 days instead of 4-6 months

When you have these systems in place, your time-to-hire drops from 90+ days to 30-45 days. And your time-to-productivity drops from 4-6 months to 60-90 days.

That alone saves you months of lost productivity per hire. Multiply that by every role you fill in a year, and the ROI is massive.

Second: Performance Management Infrastructure.

This means building systems that address underperformance early, develop high performers proactively, and retain your best people.

That includes:

●       Goal-setting frameworks so every employee knows exactly what success looks like

●       Regular feedback loops so issues are addressed in real-time, not six months later during a review

●       Difficult conversation protocols so your managers address underperformance instead of avoiding it

●       Career development pathways so your best people see growth opportunities instead of looking elsewhere

●       Retention conversation frameworks so you identify flight risks before they resign

When you have performance infrastructure in place, productivity across your team increases by 25-35%. And turnover drops by 40-60% because people know what's expected, they get regular feedback, and they see clear growth paths.

That's not a soft benefit. That's bottom-line profit.

Third: Metrics and ROI Tracking.

This means measuring the actual financial impact of your people systems so you know what's working and what needs to be fixed.

That includes tracking:

●       Time-to-hire (how long roles sit empty costing you productivity)

●       Cost-per-hire (what you're actually spending to fill roles)

●       Time-to-productivity (how long before new hires are fully contributing)

●       Turnover rate and cost (how many people you're losing and what it's actually costing)

●       Productivity metrics (how output changes after you implement systems)

When you have these metrics, you're not guessing. You're managing people operations the same way you manage every other part of your business—with data.

And that means you can prove ROI. You can show that investing $50K in hiring infrastructure saved you $200K in lost productivity. You can show that implementing performance systems reduced turnover from 35% to 15%, saving you $300K annually.

These aren't soft benefits. These are profit drivers.

Let me tell you what Human Performance Optimization creates:

Your time-to-hire drops by 50-60%. Roles that used to take three months to fill now take 30-45 days. That means less lost productivity, faster project execution, and the ability to capture growth opportunities when they arise.

Your turnover drops by 40-60%. People stop leaving because they know what's expected, they get regular feedback, and they see growth opportunities. That saves you hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in recruitment and training costs.

Your team productivity increases by 25-35%. Not because people are working harder, but because you've eliminated the inefficiencies—long ramp-up times, unclear expectations, unaddressed underperformance—that were dragging productivity down.

And your profit margins increase by 15-20%. Because your people operations have shifted from being a cost center to being a competitive advantage.

That's what happens when you optimize human performance systematically.

So if your hiring process is slow and chaotic, if turnover is costing you six figures annually, if new employees take 4-6 months to be productive—you need Human Performance Optimization.

This isn't about working your people harder. It's about eliminating the systemic inefficiencies that are costing you money every single day.

And when you build the right infrastructure, the ROI is undeniable.

Thanks for listening and I'll see you next time.