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Culture Fit
Learn more about culture fit:
What is culture fit?
Picture this: You’ve just hired a new employee and they have spent the past month completing your well-designed onboarding process. The new hire is up to speed and ready to start working with the rest of their team on projects that will be profitable for your company. But there’s a problem. It turns out that this new employee isn’t a team player after all. They prefer to work alone. After spending so much time and effort to find the right person for the job, you now have an employee on your hands who isn’t the right fit. That’s not the new hire’s fault; it’s yours.
Culture fit overcomes this issue by finding out how well the candidate’s values and working style match that of the company they’re applying to join. Above all, this requires an understanding of the company culture and identity, which includes aspects such as:
- Leadership and management style
- Methods of communication
- Approach to teamwork and collaboration
- Work ethic
- Diversity, equity & inclusion policies
- Approach to customer-facing roles
- Professional development opportunities and qualifications
A solid understanding of your own company culture is the foundation from which to assess a candidate’s own values during the hiring process and determine if there is a sufficient degree of cultural alignment. If the answer is yes, this is an indicator that the candidate may be the right person for the role. If not, then this is a clear sign to keep looking.
Why is culture fit important?
The war for talent has been in full swing for several years now, with the general scarcity of skilled workers in multiple industries leading to fierce competition when it comes to attracting and retaining talented people. This makes it all the more important for companies to hire the right individuals for the job when the opportunity is there — because they won’t be available forever.
Aside from ensuring the candidate has the right qualifications and experience for the job (both of which are essential), one thing a hiring manager should not overlook during the recruitment process is the importance of culture fit. If the employee is integrated seamlessly into the existing hierarchy or structure and is accepted by their team, then they can start to deliver results. If there proves to be a cultural misalignment and there is no way to redress the balance, not only has the company wasted valuable time and money on a failed hiring procedure, but the professional that was initially so valued by the company will go straight to a competitor.
Aside from ensuring the candidate has the right qualifications and experience for the job (both of which are essential), one thing a hiring manager should not overlook during the recruitment process is the importance of culture fit. If the employee is integrated seamlessly into the existing hierarchy or structure and is accepted by their team, then they can start to deliver results. If there proves to be a cultural misalignment and there is no way to redress the balance, not only has the company wasted valuable time and money on a failed hiring procedure, but the professional that was initially so valued by the company will go straight to a competitor.
In other words, a strong culture fit opens the door to establishing deep ties between the company and its workforce, retaining talented individuals in a competitive market, and avoiding chronic staff shortages later on. It also represents an opportunity to hold a mirror up to your own company culture and be honest if something needs to change — because an outsider’s perspective, like that of a talented new hire, is worth considering if the criticism is constructive.
How to assess culture fit
There are several ways to determine whether there is cultural alignment between a candidate and your company.
Advantages and disadvantages
Culture fit is a key asset in attracting and retaining top talent for three reasons:
1. Higher employee satisfaction
If an individual employee aligns with their company’s values, approaches, and expectations, this creates a stronger bond and a deeper sense of belonging. This paves the way for greater satisfaction for the employees themselves, which contributes to a positive company environment and reduces turnover in the long term.
2. Better collaboration and teamwork
Cultural alignment between a company and its workforce serves as a building block for open communication and efficient teamwork that delivers above-average results. Individuals who share similar values and work styles are more likely to trust each other and want to work together, leading to higher productivity and quicker problem-solving.
3. Stronger brand representation
A company with a reputation for cultivating a culture that respects diversity, prioritizes employee satisfaction, and offers smooth channels for collaboration is more likely to attract top talent than a firm with a poor workplace culture. This talent can be put to good use reinforcing the company’s position, thereby perpetuating the cycle of satisfaction.
What to avoid
While culture fit is a good way to avoid employing the wrong candidate, it’s important not to fall into the trap of being too narrow in your outlook.
If, for example, a candidate checks all the boxes required for the position but has a view on professional development that differs from the company’s perspective, this should not necessarily be a reason for rejecting the candidate — especially given the relative scarcity of talent in the labor market. A more constructive approach would be to communicate with the candidate to see if there is a compromise that can be found in the event of their employment. This leads to a better outcome for both parties and shows the candidate that you’re willing to listen to their requests and desires. This contributes to a more rewarding candidate experience and bolsters your reputation as a fair employer.
On a related note, it’s important to keep in mind that a culture fit is not about finding the missing piece in a jigsaw.
Every individual has their own thoughts and opinions on how something should be done — this is how companies create a workforce that is celebrated for its diversity rather than being homogenous and inflexible. Part of a company’s job is to instill its corporate culture into its workforce and to make employees trust and believe in the methods being used. Instead of finding fault with a new hire for failing to understand the company philosophy within the space of a few short weeks, work with them to understand their perspective and find alignment in areas where there is none.
Best practices
The key to culture fit is to promote alignment between employees and the prevailing company culture while providing sufficient room for individuality and avoiding homogeneity. The best practices for doing so include:
✦ Defining your core values as a company and communicating them internally and externally: Outline your organization’s mission, values, and optimum culture. Incorporate these materials into your recruitment and onboarding processes and ensure they’re part of your day-to-day operations. When defining these values, be sure to ask for perspectives from both senior and junior staff in order to acquire a comprehensive picture.
✦ Take advantage of behavioral interviews to assess a candidate’s values based on real-world scenarios: Be sure to steer the candidate in the direction of examples that reflect key aspects of the company’s culture and closely analyze the candidate’s answers after the interview.
✦ Have a strong diversity, equity & inclusion policy in place: Avoid culture fit becoming exclusionary by focusing on embodying shared values rather than creating identikit personalities. This allows for a balance between cultural alignment and the freedom to express new and innovative perspectives.
✦ Integrate the company culture into the onboarding process: This will help your new hires to understand and embrace the company’s values and ethos. Also make use of mentorship programs, storytelling (online and offline), and immersion in collaborative projects from an early stage.
✦ Regularly review and reinforce the company culture: Leverage team-building activities, recognition programs, and open feedback channels to take a temperature check of the company culture. Adjust practices and policies as necessary to stay relevant while maintaining a strong cultural foundation.
Additional information or example
Sometimes, even after taking all preliminary measures to ensure culture fit and onboarding a new hire, cultural misalignment can still happen anyway. If the candidate seemed like a good fit a few weeks ago, ask for their opinion on what they think is the reason for this misalignment. The answer may be surprising: In some cases, it’s not the new hire who has an issue, but the company.
The fact is that organizations can become relatively inflexible over time when repeating the same processes. Mindsets can stagnate, managerial approaches may not evolve with the times, and expectations may become unrealistic. As the new hire is effectively still on the “outside” of the organizational structure looking in, their perspective on the company could prove to be invaluable when it comes to helping a corporate culture evolve.
If your company is experiencing…
- high employee turnover
- difficulties filling positions with top talent
- disagreements between long-term staff members
…then it may be time to review your company culture to see if there are areas where it can be improved. Ultimately, the aim is to retain the staff you hire, not to shift the blame onto newly hired personnel for failing to settle into their role.
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