While a massive amount of attention is paid to attracting and hiring the best talent, not enough consideration is given to avoiding toxic workers. These are employees who are talented and productive, but who engage in behavior that is harmful to an organization’s structure and culture. While they look like skilled workers on the surface, they are actually doing real, sometimes irreparable, damage to an organization. This damage can come in the form of sexual harassment lawsuits, workplace violence, or defrauding investors. Studies have shown that not hiring these toxic employees will be more beneficial in the long run than hiring and retaining a superstar. According to a recent working paper from Harvard Business School, costs related to these hiring decisions are not negligible. Using data from a company that sells job-testing software to several large employers, the paper’s authors found that avoiding a toxic employee can save a company more than twice as much as bringing on a high-performer. Specifically, they found that avoiding a toxic worker would save a company an average of $12,500 in turnover costs, but a superstar employee would only add about $5,300 to a company’s bottom line.