Today, a company culture that helps attract and retain talent is essential for success. As a result, spending time evaluating your company culture is worthwhile, as it allows you to identify strengths and weaknesses and find opportunities for improvement. If you aren’t sure where to begin, here are a few ways to assess your company culture.
Speak with Your Employees
When it comes to your company culture, what matters most is whether it’s serving your workforce well. As a result, few options are better for assessing where your organization stands than speaking with employees directly.
Whether that involves anonymous surveys, town halls, or one-on-one meetings, ensure employees can speak freely about their perspectives without fear of repercussions. Additionally, resist the urge to defend the company, which often does more harm than good. Instead, focus on finding patterns in what employees share. Repeating positive points means those features are a shining part of your culture, while negatives that are regularly brought up are often clear areas for improvement.
Examine Employee Referral Metrics
Generally, employees are far more inclined to refer members of their network to open positions at your company if they’re relatively happy with the culture. If they find the company culture lacking, most won’t recommend the workplace to others, leading to fewer referrals.
While this strategy is more straightforward if you have a formal referral program, it may also work if your online application has a field that asks how a candidate learned about the job. Just keep in mind that the latter option might not be completely accurate.
Alternatively, you can ask employees how likely they would be to refer someone if an appropriate job opening was available. Usually, this would be part of a broader survey, but it’s a question that can also be asked outside of surveys.
New Hire Turnover Rates
If keeping new hires on board is a struggle, that’s often indicative of poor company culture. Voluntary quits during the first few months of employment – or potentially through the first year – usually mean that expectations created during the recruitment phase don’t align with the reality of working for the company. While this can reflect a disconnect between job descriptions and what the role entails, cultural issues are a leading cause for this type of exit.
For example, if a new hire feels inadequately supported, that typically reflects an issue with the overall culture. Similarly, if they end up overwhelmed, aren’t sure they’re valued, or aren’t presented with clear expectations, they can also indicate a culture problem.
Exit interviews or surveys can potentially shine a light on culture issues new hires are experiencing. As a result, it’s worth using them to determine the possible root cause of the high new hire turnover.
Are You Looking For Top Talent That Can Boost Your Culture?
When hiring, finding top talent that won’t just thrive in the role but can boost your culture makes a difference. You can secure the right professionals quickly and affordably by partnering with a recruitment firm. If you’re ready to improve your culture by using the correct hiring strategy, Premier Staffing Inc. can help. Contact us today.