Beyond Fit: Embracing a Culture Add for a Thriving Workplace
How Your Company Can Transition from a Culture Fit to a Culture Add Workplace
Did you know that 73% of professionals have left a job because of poor cultural fit? What's even more alarming is that 67% of professionals felt misled about the company culture during the onboarding process.
A "culture-fit" (or "culture add" – more about that later) environment is built and rethought to respond to change. It’s not a wishlist statement to attract candidates or ‘‘unicorns’’ for your organization.
What is culture fit?
Culture fit has been around since the 1980s. It’s a basic idea that people who share beliefs and values with the rest of the team are more attached to their jobs and work harder and longer.
It mainly assesses if a candidate can integrate into the existing organizational culture. Workplace alignment is perceived as a way to enable team members to work seamlessly toward the same organizational goal.
Culture fit and diversity
We've witnessed various pitfalls when persistently promoting a culture-fit environment, with the lack of diversity and an increase in bias being prominent among them.
Companies, when focused on hiring individuals who resemble them in terms of language, thinking, and background, contribute to perpetuating systemic bias. This approach automatically excludes candidates with diverse perspectives, backgrounds, or experiences.
Consider this example:
"We are only hiring software engineers that come from an Ivy League University and MUST have a bachelor’s degree in computer science."
Managers favor candidates with a similar background, disregarding those from unconventional educational paths who possess the skills required for the job. For instance, a candidate who graduated from a coding boot camp and has accumulated years of experience.
Preferring one candidate over another during the interview process solely based on shared experiences reveals hidden biases. Hiring for culture fit can lead to missing out on fresh ideas and innovative solutions.
Adhering to a singular way of thinking poses the risk of overlooking valuable insights that a diverse workforce can bring to the table.
Did you know that diverse companies earn 2.5x higher cash flow per employee? Mindblowing!
Culture Fit vs Culture Add
Sorry to burst your bubble, but your organization needs to reevaluate the traditional approach to hiring based on a culture-fit model and explore alternatives such as "culture add."
You cannot highlight that your company encourages employees to 'bring your authentic self to work' when you are not ready to embrace different perspectives, personalities, or points of view.
Your culture add initiative begins with training your entire organization on the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
It follows up by implementing changes in your hiring process:
Reevaluate your job descriptions: Are they inclusive? Evaluate the language used and pass them through Textio to get a diversity score.
Reevaluate your interview process: Is it standardized (asking the same questions, in the same order for all candidates)? Have you implemented scorecards? Is your interview panel diverse and representative of all backgrounds? Are the interviewers trained on how to conduct inclusive interviews?
Employees are more likely to vocalize the need for change when you create a space for collaboration based on individual perspectives. Fostering an environment where they feel a sense of belonging, embracing different viewpoints without fear of repercussion or judgment – that's culture add.
A culture add organization adapts to change much quicker than a culture-fit one. People will be more responsive to change, and you will have unofficial leaders upholding your commitment to staying relevant in the market.
Adopting a culture add initiative showcases your dedication to supporting workplaces that value belonging, inclusion, and diversity, positioning your company as a forward-thinking organization.
Shifting to a culture-add approach will improve your workplace dynamics and sustain your hiring efforts.
Diversity and inclusion are not just buzzwords; candidates will want to see how you actively adapt the team culture to your entire organization.
It’s time for you to reevaluate your hiring practices and your company culture. Your team is the biggest asset that paves the way for how equitable and transformative your workplace can be. So, in 2024, let’s ditch the culture fit and adopt a culture-add approach to be thoughtful of everyone who does not share the same cookie-cutter ideas.