Hiring for cultural fit has grown more popular as executives become aware of the advantages of a diverse and inclusive workplace. However, the term “cultural fit” has devolved into an excuse to hire based on gut reactions and “personality fit.” This has led to a spate of articles denouncing the practice.
When a hiring manager identifies with a prospect or shares a particular trait, background, or life experience, they are more likely to hire that prospect. This isn’t necessarily a conscious process; the bias may be unconscious.
If your company wants to hire for cultural fit, they must avoid the bad practices that can reduce workplace diversity. Reducing cognitive bias starts with understanding what cultural fit really is. Then, you can learn how to prevent it.
What Does Culture Fit Actually Mean?
It’s imperative that you understand the meaning of cultural fit to be able to identify it in your hiring process. Cultural fit is a concept that can be incredibly tough to define, but everyone notices when it’s missing. At its core, cultural fit means hiring candidates based on how they might fit into your company culture.
It makes sense to want to hire people who share the same values with your company. But that’s not precisely what hiring managers are doing. Instead of actually identifying common values, many fall into the trap of seeking personal connections, opening the door for unconscious bias. The outcome is a homogenous work environment that lacks diversity.
Therefore, hiring managers should keep in mind that it’s not so much about “getting along well with each other” as it is “will they thrive and deliver in a particular work environment.” When done correctly, recruiting based on shared values and cultural beliefs may improve employee retention. Every company should strive to maintain a low employee turnover rate.
Employees who fit in well with their organization’s culture are more likely to remain with their employer for longer. However, misusing cultural fit can result in lower employee retention. It has to be implemented properly.
The Result of Most Attempts at Cultural Fit
Most organizations trying to prioritize cultural fit lack the training and knowledge to implement it correctly, resulting in some unintended consequences. In most cases, attempts at cultural fit will result in the following:
Groupthink
In organizational settings, groupthink occurs when employees agree for the sake of team harmony. Hiring all of your employees based on their preferences can reinforce this phenomenon. In a team that easily “gets along,” employees may self-censor and not suggest alternatives for fear of upsetting the status quo.
Groupthink can be disastrous for your company. When employees become invested in their fit, they overlook potential issues in pursuing consensus thinking. Groupthink de-emphasizes critical thinking and hinders innovation, both of which are critical for business success.
Less Diversity
As mentioned earlier in the article, hiring for culture fit can encourage bias, especially unconscious bias. In a culture-fit organization, interviews often take the form of a casual conversation. As candidates reveals more about themselves, biases will naturally creep into the decision-making process.
We all make snap judgments about others, albeit unconsciously. This affects our decision-making. When you have a ‘bad feeling’ about a candidate, that’s probably just your unconscious bias. This bias can cause you to favor certain candidates. In other words, your gut leads you to hire people similar to you, resulting in a homogenous workforce.
A homogenous work environment hinders innovation and stifles growth. Having a diverse and inclusive team holds a competitive advantage when it comes to problem-solving. Even if your company is actively searching for candidates in under-represented groups, you should still look for diversity in behavior, interests, background, education, and aspirations.
How To Reduce Cognitive Bias When Hiring
As an HR or hiring manager, you can take a few steps to reduce cognitive bias when screening for cultural fit. The most important thing you need to do when hiring for cultural fit is to define your company culture as objectively as possible. Be sure to articulate what values, beliefs, and practices define your organization.
As a diversity-focused company, you may want to consider ditching ‘cultural fit’ for ‘culture add’ when hiring. Instead of looking at whether or not a candidate fits in with the company culture, the culture add approach looks at what a candidate can add to it. Culture add brings more diverse ideas, perspectives, and experiences to the workplace.
Either way, recruiting for company culture will never be perfect. But that doesn’t mean you should stop trying. It’s in the best interest of your organization to create a more diverse work environment by improving upon existing hiring processes. And now that you understand the concept of cultural fit and are well aware of the potential pitfalls, you can effectively screen for culture fit and avoid bias in your interview process.
