Hiring for “culture add” is the latest buzzword when it comes to recruitment in this era. This concept of culture add is a proper deviation from the previously accepted and established concept of ‘culture fit.’ Therefore, today executives are encouraged to hire employees who can bring in fresh ideas and new perspectives to the company based on the concept of culture add.
How did Culture Add Come into Perspective?
New hires should not only gel with the company’s beliefs but should also advocate for the company’s mission and vision. According to Harvard Business Review, the concept of culture fit defines a required alignment between the mission of the company and that of the employee’s values and beliefs.
However, many hiring managers also felt that this concept of culture fit could create a massive group of individuals who think and act similarly, a phenomenon that would jeopardise creativity and encourage bias.
This concept would encourage a culture of group thinking, which would be especially dangerous in the tech industry. The tech industry is directly affected by market changes and a lack of innovation. In such scenarios, the concept of cultural fit can be a threat rather than an advantage.
These aspects gave rise to the alternative concept of the ‘culture add’ phenomenon.
What is the Culture Add Concept?
The Culture adds concept, which is the latest hype in tech companies, encourages hiring individuals who can think differently intellectually and come up with new ideas.
This Culture adds concept encourages a more diverse workforce. Instead of recruiting an employee who fits into the company’s culture, companies recruit someone slightly different. Thus can add value to the company’s culture in a new way.
In this way, when you combine people who think differently (yes, that’s how Apple Inc.’s tagline sounds). You get what is termed as “Cognitive Elaboration”. Cognitive Elaboration is the combination of new inputs and ideas with existing information or prior knowledge. As a result, such diverse teams are smarter.
Why is this the Era of Culture Add?
Cultural add phenomena will enhance the chances that the recruit will reflect the company’s ethics and values and bring in diverse opinions and specialised skills that will help improve the team and the overall company culture.
Various studies have shown that diverse teams are much more intelligent. In addition, the concept of culture add also brings in a vital element, namely, it showcases where the company’s blind spots are located. When the company approaches the problem from a fresh perspective, one can find out where there is a lag and what aspects and approaches the company is missing.
After the Covid-19 pandemic, people’s ideas about work have changed a lot. Since all companies and people have been through big changes in their personal and professional lives, now is the right time for companies to change how they think and work. One part of this is to think about cultural add-ons. When the rules of the game change, new ideas and points of view are needed. So it’s not surprising that culture ads are popular now.
How can Companies Hire Effectively for Culture Add?
This involves looking back at and rethinking various aspects of hiring right from resumes to conducting interviews and arriving at a decision. Here are some nuances to consider:
- Understand the company’s culture in terms of how the job is done, how decision-makers value the brand, and how employees’ performance is measured.
- The company must also conduct a gap analysis to identify areas where it falls short, such as talent-wise skill set, gender ratio, and are all employees stereotyped in their thinking. Or are there individuals who think outside the box? and so forth…
So, Should One Omit Culture Fit?
If the company’s only goal is to meet goals, cultural fit is enough. However, hiring decisions should consider “culture add” if the goal is to introduce new ideas and concepts (like in growing stage start-ups), products, or customer segments.
However, when it comes to recruitment, the company should not abandon its core values. Not it should stop assessing whether candidates share the core values. Every company’s core values are its foundation, and they are here to stay. Hiring for culture add entails maintaining the importance of recruiting based on alignment. Also, with core values while also prioritising new contributions and cultivating a diverse and healthy team.
The Bottom Line
Culture add hiring is vital in this new era, however, that should complement the concept of culture fit, and one should make a decision based on the company’s needs when hiring. CodeQuotient helps brands hire the best tech talent precisely customisable per their company culture. So, with us, you can strike the best balance in hiring employees who are both culture add and culture fit.
