What is Cultural Fit?
Cultural fit in this instance refers to a candidate’s suitability to a businesses values, ethos and unique methods. In our experience, employers are usually less concerned with the cultural fit of contract and labour hire employees than that of their full time counterparts when making hiring decisions.
Why does this matter?
Most industrial workplaces engage between 10-20% of their workforce on a casual basis to meet fluctuations in demand. Employers can increase the productivity of this section of the workforce with little effort simply by introducing screening procedures targeted towards assessing cultural fit. However, this kind of procedure is rarely implemented, particularly within larger organisations.
What are the options?
Casual employees who are required to undergo cultural suitability pre-employment screening have been more successful and productive in their roles than those who do not undergo this type of screening. Screening can take several different forms and is dependent on those managing the recruitment process possessing a strong understanding of the business culture, processes and methods.
The nature of cultural screening can vary depending on the business need, length of contract, preferences and resources. Many Australian businesses using industrial labour have welcomed onsite interview procedures for longer term casual staff as part of the screening process to assess cultural suitability. Online testing and group interviews have also been used in assessing cultural suitability of industrial labour hire staff.
In summary
The industrial workplace is one in which an ‘us and them’ mentality between casuals and full time employees is prevalent. In order to reverse these attitudes and create a more cohesive, productive workforce, all employees need to be looked at as long-term investments, regardless of their level of engagement. The benefits employers stand to gain from realising and acting on this are enormous.