Is it possible to hire for culture fit without bias?
At the heart of hiring for culture fit is the desire to find people who will gel with existing team members…and ourselves, but how can employers ensure that they avoid biased decision making when searching for ‘the right fit’?
Some would argue that it is impossible to circumvent bias when seeking out people with particular personal qualities. After all, it’s difficult to tell if someone will integrate with your business team based on simply looking at qualifications and skills alone. Or is it?
In this article, we’ll look at how to hire for culture fit without bias, unearthing the problems behind hiring for culture fit alone, look into an alternative hiring strategy (culture add), and advise how to strike the right balance with 5 pitch-perfect culture fit interview questions without bias creeping in.
Find fantastic hires who’ll gel well AND bring more to the table, with this complete guide to hiring for culture fit without bias. We’ll look at:
01 - What is Culture Fit and What is Culture Add?
The Definition of Culture Fit
Hiring for culture fit is the process of recruiting people who fit into a company culture, rather than hiring on the basis of qualifications or skills. Culture fit hiring is often well-intentioned, with employers looking to create more cohesive working environments, achieving this by hiring people who are more likely to get along with existing employees and leaders.
While hiring for culture fit is widespread, the most well-known example of it in practice is Amazon, who structured their work culture around 14 key principles, which were designed to enable hirers to find people who’d be a good ‘cultural fit’ for the business.
The Definition of Culture Add
Hiring for culture add is a strategy that aims to bring people with different skills, perspectives and ideas into a company, regardless of whether they are likely to be a ‘good fit’ for the business on a personal level. The culture add approach is underpinned by the idea that working with others who may hold different views and have different skills to other employees can be beneficial for idea generation and company growth.
Companies like Facebook and Pandora have adopted culture add hiring strategies, with Facebook even taking the brief one step further by developing a ‘managing unconscious bias’ training programme for both leadership and employees.
Which is a Better Hiring Strategy: Culture Fit or Culture Add?
The evidence behind both strategies offers both positives and negatives, with culture fit being particularly problematic in some contexts (see below). However, rather than thinking about these two recruitment methods as being diametrically opposing, savvy business owners can harness the benefits of both to bring new, diverse talent on board who will still be a great fit for the workplace.
Want to hire the best fit?
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02 - The Problem(s) with Hiring for Culture Fit
Hiring for culture fit is nothing new (though the term is). The vast majority of employers have always been more inclined to hire people who they believe would be the right fit for their business, and are more likely to hire people who have similar backgrounds, share similar interests, or even look like themselves (there’s even a name for this: Buddy Syndrome). But there are some serious problems with this approach, with hiring bias being one of the biggest.
Is hiring for culture fit perpetuating bias in the workplace? Well, yes it is, but whether you think this is a good or bad thing will depend on your experience of a particular workplace context.
After all, most of us want to feel like we ‘fit in’ at work, and that we work with people who are placed in the right role for them. This creates a much nicer environment to work in, right? The hiring-for-culture-fit argument goes that if we hire people more like ourselves, we’ll be more likely to all work together better as a team, leading to better workplace dynamics, higher team morale, more productivity etc etc.
However, the evidence on hiring for culture fit is a real mixed bag. In some extreme cases, hiring people who are very similar to those already working at a particular company can breed an echo-chamber culture, and even lead to a toxic workplace. Just look at Uber, who were shamed in a New York times article for cultivating an aggressive ‘hustle’ work culture, that alienated any individuals who didn’t chime with the company’s macho mood.
Hiring for culture fit can also close off opportunities, skills and personality types that may have brought unexpected benefits to a business. By hiring for culture fit alone, narrow-minded employers may be missing out on individuals who don’t necessarily gel with team members at Friday drinks, but offer something to the company that other employees can’t match. Think the introverted computer genius who solves long-standing IT issues, or the eccentric content creator who can take the stale corporate Instagram account stratospheric.
The lesson goes…you can hire for culture fit, culture add (see below), or a combination of the two, but it’s important to remove as much bias from your hiring process as possible, in order to avoid bringing in simply cookie-cutter employees. If you want to hire the right people, you need to skirt bias at every step of the recruitment cycle, which is easily done with the following tips in mind.
03 - Top Tips for Avoiding Bias in Culture Fit Interviews
Culture fit interviews can be a especially prone to biased thinking. When you conduct an interview with the goal in mind of finding someone who will merge seamlessly into your existing team, this will remain at the back of your mind throughout the interview. Nonetheless, you can still take measures to avoid introducing unnecessary bias into your interview process, which can help you to tow the fine line between seeking plain answers and dressing responses with your own assumptions.
Tip 1: Know your own biases
‘Know thyself’ takes on fresh meaning when interviewing for culture fit, culture add or other purposes. Everybody has preconditioned biases, whether it’s a tendency to perceive those with a certain educational background more favourably than others, or to imagine that a candidate would be someone you could happily have a drink with (or would choose not to). Writing down your own biases as you see them (or even better, ask a colleague to do this for you) can be a stark wake up call to your own tendencies to favour some people over others.
Tip 2: Standardise interviews for every candidate
Every candidate you interview should be treated fairly and equally. To ensure this, you can put a standardised interview process in place, which allows for the same introduction, questions and time allocation across all candidates. This will ensure no candidate is treated differently to others, and act as a disadvantage to anyone being interviewed.
