An often overlooked quality in new hires is their laziness. If you hire more good, lazy people, you’ll find that this is one of the fastest ways to grow your business. Surprised? If so, that’s not a surprise as most hiring managers look at laziness as a detriment instead of the attribute it can be when the right people with lazy streaks are hired strategically in your organization.

Traits, including laziness, can be applied for good or for evil. This all depends on the motives of the individual. What’s sometimes viewed as laziness is really an avoidance by that individual in engaging in high levels of labor intensity. And this is a good thing! The more labor spent on a task means that much less is available for other responsibilities. Leaders all too often look at input instead of output. Does it really matter if someone spends five minutes or five hours on something if both outcomes are the same?

Take time to find the lazy streaks in employees and potential hires. If you delve into the motives behind their laziness, you’ll find that some are truly lazy in the worst context of the word. Others, however, are lazy in the best way, wanting to work to spend as little time as possible getting things done right. Hire them quickly and keep them busy as they will make your company more efficient and more profitable.