Benefits of Hiring Employees that "Fit"

by: Renee Boatwright | VP of Recruiting
Once you start to hire, manage and fire employees based on corporate culture, you will start to recognize and experience substantial benefits. It may take longer for some organizations to recognize these benefits, but you should start to experience reduction in employee turnover and increase in employee morale. By reducing employee turnover and increasing employee morale you’ll find that you’ve created a work environment where employees enjoy being at work. If employees enjoy being at work, they are more likely to interact with their co-workers, clients and business partners in a positive, engaging manner. Not only should the state of the work environment improve, but managers and business owners should start noticing benefits in their bottom line! All the more reason to conserve your organization’s culture!!

In 2006 a Cornell University study found that small businesses that followed the culture fit approach experienced 22% more revenue growth and 23% more profit growth compared to companies that did not follow the culture fit approach. The study also found that companies that followed the culture fit approach experienced 67% less employee turnover compared to the companies that did not follow the culture fit approach. Wow! The 323 companies that were tested in this study hired employees based on culture fit and skill set as opposed to skill set only. The companies that were tested trusted their employees to manage themselves rather than enacting strict controls. They also created a “family-like” environment rather than motivating employees solely by money.

At Integra we believe that working as a team has made us individually and collectively more successful. We meet as a team every day to discuss challenges and possible solutions. It is amazing how beneficial advice can be that is given by an outsider who isn’t “consumed” with the problem. The information that we share with our team may not benefit us individually today, but the act will be reciprocated either tomorrow or the next day and will come full circle time and again. Our open, positive, encouraging, fun culture has caused us to be collectively successful, which is a benefit to our employees, our company, our clients and our business partners.

Comments

[QandA]

I agree that "fit" is vitally important to the success of any organization. Only the best companies in the world have employees who are fully engaged in their work and their workplace. Being engaged definitely starts with fitting in to the culture. However, if employment decisions are based mostly on "fit", do you believe this opens the company up to possible discrimination lawsuits? Fit is subjective and most people "fit" with other people in similar socio-economic and racial backgrounds. In the long term, and possibly in the short term, this strategy alone could lead to disparate impact. It seems that the complete formula for employment decisions would include past experience, past behavior, performance results and fit.