Culture add vs. culture fit: A brief overview

Culture fit has long been used by hiring managers as a way to determine how well potential applicants would assimilate into the company’s current work environment. Essentially, hiring for a culture fit means screening candidates to see what type of impact they might have on your teams by ensuring their values, behaviors, personality traits and beliefs align with your company’s.

Culture add is similar to culture fit in that it also involves screening potential candidates to see what type of impact they may have on your company. The difference is why the screening takes place.

Instead of finding an applicant who perfectly meshes with the current work environment, culture add looks to find someone who can bring something new to the table. This may mean a different way of thinking, solving problems or completing tasks. It may also mean they have a different mindset that could help balance the current work environment.

What are the downsides to culture fit?

When the concept was first applied, culture fit was a step up from the hiring practices of the time. The idea was simple—hiring someone who fits into your company’s culture could minimize workplace disputes, improve team building and ease transitions for the new employee. However, time has shown there are several distinct problems with hiring for a culture fit.

The most significant downside is a lack of diversity or, in more severe cases, strong biases within your organization (intentional or not). When looking for a culture fit, you’re looking for someone who blends in.

While this term is generally used to describe someone with the same values and general personality, the idea of cultural fit often leads to a homogeneous workplace. That can mean people from different socioeconomic upbringings than your organization’s typical worker are left out because they don’t quite “fit in.” This can also lead to unintentionally leaving out people of different races, religions, orientations and political affiliations because you don’t quite hit it off with applicants who are different from you during the hiring process.

Focusing on finding a culture fit can also lead to a beehive mentality, where everyone has the same way of solving problems and creating solutions. This can be detrimental to the creative process, which thrives on exposure to new ideas, methodologies and cultures.

Thankfully, hiring for culture add vs. culture fit can help address these issues.

Why is hiring for culture add better?

Hiring for culture add solves the primary issues of culture fit hiring practices. Better yet, finding a candidate who’s a good culture add brings several distinct benefits.

Promotes diversity

As a hiring manager, you should actively aim for a more diverse workplace when hiring new employees. A diverse team brings several creative processes, problem-solving methodologies and personalities to your organization. There isn’t a single correct way to brainstorm ideas or solve problems. In fact, different ways of doing things can bring results in unique circumstances, so having more than one method at your team’s disposal can help keep things moving forward.

A team of diverse personalities can help balance your office. For example, a workaholic exposed to someone valuing work-life balance may learn how to say “no” and avoid burnout. Someone who excels in traditional print marketing practices may learn valuable skills from someone who focuses on digital marketing and vice versa.

The benefits of diversity extend beyond the obvious work-related advantages. Exposure to people from different socioeconomic backgrounds, religions, races and geographical regions can help your employees be more open-minded and receive consistent exposure to new things, which can benefit their mental well-being.

Adds new skills to your team

While hiring for a culture fit can lead to a stagnant skill pool, culture add hiring can help bring new skills to your team. For example, let’s say your organization is a young start-up with a workforce primarily consisting of technologically-focused individuals. One of your candidates has little experience with modern technology but a track record of excellent leadership and outstanding people skills.

Under culture fit practices, the person with minimal experience with technology might not be considered a good match. But as a culture add, they may be perfect. They could bring a new set of ideas and different ways of connecting with people to your team. Your team could thrive under their strong leadership and exposure to their way of doing things. Conversely, the person who is inexperienced in using technology benefits by learning new skills from your workforce.

Sparks creativity

Creativity thrives on diversity. Bringing in new personalities can improve creative processes through consistent exposure to new ideas, techniques and skills. A recent study review by Forbes states that diversity and creativity are mutually reinforcing complements and have been beneficial in higher education by propelling individuals forward in their schooling and, subsequently, their future careers.

Encourages growth

Culture fit hiring can lead to stagnant workplaces where growth is challenging. Culture add purposefully hires potential candidates based on their abilities to add something to the team. Consistently adding value to your team not only encourages growth but may also steadily increase productivity, employee satisfaction and profitability.

For decades, companies have focused on finding a culture fit when hiring new employees. However, many organizations now see that these practices can be problematic and instead focus on hiring for culture add. Your company could reap the benefits of promoting diversity, creating a wider skill pool, increasing creativity and encouraging growth by shifting to culture add practices.

Culture add vs. culture fit FAQs

What does workplace culture mean?

Workplace culture encompasses the attitudes, behaviors and personalities of employees within a given organization. For example, some workplaces may consistently push overtime, and the employees themselves may be workaholics who focus on getting work done at the cost of all else. But other workplaces may have a more relaxed environment where employee well-being is prioritized above doing more work at the expense of staff members’ personal lives.

What is the danger of hiring for culture fit?

Hiring for a culture fit can restrict creativity and may allow hiring managers to be biased (intentionally or not) during the recruitment process. Culture fit hiring can also lead to less diverse workplaces, which can sometimes create toxic environments with high employee turnover rates.

How can you be sure you’re hiring for culture add?

Reviewing your company values and changing your mindset are typically the first steps toward hiring for culture add. Look at any questions in your interview process geared toward a culture fit and alter them (or the responses you’re looking for) to find a culture add instead.