You own or manage a company is growing and needs to hire more talent. Congratulations! While it is positive to have the need to hire, the process of acquiring talent during rapid growth can be quite daunting, time-consuming and costly. The recruiting process can be quite involved and intimidating, but it does not have to be.
Where do you start? How does it work? The first steps you might think of would be to create a job description, work out what requirements and skills are important, and come up with a salary range you can afford. But did you consider your company culture? Do you really know what your company culture is like? Yes? No? Maybe? If it is not clear to you as a business owner or manager it is most likely not clear to your current employees and will not be clear to future employees. Let’s discuss how to identify and create the culture you want.
A company’s culture is not limited to what is defined in the handbook or some catchy motivational phrases you throw around. It is the personality of the company and the core values by which it operates; it shapes the day to day interactions and expectations. Culture guides the decision-making process and in turn how a company grows and scales. Every company should devote time to evaluate company culture to help employees, current and future, have a good understanding of how to navigate employment successfully.
The backbone of the company culture can be found in the core values. Core values should align with what the company stands for, what they view as important, and how the organization operates in the service of its employees and customers. Organization leaders may meet to discuss what core values they really want to be represented. To earn organizational buy-in, disperse a survey throughout the organization to see what the majority thinks is important. Once you decide that values A, B, and C are crucial, the next step is developing the why behind their importance and how it translates to your business. The why creates the connection and get the buy-in from the people within your company. You ultimately want everyone to have a clear understanding of the values and what it means for them as employees with the organization.
At Red Clover, our Core Values drive not only our interactions with our clients but also how we interact with one another internally. Below are our values here at Red Clover.
Got your back
This breaks down to the fact that we not only have each other’s backs but also our clients. We have their best interests in mind and will help the best we can.
Instill trust
We act with integrity, are transparent with communications, and honest in our counsel. We trust one another and our clients trust us to provide them with the best services and advise we can.
Own it
Extreme Ownership is a book we recommend to employees and clients alike. It lends to leadership, professional development, responsibility, and interpersonal interactions. We recommend you read it too!
Family first
Red Clover believes that when given a choice between work and family, the family should always come first. With good planning and communication, you can keep a balance with family and business.
As a consultant at Red Clover, I know how each of these values apply to me and am prompted to reflect on how I exemplify what they mean through my day to day actions.
Our values are concise with explanations that make sense for our company goals, internal and external communications, and how we operate. Hopefully, these can inspire you to create values of your own that mean something to your organization.
Now that we have established how you can create core values and take the first steps to develop company culture; how do you integrate that into the recruitment process successfully? By no means do you throw the basics out the window and focus solely on the culture. Company culture is not the be-all and end-all, but it is a useful tool when considering candidates. It is crucial for candidates to have the proper skill set, experience, and education necessary for a particular role, but it’s important to consider cultural alignment as well. If someone ticks all of the main requirements but is not a cultural fit that can lead to an unsuccessful hire, which will cost your company time, resources, and money.
We know recruiting can be expensive; a company can spend almost 50% of an employee’s yearly salary throughout the recruiting process! Creating a job description, posting a job, completing a phone screen, scheduling an in-person interview, making a job offer, going through the onboarding process, cost of labor and payroll throughout this process, and other miscellaneous incidentals are all factors to consider during the hiring process. That’s a lot of money, especially for a small growing company. Imagine what that can add up to if you’ve made multiple unsuccessful hires that That money could have been used for growing and improving your business!. The financial cost is enough for any company to consider culture fit when hiring.
If you’d like to understand more about evaluating your own company culture or how to define and create a culture within your organization please reach out to us at Red Clover. We would love to support you and your organization to grow and scale in all things HR and change management.
