The Missing Puzzle to the Recruitment System: Placing the Right Cultural Fit in the Workplace

We talked about company diversity in the previous article. Now, we’re discussing how placing the right cultural fit in the workplace could be the missing puzzle to your recruitment system.

Wait… there’s a difference between company diversity and cultural fit?

Definitely! However, it’s not completely different as the two go hand-in-hand.

As the name suggests, company diversity is simply the state of-- well-- diversification of employees in the organization. It’s a term that encapsulates the range of workers with regards to age, gender, nationality, and more.

Before, companies just consider this for the sake of inclusivity. Now, it’s becoming more of a strategy to add value to the business based on an individual’s unique background.

On the other hand, cultural fit is the concept of how a candidate aligns with the brand’s company culture. It’s a determining factor that gauges applicants’ suitability and ability to adapt to the values, lifestyle, mindset, and others of the organization and the people within.

It’s also more than just criteria during the selection process. Cultural fit involves taking into account the cultural impact they would bring to the table.

What makes cultural fit important?

Especially in a multicultural environment, it’s crucial to have synergy among team members. Negative interactions are detrimental to the business and affect the workplace in so many ways. Ensuring culture fit avoids that.

Hiring the right people means allowing the organization to thrive. People would be able to feel welcome and accepted, hence enabling them to communicate freely and collaborate effectively; resulting in a dynamic and progressive working environment. 

This sense of belongingness has several positive effects on employees namely:

• Increased employee satisfaction.
• High-level performance
• Decreased turnover
• Lower stress levels
• Deepen employee loyalty

It’s what links the social aspect of the corporation to the whole recruitment system.

Placing the right cultural fit into your recruitment system puzzle

The recruitment system is like a puzzle. You need to find the right pieces to optimize the entire operation. It’s not always easy, but there are methods to overcome it.

Define your workplace culture

Start by defining your company culture. What are your company’s core values? Mission? Vision? You have to know what your organization stands for, what the working environment and the people are like, and how you envision them to be in the long run.

By doing this, you’ll know exactly what kind of employee to look for and what kind of modification you want to have in the office.

It might also be interesting for you to know that 9 out of 10 people don’t mind lower pay as long as they know that the work they do is meaningful according to Harvard Business Review.

Set the tone

It’s the management that should set the tone of the company culture. People, especially the millennials, look up to the leaders on top of the chain. How they act, what policies they create, and among others are what employees emulate and adhere to.

This molds the cultural standards that might make or break an applicant’s decision as soon as they walk in your door. Thus, essential management skills are a must.

Get to know applicants well

A recruiter’s main function is to fill a position. However, they also have a hand in confirming whether or not a candidate is ideal-- not just skill-wise, but also personality-wise. Soft skills, after all, are one of the latest hiring trends to remember.

Doing a well-structured interview, carefully monitoring their demeanor, and even giving general assessments can greatly help in knowing the applicant better on a professional level. From those approaches, you can deduce if they match the company culture.

There’s also what we call “culture add”, which goes beyond sifting through your criteria and checking if a job applicant satisfies the list. Culture Add is creating a sound judgment that the person can add cultural value to the current tonality of the organization. That makes them a quality hire despite the deviance (if any).

Celebrate diversity

We mean this literally. You have to practice what you preach and make culture fit more visible in the office. Celebrating various holidays is a good idea. Chinese New Year, Eid al-Fitr, Easter Day-- those are just some of the many examples that you can consider.

There are also movements, which your company can participate in. For example, Women’s International Day, Black History Month, etc.

You don’t have to throw a party to celebrate it. Just a simple acknowledgment can go a long way for people of different backgrounds.

Engage Employees

Another simple way to promote culture fit is to engage employees. You can go about this on plenty of occasions (i.e. team lunches, Friday night outs, etc.). It’s good to go out once in a while and connect on a deeper level.

Team buildings are also great. Plenty of corporations have annual team-building events, which results in an enjoyable and memorable time with officemates.

Mind the office set-up

This might be overlooked by many, but it’s surely a big factor in placing the right cultural fit in the company. Where the HR and decision-makers place people and how they section departments will be crucial in sticking a “social glue”. It’s similar to a classroom where you get close to the people around you.

Even as simple as having an office lounge can have a good cultural impact! How? By giving them space where they can relax and unwind, it will be easy for them to converse with one another sans the serious work mode.

This is a good article to read for some inspiration.

Indeed, culture fit will bring the entire recruitment system together and unlock human potential in wonderful ways. With all its benefits, it’s clear that the HR team should not neglect this to address possible concerns and foreseeable skirmishes.

Preventing such conflicts and perpetuating a healthy working environment will surely aid in propelling company success.

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