Want to Achieve a Happier Workspace With More Committed Employees?
Reading time: 4 mins
Find out why it is imperative for businesses to develop a strong organisational culture if they wish to achieve a more positive workspace.
Despite a gleaming resume, the most qualified candidate is not always the best candidate. Talent recruitment professionals say that in addition to hard skills and technical competencies, businesses must also decide if they are a right fit for the organisation.
It is people, after all, who determine the success of a business. How effectively they work together depends on how well they communicate, interact with or understand one another.
“As a recruiter, I find that a well-balanced candidate has more to offer (than a candidate with just the right skillsets),” said Jun Lim, senior consultant with DecodeHR. “Some businesses fail to realise that soft skills affect both internal and external working relationships, and this impacts business and productivity in its own way.”
Positive workspaces
After all, the less the friction, the more welcoming the workplace. The more welcoming the workplace, the more engaged and happier its workers.
Research conducted by Oxford University’s Saïd Business School shows that happy employees are 13 per cent more productive. Additionally, they are 125 per cent more effective when they feel engaged and inspired at work, according to management consultancy Bain & Company.
Positive workspaces are not a given. But talent recruiters say that one way to achieve this is for businesses to hire employees based on cultural fit. When employees hold the same values and belief systems as the organisation to which they belong, the more likely that workplace relationships develop and thrive.
Culture Clash
Hiring a bad fit for the organisation can have daunting consequences. “Very often there will be friction,” said Evelyn Chow, DecodeHR’s managing director. “Incoming talent who find themselves at odds with the dominant company culture will likely end up leaving. They may not always show any signs of the impending decision to leave which makes it harder for leaders to manage the hidden dissatisfaction.”
Individuals who are oriented towards family values, for example, would find great dissatisfaction in working for an organisation that is centred around a merit-based culture.
Bob Chia, business development director of Talent Data Labs, a company that operates a hiring and human resource analytics platform, noted, “Strong distances in cultural preferences tend to cause very early churn in employees.”
This can be costly for businesses, especially if they find themselves having to constantly rehire and retrain. It would be far more efficient for businesses to select and hire candidates that fit into their existing organisational culture.
Creating a desired culture
Ideally, employers should have a good understanding of what this entails. However, this is not always the case. Even if they do, many companies fail to evaluate the existing situation, noted Evelyn. “Not many think about organisational culture enough, and how they can intentionally go about shaping and nurturing it.”
Actively creating a desired organisational culture requires data, management and active participation. “The more we understand the internal preferences of people, the more we can cater to them,” said Bob.
He suggested several strategies in talent recruitment and retention. Representing the strongest cultural values in a recruitment ad, for example, would allow a level of self-selection among potential applicants.
With existing employees, Bob encourages businesses to reward specific behaviours that embody their most important cultural values, and to evaluate employees based on their ability to represent the existing organisational culture.
Ultimately, the employees within an organisation need to be aligned in their values and beliefs. This leads to a stronger and more cohesive workplace culture, and creates resilience within the organisation, said Evelyn. “They weather storms better together because they work as a team, and they co-ideate more effectively.”
Read part 2 of this article here.
Want to learn more about organisational culture and how to incorporate this in your hiring strategy? Get in touch with our team now.