Tip 3: Include a diverse panel of interviewers, and let everyone take equal precedence
A panel of multiple interviewers, ideally from a range of backgrounds, ages and demographics, prevents individual bias from seeping into the assessment process. While one person can lead the interview, it is better if everyone on the panel takes equal precedence in asking questions. After the interview is finished, a candidate assessment can be discussed collectively, allowing any personal bias to be discussed and ideally diluted.
Tip 4: Frame questions specifically and keep small talk…small
The sneaky perpetrator of hiring bias is very unassuming…the humble art of small talk. Whether it’s comments about which football team someone supports, or how they spent their Saturday, small talk can introduce familiarity…and bias…into the mix. While it’s nice to get a sense of someone’s personality, keep small talk to a minimum and do your best to get down to the business part of the interview as quickly as possible.
Tip 5: Avoid the Halo Effect…and the Horns Effect
The Halo Effect is a positive cognitive bias that can be based on just a single trait or action. For example, an interviewer might assume that a good-looking person is trustworthy, or that a young candidate is more likely to be enthusiastic about the job role than an older one.
The opposing bias has been termed the Horns Effect, and this takes the form of a quickfire judgement about someone based on something small that could be perceived as negative. For example, to assume that interview tardiness is a sign of lack of interest in the role, without full knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the lateness. Or to assume that a female candidate would be less physically able in an occupation than a male one.
The Halo Effect and Horns Effect are often applied to candidates within split seconds of meeting them, as a largely subconscious form of judgement. If you find yourself thinking ‘I like/dislike this person’ only within minutes of the interview starting, this is a powerful form of bias that can distract from the candidate’s actual suitability for the role. Keep them in check, and keep an open mind.
04 - Cultural Fit Interview: 5 Questions to Ask to Avoid Bias
When conducting an interview it is natural to bring preconceived biases, assumptions and ideas into the room. The secret to sidestepping bias, even when hiring for culture fit, is to pose interview questions that avoid any opportunities for those biases to take precedence over the candidate’s answers and overall suitability for the job.
Below you’ll find 5 culture fit interview questions that will help you to really decide if the candidate is the right person for the role, while avoiding any opportunities for bias during the interview process.
Q: Can you talk about one specific example where you demonstrated x and y skills, what was the project brief, and how you achieved the project goal working alongside others?
This question relates to specificity, allowing the interviewer to assess facts rather than focussing on, say, whether they think the person has a personality that would gel well with the rest of the team. The question is direct and invites a specific example of how the candidate approached a project in the past. This is a great question for assessing both culture fit (teamwork, collective goals) and culture add (the candidate’s own skill and contribution to the project).
Q: What was the best job you’ve ever had, and why?
When you’re trying to avoid bias but nonetheless looking to hire for cultural fit, it can be difficult to get a sense of someone’s personality without asking questions related to, say, what they enjoy doing in their spare time, or what they believe their personality traits to be.
This question invites the candidate to reflect on their (hopefully positive) experience of a previous role, giving you a sense of how they got along as part of a team in the past, without straying into anything too personal that might introduce bias into your perception of them.
Q: What do you believe you can bring to this company that no one else would be able to?
This question allows you to assess how a candidate might bring ‘culture add’ value to the business, asking them to consider what unique qualities or skills they could provide in the role. This question is great for circumventing bias, as it doesn’t touch on any personal factors that don’t relate directly to the role, while also turning attention to the candidate’s future potential, and how they could contribute uniquely to your existing team.
Q: What do you think is the most important aspect of the job description?
More than being simply a test of whether the candidate has actually read the job description, this question helps you to zone into the way that the person thinks, and what they prioritise at work. This question allows you to step into their shoes, rather than placing your own assumptions onto them.
For example, if a candidate says they think the most important aspect of the description is ‘ability to work in a team’, you have a potentially great team player on your hands. Someone who identifies ‘ability to work autonomously’ is likely to be more self-driven. So whatever you’re looking for, this is a great question for hearing from someone directly about what they think is important in their working life.
Q: How would you improve our company?
Some interviewers might be nervous to ask this question (and candidates might be understandably nervous to answer), but it’s perfect for assessing someone’s ability to ‘culture add’ to your business.
This invites the person to analyse what others within the business might not be able to see clearly, whether it’s a stuffy, formal working atmosphere, lack of diversity or high-stress atmosphere. The gloves are off…but that’s exactly what you want when looking to bring fresh ideas and perspectives to the table.
Culture Fit or Culture Add?
(Psst…Whatever You Choose, You Can YOONO Them First)
Culture fit and culture add are just two of many different hiring strategies that companies can choose to channel in their recruitment process. What’s right for your business will depend on numerous factors, such as the company context and industry, existing problems as well as opportunities within the business, and the type of working environment you want to foster. Friendly and upbeat, or fresh and innovative…or a combination of the two?
Whatever you’re aiming for in your recruitment strategy, you can quickly assess whether somebody is ticking your hiring boxes with a YOONO report. Simply search for the individual, upload a CV to provide more detail, and our AI-powered search engine will do the rest.
Discover if they’re a consistent team player, stand-out leader or an innovative thinker. Why not give it a whirl and see what you discover?
