FC NOW: The Fast Company Weblog
December 18, 2006
Find Their Calling
"The match between your employees' values and the organization or team's values is a more powerful factor by far than money in keeping good people," write Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans in their latest Fast Company Talent Resource Center Column.
A tip to employers:
"The risk of losing employees because of conflicts over values is far greater than the risk of losing them because of compensation. Values define what we consider to be important. They are the standards by which we measure our bottom-line needs. The more your employees' work incorporates their values, the more they will find that work meaningful, purposeful, and important." (Read more...)
Posted by Lynne d Johnson at December 18, 2006 2:36 PM | Category: talent |
1 Comment
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The Kaye and Evans article touches on an important, yet little understood dynamic of business culture. The idea that cultural fitness is critical to a company's success is rarely spoken to and Kaye and Evans deserves kudos for having written on the subject. Recently, I attended a meeting presented by consulting firm, (www.gorillas-gazelles.com) where the speaker Dan Boos talked about the importance of assessing the cultural fitness of individuals prior to hire. He stated that this was particularly critical for small (family) and middle-market busineses. He mentioned that the culture of many small companies strongly reflect the personality and values of its founders. Further he stated that small companies often do not have strong HR capabilities and so are limited in their ability to consistently hire high-performers and limit the high cost of quick turnover. Costs that approach between 200% and 400% of an employee's annual salary. Boos argued that cultural fitness should be given a high priority and that assessments can be a low cost remedy to absorbing loss of revenue due to turnover.