Why you need to recruit staff that align with company values

Focusing on those ‘soft skills’

There is so much that goes into hiring the right candidate for a job, and there is a lot of pressure on HR and department heads to make sure that they get it right.

It costs a ton of money and time to hire and onboard an employee, and employee turnover costs even more.  The hiring process therefore cannot be a flimsy trial and error guessing-game, nor can it be based on a “gut feeling”.

It needs to be calculated and ironclad.

One of the most important elements to consider when hiring is whether the potential candidate aligns with the values of the company.

Why?

Because when people are passionate about what they do and they connect with a mission, they are more likely to stay at the company and thrive.

The state of employee engagement around the globe

Supposedly, a whopping 38 percent* of people around the world do not believe that their personal values align with the core values of the company. That is a significant number, and it is not without repercussions. When an employee doesn’t connect with a company’s mission, they risk becoming disengaged.

What is employee disengagement?

Disengaged employees are currently costing Australia alone more than $50 billion dollars a year. At some level, your company is a contributor to that massive number.

When employees are disengaged, there’s a downward spiral that risks:

• Employees losing interest in their role
• Staff not working as hard
• Unhappy customers
• The company suffering
• The employee losing their job
• Money being spent on recruitment and onboarding of a new employee

It is the manager’s job to keep employees engaged by ensuring that they give regular and meaningful feedback, offer constant recognition and create a positive workplace environment for their team.

But the job of a recruiter, first and foremost, is to make sure that the new hire is strongly aligned to the cultural fit of the organisation.

When employees are a mismatch for their role and organisation, they often struggle to succeed or become bored and restless. Their days — even their careers — can feel wasted, along with their sense of purpose.  They need to be sure that the employee’s personal core values align with the company’s core values.

For small businesses, 46 percent of hires will be gone after 18 months, and an enormous 89 percent of these cases are due to a poor fit with the company’s organisational culture.

That is no small number.

More shocking statistics on company alignment in today’s workplace

Just to give you some insight into the ongoing issue surrounding company alignment, we have compiled these statistics:

1. 22% of employees either don’t understand their company’s values or simply don’t know what they are.
2. 33% of employees don’t feel that they are reminded of their mission often enough.
3. 38% of employees don’t believe their company’s core values align with their personal values.

These numbers reveal that there is a lack of clarity and communication surrounding company values. And even worse, most Executives believe that a clearly defined organisational culture is vital to workplace success.

So where is the point of contention?

It is so important for companies to know their mission and to share it loud and clear. Ingrain it in the thought process of each employee and give them something bigger than themselves to work for and towards. This offers them a collective purpose beyond a paycheck.

The cost of employee turnover

Employee turnover costs a company up to 34% percent of the employee’s salary.

This cost includes:

• Cost of hiring
• Cost of onboarding
• Loss of engagement and productivity
• Customer service and errors
• Cost of training
• Cultural impact

What can HR and Recruitment do to fix the problem before it begins?

It’s important for recruiters to ask the right questions to evaluate cultural fit.  Nowadays so many interviews are happening via video that it’s harder to evaluate someone. However, if you ask the right questions and are observant of body language, social etiquette, presentation, mannerisms, energy and more, you will get a strong idea of whether this person is a good fit for your organisation.

Here are some helpful questions you can ask candidates to determine culture fit:

1. What do you think causes failure?
2. Give me an example of a time when you helped a coworker when there was no direct benefit for you.
3. How do you define success and failure?
4. Describe one world leader that you admire and why.
5. What character from a popular TV show do you identify with?
6. What is more important to you: money or job satisfaction? Why?
7. Describe the type of company you would like to work for and why.
8. The mission of our company is ______ and we believe in _____. How do you connect with this mission?
9. What interests outside of work do you have that you think connect with the core values of the company?

Do you know your company values?  Do they align with who you are?  But more importantly, does your team know what your values are, and do they live and breathe them?  If they are just a set of words that everyone has learnt off by heart without really understanding their meaning, then you need to review them.  Put something in place that resonates with people and that will also resonate with future employees.

At Elite Executive we recently updated our values to better reflect who we are.  What do you think?

• Love what you’re doing. Be passionate about life and what you do. We deliver WOW.
• We think differently. We challenge the status quo and don’t follow the herd. We go above & beyond. We push boundaries.
• Play it straight. We are transparent and honest, and we care. We always do what is right and fair. We say it as it is.
• One team. We collaborate, we support, and we share with each other.
• We seek to understand. We don’t assume. We ask better questions. We have an open mind.

Eva Grabner
Managing Director
Elite Executive Pty Ltd
www.eliteexecutive.com.au
Cairns | Brisbane

Eva has been working in the executive and professional recruitment industry for nearly 15 years. She is a highly professional and driven Managing Director and Principal Recruiter with a wealth of recruitment experience across a multitude of industries. Her previous experience includes executive leadership and senior management-level operational roles throughout the world. What stands out as soon as you meet her is her passion for what she does. She is a proud Cairns local and solo parent to her son, Kai.