Fit Recruiting: Culture Fit, Culture Add & Diversity of Thought

Fit Recruiting for Culture

In the world of work, there’s one thing you can count on…and that’s the ongoing proliferation of new phrases or acronyms. New phrases like “culture fit” and “culture add” have taken on multiple meanings and muddied the already cloudy waters of unbiased recruitment practices. To combat that confusion, this article will explore their similarities and their differences, and how using fit recruiting can elevate your recruitment practices and find you the best candidate.

The term ‘culture fit’ has received some criticism. Some companies are even banning the phrase altogether, fearing it emphasizes homogeneity, the very opposite of its intent. At its core, culture fit, or fit recruiting, as Humantelligence defines and uses the term, actually boosts inclusion and diversity within its teams. Finding candidates that align with culture doesn’t limit the existing background or experiences to be considered. Here’s how we look at culture fit.

1. We assess your current team culture, specifically addressing high and low performers, regardless of their background. Our tool provides insights into Behaviors, Motivators and Ideal Work Energizers (BMW) — never race, religion, background, socioeconomic status or any other bias-laden factor. With the insights gained from these data points, trends start to emerge. These trends allow hiring managers to hire candidates that will have the traits of their high-performing team members.
2.  If the hiring manager or leadership team determines that the current team is not performing well, or they are on the verge of a transformation, they can use the tool to build an “Ideal Profile” that will reflect the ideal candidates’ desired BMW. What we refer to as BMW eliminates outside judgment and preconceived ideas on what the candidate should “look” like.

In some instances, companies choose to use this tool for both benchmarking as well as improving overall morale. For example, Ashley Furniture could not have improved their distribution center without a tool that assessed culture fit. They were experiencing high turnover, and while not uncommon in manufacturing, Ashley wanted to better understand what kind of candidates would thrive in this environment. Using culture fit helped Ashley pinpoint their high-performers and continue hiring individuals, driven by a common goal, into a particular, normally high-turnover role. 

Even before an interview, where a person can begin to create an unconscious bias, the data can be hard at work finding similarities between candidates and current employees. There is also a threshold which is set by the company. For example, company A may say, “We want potential team members to align with their future boss by 60 percent.” But company B might say, “We want a very close match between manager and team member, as this person will assume the manager position in 6 months. We are striving for a 75 percent match.”

Defining Culture Add

Similar to culture fit, culture add is the concept that a new hire should contribute to the culture, or be seen as a supplemental addition who can fill critical gaps. Both terms involve a sense of alignment; however, culture add has become more popular. Regardless, the outcomes when striving for culture add or culture fit will be similar if done properly.

Accurately collecting data is key to understanding what culture means for organizations, and any new addition, if chosen intentionally, will “fit” or align with their team and the current value system. Will people of similar backgrounds and experiences gravitate toward one another? Absolutely. This is why hiring new additions need to be driven by data as opposed to a gut feeling. That’s where the BMW analysis comes in — filtering candidates long before the first interview or point of human interaction. This way, biases are dramatically minimized and the overall recruitment process will be quicker, with a more aligned candidate as the final outcome.