2020 Employer Trends: A Focus on Company Culture
You have heard the phrase “company culture” many times. It has been of great interest to business leaders, employees, and even investors over the past few years. Initially, company culture was based on perks — things like ping pong tables, free snacks, and company-paid happy hours. The term has since grown into something much bigger, defining the environment in which employees operate, including their mission, values, ethics, and expectations. However, many talent acquisition professionals (recruiters included) are still mulling over what it means when they get requests to hire for “culture fit.”
What does company culture look like in practice?
What is so interesting about company culture is that it is different for each company. Right now, a company’s culture is defined by its leaders and then ingrained through action.
Weak company culture means that there is a disconnect between the culture that leaders state they have created, and the reality. This may be because the culture is not understood and reinforced, or because efforts are not being made to support that culture.
Strong company culture means leaders and employees understand the company’s values and live them out daily. Decisions are made based on these values, and they are reinforced through training and other initiatives.
If a company states that they value flexible and agile workers (something that is important to the procurement function), they need to back that up through tactics like allowing employees to work varied hours or work remotely. They would also want to consider providing their employees with agile training or provide them with solid decision-making processes to help them work in an agile manner. The culture is not just companies stating what they want from people, but also how they support it.
Challenges in hiring for culture fit
When there is a disconnect between the culture a company says it has and the one it truly has, hiring managers may face serious issues. What is the advantage of bringing in candidates who display certain values if the company does not truly uphold them? It can lead to employees becoming disengaged, or even quitting their jobs because their expectations were not met.
Similarly, hiring for a culture fit may not ALWAYS be a good idea, depending on your definition. For some organizations, hiring for a culture fit has led to hiring people who look and think the same. As the talent gap continues to grow, companies should be looking for people from all different backgrounds, with new ideas, who will challenge the status quo. Perhaps it is a cultural expansion that more companies should be looking to hire for.
That does not mean that you can’t hire for values like humility, transparency, creativity, etc. But companies must also remember that diversity of thought and expectation are extremely valuable. It’s all about balance, and business leaders and talent acquisition professionals alike are still trying to figure out how this transition in workplace culture will affect companies and the people who work for them.
Company culture in the future
The best we can do is make an educated guess about how company culture will be perceived and interpreted in the future. The expectations of company culture and the way we hire will continue to change as every new generation comes in with their own needs and perspectives. We will continue to see more employers define their company culture, and we will see the most successful companies support that culture in tangible ways.