The science of understanding how to assess someone’s ability to thrive within your culture.
We sometimes have a tendency to hire people who look like us, act like us, and have similar backgrounds and interests. Often this is an unconscious way of thinking and making decisions, it’s a natural off-shoot of trying to hire more people like you. And it’s flawed. In reality, hiring more like you is not the ultimate goal, and selection should be based on science and data of what makes your best, your best. It’s knowing what to focus on and what not to focus on. A proper diversity and inclusion strategy sheds light on the unconscious tendencies that should not be part of this equation and highlights the actions to take to create awareness and transition to the thought process–thereby strengthening the culture, and ultimately increasing engagement and retention.
When effectively managed, culture fosters diverse ideas, thinking, and people working together towards a common goal. After all, when people feel connected to the culture–they feel a sense of engagement and belonging.
Wanting to work harder, or effort is an outcome of engagement. Staying longer, or retention is an outcome of belonging. Employees can be engaged but not feel as though they belong. The two are closely related and often driven by similar actions, but they can also be mutually exclusive. A powerful culture maximizes both.
Culture, when managed effectively, is the number one predictor of engagement and retention. When managed ineffectively, it is the number one deterrent of high performance and belonging. It’s the tie that binds.
Our data shows that those with a clear understanding and alignment to the culture stay 82 percent longer than those who are not aligned, those who think favorably about the culture have a 63 percent higher engagement than those who think unfavorably about the culture.
If we look at the definition alone, culture is the collective attitudes and behaviors shaped in wide-ranging and durable ways. Culture defines what is encouraged, discouraged, accepted, or rejected within a group. If we dive deeper, culture helps employees understand how work gets done–the unconscious behavior of an organization that defines why some people feel comfortable and driven while others may not. It’s formed through a combination of rational facts and emotional truths across the organization. Essentially, the unspoken, and often, undefined, components of ‘collectively who you are.”
Culture has a substantial impact on employee motivation and commitment, hence it’s the tie that binds retention and engagement and therefore reflects an employee’s likelihood to stay longer and work harder. When done well, it drives diverse thinking and ideas, and it’s purpose is to drive engagement and increase retention.
The culture alignment and assessment match people’s work-style preferences with the realities of how work gets done at your organization.
Together, we will determine the correct assessment approach and answer type that will give you insight into the cultural elements you need to not only understand but that will move the needle on engagement and retention. We will ensure the question format matches your preferred work style in how work gets done within the organization. We accomplish this through a unique drag-and-drop interface that enables employees to select their preferences.
The Workforce Culture Assessment is not a long drawn out process or survey with an overwhelming amount of questions. It’s designed to be simple and easy to understand for candidates and averages 10 to 15 minutes to complete.
Culture has such a great impact on engagement and retention that the science between the three must be connected and aligned with precision. That’s why the WSA Workforce Culture Assessment sits on validated data that gives precision output and insights to the hiring manager or leaders receiving the results, so once completed they know they have the answers they need.
