If you use any corporate social network or are involved in this world, you have certainly heard about the term “cultural fit”, but do you really know what it is and how it is implemented in companies ?
The term cultural fit has been used much more frequently in recent years due to companies’ greater concern regarding organizational culture and how this can reflect on business performance. In this article, you will learn what cultural fit is and how it can be implemented in the company’s human resources processes or by managers.
What is cultural fit?
Cultural fit can be defined as the compatibility between an employee’s values, behaviors and goals and the culture of the company they work for. It’s like a romantic relationship; goals and values must be aligned for the result to be positive.
In other words, we can say that cultural fit is understanding that when an employee shares the same organizational values, he or she aligns with the company ‘s mission and vision , facilitating collaboration and communication. Although it may seem simple, we are inserted in a culture that does not value this cultural interaction between company and employee.
When an employee is not fully aligned with the company or has a purpose linked to its values, this becomes more difficult over time. After all, it is as if I were married, but in a relationship with an expiration date.
How to implement cultural fit in your company?
The implementation of cultural fit in a company must go through some simple but very important processes to ensure that this action is not carried out incorrectly. First of all, this must start with the company, which must clearly define its values and mission. It must understand the importance of these definitions to attract candidates assertively and to define assessment methods.
The company needs to be aware of where it is going and what tools will help it achieve this goal. A company that decides to implement cultural fit without first knowing its goals will have a failed implementation. Once these definitions have been made, incorporating cultural fit into the hiring process is essential.
Many companies wait a long time to implement cultural fit solutions for employees already working at the company, but a practical way to implement them is to incorporate them into the process of hiring new talent.
When these new people come in aligned with the company’s purposes, the older employees will understand and adjust to their colleagues, and, over time, everyone will experience that new solution.
Is the onboarding process essential?
Yes. The onboarding process is an essential step when we are talking about cultural fit. Many companies still follow an old and outdated hiring process, in which onboarding is not included in the hiring process.
This means that the company hires talent but does not provide adequate technical and cultural training. Some companies still provide technical training because they need to achieve results, but they forget that if there is no complete cultural training, the chances of turnover increase.
How can cultural fit be evaluated during the hiring process?
The assessment of a company’s cultural fit involves some behavioral questions that can be asked before, during and after a hiring and training process. Behavioral tests will assess specific aspects of a candidate, such as their temperament (choleric, sanguine, melancholic or phlegmatic), their corporate personality , responses to stressful stimuli, among other characteristics.
Personality tests will assess the cultural compatibility of this candidate with the company’s objectives and culture. The idea behind these tests is to understand whether the candidate will deal well with the reality they will encounter in the company and with their direct manager.
Checking previous experiences also helps a lot when assessing cultural fit. We cannot forget that this candidate comes to us with a specific background , so evaluating how he or she reacted to situations in previous companies can be a good idea to ensure a “ match ”.
What is the role of cultural fit in talent development and retention?
Cultural fit is closely related to talent retention in companies, mainly because it is very common to lose talent that does not align or adapt to what the company needs at the time.
This strategy serves as a tool to understand the satisfaction and loyalty of employees who identify with the company’s values and tend to be more satisfied over time and as their role develops.
However, since we are talking about an organizational culture, it is essential that this connection be maintained throughout the employee’s career development. There is no point in having a solid culture and an employee who aligns directly with it if there is no career development along the way.
