You might be thinking “workplace culture” is just a buzz phrase from HR industry professional circles. But there is a big reason why this phrase is on everyone’s lips.
The Past Informs the Present
The years during the height of the pandemic really put things into perspective for the majority of employees. They had time to evaluate and reflect on their organization, how they felt about their work, and even what was important to them in their life overall. Reflecting on their career is largely what has informed the present moment and the focus on workplace culture.
What Exactly is Workplace Culture?
Workplace culture is the summation of shared values, behaviors and characteristics of a company and its employees. Workplace culture encompasses a variety of elements about the office, including work environment, company mission, values, ethics, goals and even leadership style. In other words, each company has its own personality.
For a long time, workers felt like they had to put up with an office culture they didn’t align with. It was all about getting a paycheck so they could pay the bills. Happiness, mental health and even time with family was pushed to the side in order to make a living.
What’s Really Important
But what kind of life is that? That is the question many employees started asking themselves during the pandemic as they began to re-evaluate their career and their lives.
Many got a taste of working from home and how much easier it was to create a better work-life balance that way. Others reflected on what type of work actually makes them happy and realized they just were not into their chosen career path as they thought they were. And while some decided the type of work was more important, others felt that if they were going to work each day, they deserved a decent paycheck and benefits. Others yet saw that they loved their career, but just didn’t align with the company they were working for.
So gone are the days of employees mindlessly completing tasks. Now it is about getting more out of your work, such as:
- Flexibility (work from home and hybrid options as well as schedule)
- Recognition and appreciation
- Professional development opportunities
- The ability to contribute to something larger than one’s self
What Does a Focus on Workplace Culture Mean for Your Organization?
Many organizations began dealing with what many have dubbed, the Great Resignation. We like to refer to it as the Great Reflection. But this transition has been difficult for companies as they have dealt with massive turnover and the need to fill positions quickly.
But this can als be a great opportunity for your company.
Hiring for culture actually brings many benefits to your organization. Let’s take a look at those benefits.
First, hiring for culture actually lowers turnover rates and attrition costs. And we know how painful and expensive attrition can be for companies. When an employee is more aligned with your company culture, they stick around for longer. In fact, the average employee will stick around for 6 years, instead of around 2 years. That’s over twice as long!
Lowering attrition has some great downstream benefits as well. When your company isn’t a revolving door of employees, it actually boosts employee morale and engagement. Improved morale and engagement have been shown to boost productivity, creativity, and even mental well-being. This means that your employees are coming in and doing their best work every day to help solve the challenges your organization faces!
Lowering attrition also reduces strain on your recruitment team. Your HR professionals are maxed out and exhausted from the constant hiring loop. But hiring isn’t the only function of HR. And when they have time to focus on those other functions, it brings improvement to your entire organization.
Hiring for culture can also support your DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) efforts. Focusing exclusively on hard skills, such as employment history and education, can actually exclude people from your candidate pool who would bring other traits and qualifications. By including culture alignment in your search you broaden your pool of candidates to include those who bring great communication, leadership, and organization skills that can vastly benefit your company. And by increasing the diversity at your company, your company will benefit from the different viewpoints they hold, allowing for more creative solutions to company and industry challenges.
Other benefits your organization will see include:
- Increased profits due to higher levels of productivity
- An openness to diverse ideas
- Increased employee satisfaction, well-being and personal fulfillment
- Decreased levels of stress and anxiety
- More company loyalty
- A decrease in conflicts in the workplace
- More cooperation and camaraderie between employees
- An environment that attracts top talent
Think of it this way, would you stick around working for a company that doesn’t care about its employees as human beings or one that is known for gossip or a toxic work environment? No! And not hiring for culture means your company has a worse chance at long-term success.
How to Hire for Workplace Culture
Hiring for culture alignment isn’t as complicated as it sounds. In fact, with Workzinga, it’s simple to objectively find the candidates that have the preferences and skills that align best with your company and the job.
Our team created the Culture Alignment Assessment, a validated pre-employment assessment that looks at 26 characteristics for culture alignment. Take the guesswork out of finding employees with good culture alignment. Schedule a demo today to get started.
