If there’s one aspect of business that’s becoming clearer as a consequence of the current challenges present in today’s global economy, it’s that the most valuable resource an organization has are the people found within their workforce.
That’s why one of the most critical tasks businesses face is not only finding talented individuals, but finding those individuals who are the best fit for their organization. Equally important to this task is ensuring that you take the necessary steps to recognize and develop your employees. Otherwise, you risk losing these employees you worked so hard to find as they go elsewhere in search of better opportunities.
Perhaps the best example of this is Zappos, which not only performs additional interviews of potential candidates simply to assess “culture fit”, but which also offers new hires $2 000 to quit their jobs following a four-week training period in order to ensure those who stick around do so for the culture and not just for a regular paycheck.
Of course, we can’t all be like Zappos nor should we even try to be. But what we can learn from them is the importance of having a clarity about what our vision is and which values matter to us in terms of fulfilling our objectives. Armed with this knowledge, organizations will have a better understanding of which candidates will be a good fit for their team, as well as what leaders need to do to retain and develop their employees so that they can provide even greater value to the organization in the years ahead.
In her article “Finding (and Keeping) the Right People for Your Business”, Gina Abudi, co-author of the book “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Best Practices for Small Business” shares her insights on how businesses should go about selecting and interviewing potential candidates, and what steps to take to help employees with their professional development so that they can continue to be valued contributors to your team.
Disclaimer: My blog is a part of an online influencer network for Business on Main. I receive monthly incentives to share my views on content I find noteworthy and relevant for my audience.
Hi Tanveer, I have been a long-time, satisfied customer of Zappos for many years. It's so interesting to learn about how they have developed a high performance culture. I agree that hiring for culture fit is essential to ensuring they keep their edge. Developing and retaining employees should begin with the first interview. I'm surprised at how little interaction there is in most companies between their learning/development department and recruiting department.
It is fascinating to note how many of the storied examples of success in business address the importance of culture to getting everyone onboard and operating in sync. It makes it all the more ironic that in our zeal to replicate their success, we still focus on finding specific traits to identify "star talent" instead of trying to ensure that everything we do connects and builds on our culture, values and vision.
For me, Zappos is an excellent example of how those three elements are not some pie-in-the-sky, lofty notion, but practical and profitable tools for running your business, no matter the size.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, Jesse. Much appreciated!
I like the models that Zappos and Google and others have built, where they want people to love being there and working there. Much better than the "oppress your employees just enough but not enough that they quit" model.
What's important about these models too is that they demonstrate that it doesn't require a large amount of resources or having to make sacrifices that can impact an organization's productivity or bottom line. Rather, what it takes is the commitment to see it through and maintaining a consistency in application irrespective of outside conditions.
In the place where I come from, employees are sometimes expected to work 18 hours in a day and are still expected to be on time next day morning. No wonder they are losing all their workforce these days…
Sadly, Raj, as I'm sure you know, this is the case in most organizations which is why companies like Zappos stand out so much. The irony is that no one would ever question why it's harmful to run a high performance car on full throttle for long periods of time, and yet we continue to convince ourselves that we can expect our employees to do this without consequence to their productivity/performance.
That's where the importance of values and culture come into play because it forces you to look past monthly or quarterly markposts and determine – regardless of the uncertainty around you – where you want to go and how you're going to respond to unforeseen changes so you stay on track.
Sure, it's hard work, but it's also the surest way to avoid a race to the bottom.
Thanks Raj for sharing your personal experiences at work.
Hey Tanveer,
Its good to know all the success stories like the zappos. This is the real spirit of entrepreneurship. The way they developed over the time is fascinating and amazing .
Glad you enjoyed it, Mark. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, recently wrote a book detailing how Zappos went about finding its real purpose and with it, the culture that would support it. You can read my review of his book "Delivering Happiness" here – Delivering Happiness – Hsieh’s Book A Celebration of Purpose and Joie de Vivre.
Finding the right people that fit an organization's culture is not an easy task. Thank you for this post Tanveer. Reminds me of Southwest Airlines, one of the first organization's to throw out the old corporate way of doing things and hired people based on their attitudes vs. experience.
I agree with you, Jim, that it's not easy because we often have to choose between selecting candidates who have the experience and candidates who are clearly a good culture fit for our organization.
Under the old management approach, the choice was obvious in that the more experienced candidate would get the job. However, with our continued shift towards a knowledge-based economy, experience is becoming ephemeral and consequently, looking for those who would be good cultural fits becomes more critical than before.
I have a higher respect for this company now that I know they put so much time and effort into ensuring they have the right team. I found this blog post to be really interesting..
Thanks Holly; I'm glad you found this piece informative.
Wow i love this post !! and thanks for the great article 🙂
Thanks Avinash; glad you enjoyed it.