Poor company culture forces professionals to leave their job

Increasingly, employers are recognising the importance of hiring people who are a good cultural fit for their organisation.

The latest whitepaper from Robert Walters, The Role of Workplace Culture in Recruiting Top Talent explores the impact working culture can have on recruitment, retention and employee satisfaction.

The research, supported by workplace culture specialists Great Place to Work ®, is based on a survey of over 1,000 employers and professionals and shows that while 90% of employers believe that it is very important to find a candidate with a strong cultural fit, 82% of professionals have worked for an organisation where they disliked the company culture.

“The majority of employers recognise that ensuring potential staff are a good cultural fit is important, given the serious impact poor cultural fit can have on productivity at work and ultimately whether or not staff will stay with the company,” said Daniel Harris, Director at Robert Walters.

"The next step is to try and address the challenges and harness the opportunities that the workplace culture of an organisation can bring."

Costs of poor cultural fit

Three quarters (74%) of professionals said that they felt demotivated when working for an organisation where they were a poor cultural fit. Almost half (47%) said that they struggled to work effectively.

Perhaps more critically for employers, over two thirds (69%) said that they wanted to leave the organisation as soon as possible.

Cultural fit and the recruitment process

The research identifies how you can communicate your organisational culture to candidates during the recruitment and induction processes to help identify whether candidates are a good cultural fit for your organisation.

The majority of employers recognise that ensuring potential staff are a good cultural fit is important, given the serious impact poor cultural fit can have on productivity at work and ultimately whether or not staff will stay with the company.

Given the importance people place on finding an employer with the right company culture, employers should consider the role that this aspect of their organisation can play in attracting and retaining the right professionals.

Which aspects of workplace culture matter most?

Employers need to recognise which aspects of company culture are most important to employees and focus their efforts accordingly.

However sometimes these aspects are misjudged; 77% of employers believe that social activities are important to candidates however just 62% of professionals agree.

“Given the high number of professionals who have left a job due to issues with the company culture it is clear that many employers should consider the impact that company culture can have during the hiring process and in attracting and securing top talent,” added Daniel Harris.

It is therefore essential for employers to consider the various policies and standards which make up their company culture, as well as how these can be promoted or modified in order to ensure that employers like you can attract the best talent.