“Culture fit” sounds like the latest in a long line of buzzwords used by recruiters.

But, no matter how much of a cliché it has become, the meaning behind it has a real impact on your business.

Because the phrase square pegs into round holes has real significance in a workplace.

As recruiters we understand that Skills and Experience are held as the gold standard for hiring.

And rightly so.

However, you cannot and should not overlook culture fit.

Why? In short, a person’s attitude to their work and how they will interact with others in the company will provide greater longevity, retention, morale, and productivity.

A person that feels like they belong in a company, work well in a company, are listened to and appreciated, and can engage with others in the company, will naturally produce better quality work.

Skills can always be taught, but culture fit can’t.

A lot of people mistake what culture fit is and how it contributes to your recruitment process.

Fear no more, here’s the ultimate guide to understanding culture fit and how to hire for it.

Understanding Culture Fit

Let’s start with understanding what it actually means.

Everyone knows that “company culture” is made up of the values, attitudes, and behaviours embedded in your day to day work.

For example, is it competitive or collaborative between employees? Do you regularly give to charities and involve employees? Do you all talk about the football during quiet moments? Do you have a flat structure or is it more hierarchical?

Culture fit refers to how compatible employees are with a company’s culture, goals, and values.

Candidates who are a good cultural fit are usually the ones that are thriving in your business.

They are achieving their goals, work well in their team, and enjoy coming to work.

If, to give an example, they believe that the company they work for is trying to do good for the environment by planting trees then their values are much more likely to be aligned.

And this is important.

When you look to hire someone, you’re after more than just skills.

You want someone who can hit the ground running, collaborate with the team, and drive company growth, improving the workplace for everyone.

As a result, those who are a good culture fit naturally are those that possess essential hard and soft skills that complement the company and their colleagues.

It also has a significant impact on the wider aspects of your business:

Job satisfaction and engagement

Employees who fit well into the company culture are more satisfied with their jobs.

It cultivates a sense of belonging and commitment among employees, leading to higher retention rates. And higher employee retention saves on recruitment costs associated with turnover/churn, which can be substantial.

Cohesion

Shared core values make it easier to maintain a cohesive work environment and resolve conflicts.

Not only this, hiring individuals who align with the company’s values can enhance brand image and reputation as they will often become vocal advocates for your business.

Performance improvement

That job satisfaction, as well as feeling comfortable with the company, leads to improved performance.

Employees will feel motivated and committed and that, in turn, encourages collaboration and teamwork (which also lead to increased productivity).

Identifying improvement areas

When you evaluate candidates for culture fit, you can also highlight areas of your work, products, service, or company cohesion that need improvement and increases the likelihood of long-term success for both the employee and the company.

Still unconvinced?

• 74% of employees feel demotivated by poor culture fit.
• 58% of employees would switch jobs for better culture.
• 4x revenue growth with strong culture.
• 81% less likely to leave a role.
• 84% improved job performance.

So now that we understand what culture fit is and what the upsides are, what are the downsides to it?

Downsides to Hiring for Culture Fit

While culture fit is important, overly relying on it is worse.

The worst thing you can do is hire SOLELY for culture fit.

Culture fit should be an important element of recruitment but not the whole emphasis of it.

The common pitfalls that can happen are:

Lack of diversity

Like follows like.

Naturally people are likely to hang out with others that are similar to them. So, when companies hire based solely on culture fit, they end up with a workforce that’s pretty much all the same.

This destroys the diversity in your company.

Diversity drives innovation, so hiring the same type of people all the time can hold a company back.

Diverse companies have been proven to have more ideas, better quality ideas, and the influence of multiple points of view creates a dynamic atmosphere that helps a team look at a problem from all angles.

Why wouldn’t you want that in your business?

It’s important to note that when we talk about culture fit, it’s about the individuals values and attitudes aligning with the companies values and attitudes.

Low employee retention

Hiring for culture fit only really works if you have a good company culture.

If what you promise doesn’t match the reality, then you aren’t going to have employees for long.

Given that individuals value company culture a lot more in these days (sometimes on par with their salaries), they’re likely to move on if they don’t feel comfortable.

The culture needs to align with the individual otherwise they won’t stay.

Hiring based solely on cultural fit can lead to disengagement and dissatisfaction among employees who don’t feel like they belong or aren’t valued for their unique contribution.

This may be because of either a disconnect between the company culture and themselves, or it could be due to personality overload.

Personality overload

Part of culture fit is understanding personalities.

Much like the issues with diversity and not hiring lookalikes all the time, only hiring one kind of personality will create an imbalance.

And anyone who doesn’t fit that mould are likely to not fit in with the team, causing a lack of cohesion and a negative experience overall.

Remember that the alignment needs to be around the core values, goals, and aspirations of the business.

These are more universal tenets than specific character quirks.

Lots of personalities will then align and contribute to that.

