Hiring staff with the same values, style and goals – good or evil for the company?

10.21.2019

The Wall Street Journal has published material based on the arguments of HRD and the founders of well-known American companies about the role of corporate culture in recruiting staff. We offer a free translation of a fascinating discussion.

It all starts with the fact that business owners come to understand what their ideal employee should look like. In their opinion, such a person is easier to hire or hire through a selection agency, because the company’s offer fits perfectly into his lifestyle. According to ex-HRD Netflix Patty McCord, this “cultural code,” as recruiters call it, actually has nothing to do with a set of soft skills in the corporate world. It is just a desire to select those people with whom it is pleasant to chat on abstract topics and drink beer after work. HR receive tasks from bosses to find a person in a party, and not to complete tasks.

According to the Korn Ferry consulting firm, in 2018, 100% of 1,100 simplified recruiters took a new trend among job seekers: the need to work in a comfortable environment added to the motivation with the level of wages. Moreover, now candidates first of all look at the atmosphere within the team and all those intangible benefits that the company gives before making its choice. This is good news for employers: such employees value their workplace more, they are more difficult to lure and they enjoy working even when they are not controlled.

But there is some bad news:

1. Interviewers begin to hire only those people with whom they could get along at an interview. Their level of education and professionalism may fade into the background, which will adversely affect the work of the company (opinion of the Head of the Department of Cultural Transformation Kirsta Anderson from Korn Ferry)
2. Any innovation, especially if it toughens the corporate culture even a little, is perceived by employees as a personal insult and distrust. People forget that they are at work, not at the resort (Ms. McCord, author of Powerful Workplace Culture Book)
3. The role of corporate culture is sometimes overstated. According to Deloitte polls, about 7% of workers aged 24 to 36 say they dislike their employer’s culture so much that they intend to quit their job over the next two years. This means that employers cannot “play long” with their staff, expect them to maintain common values.
4. Lack of flexibility, an extraordinary view of the solution to the problem. Employees similar to each other think and work approximately the same, which gives less room for maneuver in case of a non-trivial situation.

And most importantly, what is included in the concept of corporate culture?
– Collective enthusiasm for a company’s mission or goal
– A similar approach to work (collectively or individually)
– Understanding which decisions will be right, which risks will be assessed, and which will not.

 What is not included in the concept of corporate culture?
– Recruiting for the same diploma / ethnicity / career path
– Waiting for a feeling of comfort in communication with colleagues
– Organization of gifts, games and alcohol in the workplace