Culture Fit vs. Culture Add

According to Gallup, 64% of employees are disengaged at work. While daily commutes and stale coffee may play a role, “culture fit” has long ruled the workplace where similar employees are hired time and again. This is the age of "culture add", where companies may be looking to hire diverse candidates that inspire new ways of working.

What is Culture Fit?

Culture fit is when an employee is hired based on how well their beliefs, behaviors, and values align with the company. As the saying goes, “birds of a feather flock together” —recruiters are looking for candidates with similar traits as current employees.

Pros

If something’s not broken, why fix it? Here are the upsides when employers hire culture fits:

• Increased collaboration: When you have similar values as your team, you can seamlessly integrate into the workflow.
• Cost savings: When you align or hire the “culturally” right candidate, your company can reduce turnover and training costs.
• Workplace reputation: Employees are more likely to speak highly of the company if they feel they are a good fit from the start. To gauge whether a company culture could be toxic, use these interview questions.

Cons

When prioritizing comfort and familiarity, these are the potential risks an employer could face:

• Less innovation: Because teams are in a routine with the same individuals, there may be a lack of motivation or awareness to create new ideas.
• Less diversity: When hiring similar employees, there isn’t a differentiating voice in the room.
• Increased turnover: More employees leave when they don’t resonate with the company’s cliques — commonly known as “office politics”.

What is Culture Add?

Rather than fitting in, a culture add enhances and diversifies an existing company culture. A culture add not only models desired behaviors, but also empowers growth. When identified, this candidate is the “missing piece” for driving new perspectives forward.

Pros

Hire a culture add, and watch your culture evolve! Here are the pros of culture add:

• Problem-solving: Various perspectives come together to tackle business challenges in new ways.
• Amplifies market research: Working with a diverse staff helps give a greater understanding of market insights.
• Adaptability: Teams grow in adapting to new environments — becoming more resilient. Add this skill to your resume to stand out.

Cons

Hiring someone for the sake of having a different background isn’t always the solution. Here are the cons of hiring for culture add:

• Decrease in productivity: When focused on hiring more for personality add than skill add, project efficiency can dwindle.
• Miscommunication: It’s common for language barriers to arise and result in awkward interactions.
• Isolation: Because employees are too culturally diverse, they feel more isolated than connected.

Whether you are looking to fit into a company culture or add something to it — there’s a company ready to find the missing piece to their team: you.