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.
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 amount of overtime offered and many other factors. Employers looking to tackle poor hiring decisions should ensure they recruit for their own company culture.
Developing a screening process that integrates prescreening based on your company culture is the first step in addressing your turnover and retention rates. Finding the right fit can be accomplished with the following steps:
- 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. When you can identify what makes the organization successful, you will know what to look for during the selection process.
- Create metrics for measuring cultural fit by determining cost-per-hire, time-to-fill and quality-of-hire data.
- Create a brand to describe your organization to potential employees. Depict your culture accurately so that candidates can filter themselves in or out based on how you describe the company.
- Change up your interviews. 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.
- Make sure management is trained on how to properly interview for behaviors.
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.
As an HR professional, you play an important role in seeking out soft skills and helping your organization function smoothly. For more information and help finding the right candidates for your company, contact the MBA’s HR and Legal Team at 814/833-3200, 800/815-2660 or hrservices@mbausa.org.