One such way to combat this would be to incorporate various personality tests to find the right candidates and to make culture fit assessments fair and measurable.

Bias in hiring

Many companies struggle with unconscious bias in their hiring processes.

Hiring the same type of people over and over can reinforce these biases, favouring candidates who are similar to current employees and excluding qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds.

Again, culture fit is centred around the company culture not external cultures and should be inclusive and diverse.

Make sure you take this into account during your recruitment process.

Missing true talent

Just because someone fits the culture doesn’t mean they’re the best candidate.

Focusing too much on culture fit might cause companies to overlook talented candidates, that’s why it should form a part of the picture, not the whole picture.

We’re not saying these things to put you off, we’re using them as a warning for you to understand that there is no “silver bullet” to recruitment.

You should always look at multiple factors and try to understand the individual entirely rather than any single point of reference.

Looking for employees who match a company’s values can bring everyone together, but it also runs the risk of excluding diverse perspectives.

It can give you lots of people who work well together, but not necessarily with the skills and experience to grow.

It also won’t create an agile, creative, multi-faceted, and effective team for reaching your goals. In other words, you will be unlikely to find or hire the trailblazers for your business.

Just being aware of the issues can help you mitigate them.

For example, imagine a company where everyone enjoys playing football during breaks and often talks about their favourite teams.

When hiring, they may only choose people who share their interest in football. But what if there’s a talented candidate who prefers rugby or cricket?

Hiring solely based on cultural fit might mean missing out on someone who could bring valuable skills and perspectives to the team because they have different interests.

How to Evaluate and Hire for Cultural Fit

Evaluating candidates for culture fit involves assessing their values, personality, work styles, and beliefs to ensure alignment with the organisation’s culture.

This can be done through interviews, behavioural assessments, reference checks, and observing how they interact with current team members.

You will also need to take the time to understand your company culture as a whole as well as even individual team/department cultures.

That way you will ensure you know who to find that will fit within the whole office.

There’s no “one size fits all” process that works for every job but we’ve found that this covers a lot of key points you will need.

1. Define your culture

Before hiring for culture fit, you have to have culture.

This means you need to understand your organisation’s values, mission, and culture to determine what traits and behaviours align with it.

Honesty is key here, think carefully and critically about how your business is set up in its culture and values.

Getting an insight into your culture helps guide the recruitment and selection process and makes all the following steps far easier.

Also take note of smaller team cultures. Different teams and departments operate in different ways. While they will all be aligned to the company culture, these small sub-cultures are just as important.

You will also need to consider how that individual will work and fit in within the team. One size does not fit all.

2. Develop and convey criteria

Once you’ve defined your organisation’s culture, list specific characteristics, values, and behaviours that reflect it.

Then a. make sure you are upholding these values and behaviours in your business and b. make sure they are communicated thoroughly (websites, blogs, emails, hiring portals, etc).

These will ensure that your messaging is plain and consistent as well as “pre-screen” applications as typically only those that would agree with them would apply.

They also act as guidelines for assessing candidates during the interview process, ensuring you hire individuals who will thrive in your workplace.

3. Include culture fit questions in interviews

During interviews, ask questions to understand the candidate’s values, how they work, communicate, and solve problems.

Or you could use tools like behavioural assessments or personality tests to investigate how they might fit into your company’s culture.

Incorporating this element lies at the core of “hiring for culture fit”.

Remember this should not be the principal reason for hiring someone but should form part of the reason.

4. Observe and evaluate

Observe how the candidates act, behave, communicate, and interact during interviews. This helps understand how they might fit into your organisation.

Don’t forget to take into account though that they are likely to be nervous and that won’t necessarily represent a naturalised approach.

After the interview is over you can properly evaluate their responses and if they are likely to be a good fit for your company.

5. Check references

Speak with references to gather additional information about the candidate’s work style, collaboration skills, and cultural fit in previous roles.

It’s not guaranteed as most employers will only give a blanket statement of when the employee worked.

However, if you can get more details this will help you gauge candidates’ past work performance and ability to thrive within different organisational cultures.

6. Consider DEI

While assessing culture fit, consider the candidate’s potential to contribute to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the organisation.

Culture fit, again, is not about hiring lookalikes but rather finding individuals who share common values and behaviours that will positively contribute to your business.

7. Make informed decisions

Use all of the information that you have gathered to decide whether the candidate fits your organisation’s culture.

Remember that it’s highly unlikely that you will find people that will 100% match exactly what you are looking for but look for those that share the core values and behaviours while still providing you with diversity and active contribution to your success.

The above is a simplified version of the steps you should take but they still cover the core of what should be your company’s approach to assessing and hiring for culture fit.

Hiring those that will enjoy your company and its culture is something that is a practiced art but is amazing for employee morale, productivity, collaboration, and achievement of all of your targets.

Treat your employees well in this regard and they will become the greatest advocates for your business.