Is Your Company Culture Scaring Away Talent? This is How You Can Fix it.

Is your company culture causing candidates to walk away from the interview process? When was the last time you gave some thought as to what your company looks like from the outside? The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) says one in four workers report they have a feeling of dread when they think about their workplace. A toxic workplace or unhealthy culture can harm worker retention and threaten your ability to attract talent. If you believe your corporate culture is having a negative effect on your talent acquisition, here are some ways to change your luck. 

Culture Red Flags

Candidates will notice poor culture just from how long it takes you to push them through the hiring process. Companies that don’t respond quickly to a candidate’s application or that fail to nurture them through the process may have a bad impression of your business. If the interview process is too long or hard, it may turn candidates off. Conversely, if the interview process is too easy, it could give a candidate a negative impression. Companies must find the balance to attract top talent. Even simple things, such as typos in your advertisement or a confusing application process, can create problems in your efforts to hire great employees. 

Monitor social media consistently to make sure there are positive comments on Glassdoor, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Your candidates will absolutely review comments on social media before accepting an offer. Make sure your recruiters are not glossing over any problems, but authentically sharing the kind of culture the employee will encounter.  

Improving Culture  

Culture starts with your employees. That’s why it’s essential to find out from employees what they like and what should be improved upon. If you find top talent escaping even your best onboarding efforts, look at what’s happening in your workplace. The chances are high that you might have a cultural problem. You can also check in with desirable candidates who selected other companies to understand what influenced their decision.  

The first way to improve culture is to create core values. For these values to be accepted by your employees, it’s a good idea to seek their input when creating the list. Designing the core values is only the first step; stakeholder buy-in needs to occur at all organization levels. Then you can begin to recruit and hire to fit those core cultural norms.

One of your core values, especially now, is to create transparency between the executive layer of your business and your frontline workers. This will help curb gossip and rumors during the uncertain times we’re living in. Working closely with leadership to communicate business strategies such as your plan for keeping COVID-19 from spreading, is another example of how you can actively improve your culture to the point that the best candidates will want to join your team. 

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