Have you ever been on Glassdoor and wondered why company Culture seems to be evaluated by every Tom, Dick, and Harry with a keyboard? Even LinkedIn has a “Life” tab on various companies’ pages to highlight culture at that specific company. Company culture is something just about every company and employee has loved promoting for the last few years.
In fact, the amount of times we have to disqualify an interviewing candidate because they weren't a company culture fit seems to have increased tenfold in the last 5 years . Equally, we’ve heard employees talking about how they moved on from a company because it wasn't a good cultural fit for them.
But what is culture? Is it just something you talk about, to promote your worthiness? Is it a core set of beliefs put into action by an HR team? And then, is it really that unique to only your company?
After all, one could seemingly make the case that culture at 2023 Google is quite similar to culture at 2023 Uber in terms of benefits and employee support and resources. Yet, people leave Google for Uber, and Uber for Google due to a "better culture".
Hiring managers use culture as an umbrella term, covering all the reasons things could and should go wrong for a hire. It’s become a term devoid of any specific meaning or utility.
"Good culture fit", as hiring managers put it, often means that we like you and the way you think. I hear it all the time, especially after a first interview. A candidate who is experienced, personable, and humble might be labeled as such. But the truth is that being a “culture fit” does not mean they are qualified for the job. In fact, that way-too-broad “culture fit” label might not actually have any direct correlation to the ability to perform one's work.
Consider a bunch of nihilists running a pet store who might not hire the absolute best dog groomer in the county because they deem this candidate a "poor culture fit". In reality, the only thing that doesn't fit is that he is steadfast in his Orthodox beliefs. We call it a bad culture fit because he doesn't fit into your culture. And so, the term "culture fit" has become an easy scapegoat for people who don't fit your set of principles, whether they are damned good at their job or not.
Companies tout culture as why they are great
A vast majority of people who work for their tech company will tell you that the culture is one of the best parts of the job and company. Company culture then subtly transforms into this illuminated theme by managers as what separates them from the competition. They work at their company, they say, because of their strong culture that allows for (fill in the blank).
Most people want to work for a company that takes care of them, that gives them challenges, helps them grow, and promotes their employees' well-being. I think both Uber and Google, and even most startups would all agree they foster that type of work environment. It's safe to say BMO Financial, and Taboola and Caterpillar and Strang Design all say the same thing.
To not publicly support your employees would be foolish, if not deadly, to a company.
So we can agree that most company cultures are more similar than we like to admit. And if that is to be true, why do companies continue to promote it? Because many companies are simply lazy and don’t actually care to differ that much.
I hear it all the time, that culture is what makes this place special. Give me a break! Culture is a buzzword that helps recruit entitled millennials into thinking this place will support them no matter what. When we hear about how strong the culture at one company might be, we relax knowing nobody is going to screw you over, or shit on your opinion, or nag you about your PTO. Preaching to prospective candidates that your company is so special because of its culture just screams of sloth.
Employees blame their not working out on Culture
And then on the other side, employees use culture as a reason for their not belonging in one company or another.
"I decided to move on from Company because it wasn't a culture fit", so they say. Inserting "culture fit" is a nice alternative to saying they didn't agree with the Woke culture, for example. That's fair, and that does happen. But it makes you think that maybe, just maaaaaybe they insert "culture fit" because its an easy & rational way to cover up the fact they didn't perform at that company. It then becomes a scapegoat, a cover-all for why they were a crappy employee.
Too often, people make excuses why things don't work out for themselves and blame it on culture.
One CEO whom I respect a great deal let someone go after a few days on the job because she was a poor culture fit.
One Operations Manager whom I respect a great deal quit after a few months because the job was not a culture fit for her.
But we know that most cultures are not that unique, and not that wildly different. What are different are the personalities and the expectations that people set. The definition of what might be “culture” varies from one person to another, and it becomes an easy band-aid for why a job didn’t work out.
Wouldn’t it be better if employees said “The company leadership were jerks, and though they created a beautiful product, they prioritized new releases over feature adoption”. Of course not. Its too easy to say “it wasn’t a cultural match”.
Conclusion: Don't let "company culture" influence you too greatly.
Culture is 100% in the eye of the beholder. If you are hiring someone, you must be critical of a candidate’s use of culture at previous companies. When you hear the candidate didn't like the culture, feel free to pry a bit more. Was it that they themselves didn't fit in? Did they just not like their manager? Are they blaming this "culture" phenomenon for their poor performance?
And then, if you hear a manager say the candidate wasn't a cultural fit, do they actually mean the candidate was uninspiring? Or that they didn't trust the candidate? Are they masking some other part of what they didn't like in a candidate by blaming it on culture fit?
Trust your judgment vs. lame ass buzzwords.
Great read!