Traditional hiring approaches often emphasize cultural fit, which prioritizes how well a new hire matches the existing company culture. However, cultural add is emerging as a vital component of successful organizational strategy.
Cultural add focuses on how a candidate's unique qualities and diverse perspectives can enhance and evolve that culture. Embracing cultural add can lead to a more vibrant, innovative, and effective workplace.
Let's explore why cultural add is so important — and how it can be a game-changer for your organization.
Culture add vs. Culture Fit
Hiring for culture add means focusing on people who share an organization's ethics while offering new and fresh perspectives. Teams that hire from a culture fit perspective focus on how a candidate meshes with the existing culture rather than what they bring to the company.
Cultural fit seems beneficial on the surface, but it often leads to organizations hiring the same types of candidates repeatedly. This method creates a company culture that is less diverse and more stagnant.
Cultural add still takes a company's unique characteristics into account, but it also considers people who bring something new. This approach creates a more diverse workforce and allows organizations to gain different perspectives for ongoing success.
Hiring Candidates Who Enhance the Company Environment
Culture add focuses on recruiting candidates who reflect a company's values and behaviors while bringing a new perspective. This connection between candidates and a company allows new hires to improve their overall function and work well with their team.
Once you've cultivated a strong company culture, hire people who enhance it! For example, at Hueman, we gravitate toward candidates who are:
- Positive
- Self-motivated
- Adaptable
When you hire the right people, the organization thrives. People want to come to work every day because they love their coworkers and feel valued by the organization. When we partner with other organizations, we learn about their cultures first and then source potential candidates. The only people who make it to interviews are pre-vetted and guaranteed to complement existing teams.
5 Ways Hiring for Cultural add Can Benefit Your Business
At Hueman RPO, we've seen the benefits of hiring for cultural add firsthand. Hueman has been recognized by Fortune magazine as a Best Workplace and the Great Place to Work Institute for 14 consecutive years, even earning the No. 1 spot in 2013 and the No. 2 spot in 2014. Most recently, in 2018, we were recognized by Gallup as one of the Top 39 Great Workplaces.
Here are five ways hiring for cultural add can benefit your business.
1. Increased employee satisfaction: Happy employees are productive, engaged, and motivated to succeed. That's a critical combination in any industry where employees are entrusted with your company's health. In an ideal world, who wouldn't want to enjoy going to work every day?
2. High-level performance: When workers feel like they belong, they're enthusiastic about taking on new challenges and responsibilities. The entire team benefits from their willingness to go the extra mile. The result? High-level performance from your employees.
3. Decreased turnover: Employee turnover is costly. People stay in jobs they like. Employees who are happy are more productive in their work environments and feel invested in the long-term success of the company. They want to stick around to play their parts.
4. Lower stress levels: Employees who align with company culture and feel they add to its value are often happier in a workplace. Stress is a relationship killer among coworkers, and it distracts people from doing their jobs well. Cohesive teams are productive, so be mindful of how new hires will impact (and be impacted by) existing dynamics.
5. Employee loyalty: Employees should not dread coming to work every day. If workers see themselves as valued team members, they identify with the company's success and contribute to the overall purpose and goals of the organization. They're less likely to leave if they feel responsible to their colleagues and their employers.
Great hires bring fresh energy to their teams, inspiring creativity and a renewed sense of motivation for better productivity and profitability.
How Do You Assess For Culture Add?
Cultural add allows you to find candidates who align with your values while offering unique perspectives, experiences, and qualities that can enhance and evolve your organizational culture. During interviews, you can assess cultural add through the topics you focus on and the questions you ask.
Define Desired Cultural Add
Start by clearly defining what cultural add means for your organization. Identify the areas where diversity of thought, experience, or background could have the most significant impact. Consider aspects such as different industry experiences, varied educational backgrounds, or diverse cultural perspectives. By understanding what specific elements you want to add to your culture, you can better assess candidates for those qualities.
Use Behavioral Interview Questions
Behavioral interview questions are an excellent way to gauge how candidates have demonstrated qualities that align with cultural add. Ask questions that explore past experiences where candidates have introduced new ideas, adapted to different environments, or worked with diverse teams. Here are a few example questions:
Can you describe a time when you introduced a new perspective or idea to your team? How did it impact the project or team dynamics?
Tell me about an experience where you worked with people from different backgrounds. What challenges did you face, and how did you address them?
These questions help reveal how candidates have contributed to and enhanced their previous work environments.
Assess Familiarity With Your Company Culture
Ask questions that encourage candidates to share their reflections on your company culture, such as:
- What do you know about our company's values?
- Do you know our company's mission? How does it align with your mission?
- What is your perception of our company culture?
As you ask these questions, consider whether the candidate understands your culture fully. Also, assess whether they bring a fresh perspective regarding your company that you may not see. These inquiries allow candidates to share how they can bring growth and change within your company.
Evaluate the Candidate's Interpersonal Skills
Strong communication and interpersonal skills are crucial for integrating diverse perspectives effectively. Assess how candidates communicate their ideas, collaborate with others, and handle feedback by asking questions like these:
- What might your coworkers say about their experience working with you compared to other team members?
- What is your ideal work environment?
- Can you provide an example of a time you worked on a team?
- Describe a situation where you had to adapt to a significant change at work.
- What does work-life balance look like for you?
These topics allow you to gain further insight into the candidate. As you ask questions, look for responses that show how candidates deal with different viewpoints and how they see their unique perspective as valuable in your workplace.
Not Having a Cultural Add in the Workplace Is Bad for Business
Hiring someone who doesn't contribute to your culture doesn't only affect other staff members and management — it also negatively impacts customer care. A single bad employee can drag down the morale of an entire office, increasing the likelihood of mistakes and underperformance.Hiring for cultural add is essential to keeping your company's reputation in good standing. Bad cultural fits tend to be disengaged from work. Weeding out people who don't add to your culture during the recruitment process can save you money in the long run.
In the end, you can't teach someone to add to your organization's culture and goals. But, you can hire the very best candidate for the longevity of your business and the foundation of your core values as a company.
Finding the right cultural add for your business can positively impact you in more ways than one
Gain Cultural Add With Hueman RPO
Hueman RPO provides customized recruitment processes to suit your organization. We put people first, learning about your culture and finding candidates who can enhance it. Talk to our solutions team about how we can add the Hueman touch to your recruiting processes.
