The Value of Culture

Poor hiring decisions can be extremely costly for your company, in terms of business interruption, wasted recruiting and training resources, lower employee morale and more.

You may realize that an individual is not a good fit, or a new employee may choose to leave if the job doesn’t match his or her expectations. In both circumstances, many of these separations are due to the fact that the hired individuals did not fit the company culture and therefore lacked productivity, creativity and/or morale.

Culture is the unifying element that holds everyone in an organization together. Unlike an established mission statement, culture encompasses the written and unwritten behavioral norms and expectations of those within the company. Culture can set one company apart from others, and it can include the value of work-life balance issues, the way the company is organized, the extent to which leaders follow through on mission statements and many other factors.

Companies looking to hire individuals that fit with their culture must first identify and understand it. For instance, if your organization recognizes personal achievements and awards individuals for a job well done, then a team-oriented employee might not be the best fit. But if your company values the total team performance versus the contributions of just one individual, then someone looking for personal recognition might not be as satisfied working for your company.

Ultimately, if the fit is not right between the company and individual, then both will lose interest and the relationship will probably fail.

Importance of a Good Fit

Finding employees who are a good fit for the organization produces the following benefits:

• Improved employee retention.
• Enhanced employee performance because most individuals at the company share similar values and aspirations. When people share a common purpose and similar attitude, it can encourage people to perform better.
• Improved alignment from the top to the bottom and employees may view leadership more positively.

Screening to Find a Cultural Fit

Developing a screening process that integrates prescreening based on your company culture can be accomplished with the following steps.

1. Ask employees at various levels of the organization how they see your company culture. Then, identify the similarities that arise among individuals—motivations, values, core competencies, etc.
2. When you can identify what makes the organization successful, you will know what to look for during the selection process. This technique is also helpful in avoiding hiring discrimination allegations because you have defined the key characteristics of your culture, which help you logically and fairly justify your hiring decisions.
3. Create a brand to describe your organization to potential employees.
4. Depict your culture accurately so that candidates can filter themselves in or out based on how you describe the company. If they do not see themselves fitting into your culture, they may not even apply.
5. To make branding more real for prospective employees, provide messages from executives, testimonials from various employees, virtual job tours, etc.
6. Have candidates complete an online assessment as part of the recruitment process to screen potential candidates based on their qualifications, personality, and other factors. Use properly validated assessments that meet legal and professional standards.
7. Ask questions about traits that you cannot or do not want to train someone how to do (being self-motivated, possessing integrity, etc.). Questions should determine if candidates have values and competencies that match with the company’s culture.
8. Ask behavior-related questions and then rate open-ended answers on a scale.
9. Ask for examples of situations in which candidates faced dilemmas or problems and successfully overcame them.
10. Role-play during the interview process to observe candidates in action. Or, allow them to try out the position for a day to see if it seems like a good fit for them (and for you).
11. This step would come after all interviewing is complete, and reference checks and resume verification checks are also done.
12. Know the laws applicable to hiring.
13. Create metrics for measuring cultural fit by determining cost-per-hire, time-to-fill, and quality-of-hire data.
14. Make sure management is trained on how to properly interview for behaviors.
15. Maintain accurate records of all your hiring decisions. During an audit or discrimination claim, you will need to produce valid justification for your decisions.
16. Human resources should stay on top of monitoring, learning and studying the culture of the organization, and then design policies that align with the culture. HR should constantly be asking if the organization is truly what it claims, if it needs to modify the culture to be more competitive and if it is remaining compliant with all hiring laws.

Your office is busy, people are working hard from 9-5 ++. People come in to the office and clock in, they work diligently, take a few mandated breaks; their required lunch time and clock out to start the process all over again the next day.

Building office culture can help take the grind out of your employees working days and would help the office be more fun and add energy to your staff.  By doing this, your employees will look forward to coming to work, add excitement & energy to their days, allow them to gain connection with their colleagues and most importantly, have them feel appreciated.

Here are a few simple ideas that have worked well for our clients.

1. Have an employee of the quarter. Put a voting box in a location and have your employees vote on the employee of the quarter. Management should not be involved.The employees write down who they think is the employee of the quarter and why they think they are.  At the end of each quarter, announce the winner by reading in front of everyone and read a few things that their fellow employees wrote about them.  Then give a gift certificate, a visa card, a private parking spot for the month etc. as the gift.   Every quarter your employees will want to be that exceptional employee and try to be the next employee of the quarter.

2. Starbucks Run. Pick a time and announce that you are making a Starbucks run and ask all of your employees what they want.  It’s a small investment and makes the employees feel that you care about them, they feel appreciated and thought of, and who doesn’t love a free Starbucks run?

3. Ice Cream Social. Pick a day and announce to your staff to be in the kitchen at 2:30 or 3pm.  When they arrive in the kitchen have the owners or managers there ready to serve ice cream to the staff.  Your employees will appreciate that the management is taking their time to make their staff feel good and let them enjoy a relaxed time with the other employees.

4. Quarterly outings. Once a quarter have management pick an event to get your staff out of the office for an event that helps get all of the employees together for bonding and team building. Ideas that we have seen our clients do.  Go on a hike, rent bikes and go for a ride, miniature golf, painting class, donating time to a charity, walk around the block as a team, go to the park and just hang out or play games, take everyone to an arcade, take everyone to a movie, have a cooking class, take a guided tour through your city, etc.

Building office culture is one of the most important things you can do for your employees. It is often said that many employees feel that being appreciated is more important than pay.

What is it that your company does for your employees that builds on office culture and morale? Feel free to share your ways in the below comments section!

Companies have relaxed their environment to reflect their culture and embrace the newer, younger employee mindset. Long gone are stoic office cubicles and personal workstations.

It’s not uncommon to see dogs at offices, communal workstations, plug & play desktops, and a relaxed dress code. Some companies have abandoned hours entirely, seeking outcome-based employees. Other companies staff full-service kitchens and gyms, child daycare and even cleaners have become popular on larger-scale campuses.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh says there is a reason there is a key to their success: “A lot of people act different on the weekends versus the office. It’s like they leave a big part of themselves at home. We encourage our employees to be themselves. We want them to be the same person at home and in the office.”

Companies are welcoming a new unconventional office culture that offers perks such as telecommuting, flextime, tuition reimbursement, free employee lunches and on-site doctors. Business cards have faded to e-cards, and custom plastic emblazed nameplates are a thing of the past! It’s a new world and a new workplace.

At CorpStrat, we identified a fun way to show our pride, distinguish our environment and have some fun. While our people do have dedicated workspaces, we have embraced a “FAT HEAD” culture.

What’s a Fat Head??

It’s is an oversized cardboard cut-out – much like a selfie, a headshot; one that’s 2 feet big.

The FAT heads are atop all of our workspaces. They are fun, colorful, and a great way to add vibrancy to our office. They show our diversity and a commitment to employee culture. Plus, seeing big, happy smiles all day never hurt anyone that works in a challenging business like ours.

Fat heads are just one way we tackle workplace stress and cultivate a fun and interactive atmosphere at CorpStrat. Nothing builds camaraderie in any workplace than healthy interaction and playfulness.

Fat Heads are inexpensive, and a great way to show our people we care. Its only one item in a growing list of the ways we want to show our loyalty, earn our employees’ commitment, and embrace a positive workspace.

In the end, employees who feel appreciated are more positive and are more inclined to add towards the success of their organizations. A recognition-encouraging culture is more likely to have a high retention rate and though it may sound silly, Fat heads are a real fun way to work towards betterment.