While organizational culture has been touted since the early 1990’s as essential for business success, there has been little connection between organizational culture and individual (employee – candidate) “fit”. We have found that having the knowledge of “who you are” and “who you are not” from a cultural perspective, can support the creation of an employment experience that is both authentic and congruent. By paying attention to congruence, alignment and fit, organizations can create an employment message that will attract, retain and repel employees. This process of ensuring “fit” leads to better placements and an increase in the ROI of recruitment and retention programs.

1. Are You Aligning Your Culture and Brand to Increase ROI?
THE CULTURAL FIT FACTOR
zz Pellet, Felix Global Vice President USA
2011

2. Books by Lizz Pellet

3. Program Information on This Session
• How to assess and define an organization’s cultural frame work
• Subcultures with in Cultures
• What is Attract, Retain, Repel
• The Cultural “Fit” Factor
• Personal Values System alignment
• Employee Value Proposition

4. Can you conduct a culture assessment to
determine what “fit” will be?
What should be measured
and why?
• Identity – employment
brand
• Leadership
• Relationships
• Communication
• Infrastructure
• Employee Engagement
• Change Management
• Finance

5. Tools to measure organizational culture:
• Past Employee Satisfaction surveys
• New assessment focused on
cultural elements
• Standard surveys customized to
your organization
• Validate survey data
• Quantitative and Qualitative data

6. Benefits of Quantitative Data
Quantitative data allows you to determine who you are and who
you are NOT! No more guesswork or assumptions.
Healthy Neutral Unhealthy
Identity 78 13 9
Relationships 72 18 10
Leadership 59 25 16
Employee Engagement 58 26 16
Infrastructure 58 25 17
Communication 55 25 20
Finance 38 39 24

7. Why do organizations need to understand
organizational culture?
• Employee Satisfaction and engagement
• To Create a Sustainable Competitive Advantage
• What We Stand For Versus What We Do
• To Create Internal Brand Loyalty and Trust
• To Compete With Other Employers for the Best Talent
• To Communicate the Value Proposition to employees
• What happens in the case of M&A – whose identity wins,
whose identity loses, whose identity do you use?

8. Why is Culture Important?
• Numerous studies show that organizations with
performance-driven cultures have better:
o Revenue growth
o Employment growth
o Stock Price growth
o Net Income growth
• Bottom line: Companies that live their culture are high
performing and better places to work

9. Defining Your Corporate Culture is Not as
Easy as One Might Think…
• Leaders create cultures that will be most beneficial in helping
them achieve their goals as a business.
• Differences are very real and can dilute a congruent
corporate culture message.
• Values will support an organization in times of crisis so that
the leadership can easily respond rather than react. Just say
J&J.
• The ability to perceive the limitations of one’s culture and to
develop the culture’s adaptability (change) is the essence
and ultimate challenge of human resource leadership.
• Airline examples – who do you want to work for?

10. How Is Culture Created?
Actions and Behavior
of Executives
What Leaders Pay
Attention To
Executives Culture
What Gets Rewarded
& What Gets Punished
Allocation of Attention
& Resources

11. HR’s Role in Shaping Culture
Recruiting & Compensation Training & Talent Performance
Staffing & Benefits Development Management Management
• Hire people • Create • Instill •Attract the • Create a
who will “fit compensation corporate best of the culture where
in” with the and benefit values and best employees
current packages that desired •Retain top know what is
culture. help reinforce behaviors/skills talent. expected of
and drive the that will help •Repel the
them and hold
• Hire for
company promote the ones that just them
fit/aptitude, culture. current culture. don’t fit accountable.
not skills •Measure
culture and
identify
potential
derailers.

12. Executives Agree that Culture Can Be a
Significant Advantage
“We do a lot of things right but all those things can be copied by a
competitor tomorrow. The only thing they can’t copy is our culture.
Culture provides us a competitive advantage.”
Colleen Barrett, President – Southwest Airlines
“We have had firms study our processes and benchmark us for years,
but they are hard-pressed to duplicate our success. When it comes to
a sustainable competitive advantage, our GE culture is one of the
most difficult things for others to copy.”
Jeff Immelt, CEO – General Electric
“We have no patent on anything we do, and anything we do can be
copied by anyone else. But you can't copy the heart and the soul and
culture of our company and that distinguishes us from everyone else.”
Howard Schultz, Founder – Starbucks
“We have a culture dedicated to creating a place where talented
people want to work. This gives us a tremendous advantage when it
comes to attracting, developing, exciting and retaining exceptional
people.”
Ian Davis, Managing Director – McKinsey & Company

13. Today’s Employees Want Transparency
• Employees are looking for a
meaningful, authentic and
congruent work experience
• It is deeply rooted in U.S. culture
to talk about our “jobs”
• Cultural fit is paramount in
finding a job you love (how long
did you stay at a job that you
didn’t fit)
• Potential employees are
twittering about their job
interviews, the people who are
interviewing them and how they
are being treated. Potential PR
nightmare or outstanding
exposure opportunity.

14. What is Attract, Retain, Repel as it
Relates to Culture?
• The ability to understand who you are from a cultural
perspective.
• Being crystal clear on what your culture is as you create an
employment brand
• Employees will be either attracted to your organization or be
repelled by this brand
• Employees who do come to work for you and enjoy an
authentic and congruent work experience will stick around –
retain – and talk to other people about how pleased they are

15. Attract, Retain, Repel as it Relates to
Recruitment and Retention = ROI
• Attract – how can you get the best of the best from the current
and future talent pool?
• Retain – how will you keep the good ones you have that really
are a good fit?
• Repel – how can you keep the ones that just don’t fit from
applying in the first place?

16. The Connection Between Culture
and its Effect on ROI…
• Hard dollars spent on Recruitment and Retention = statistics
• Take one executive salary from last year that was a “bad
hire”
• Baby Boomer = Bust: the 2010 shortage = OR NOT
• Gen Y challenges
• The new Knowledge worker
• Mergers and Acquisitions = Cultural integration issues
• Employee Engagement and productivity = do more with less
and get back to work
• Corporate Scandals = loss of employee confidence and
share holder value
• Organization’s ability to respond rather than react in times of
crisis or challenges = loss of consumer confidence and
brand stability

17. Cultural Fit is key to Employee Engagement
Gallup Study Results with responses from over 3 million
employees:
• 29% of the U.S. work force is actively engaged, 55% is not
engaged and 16% is actively disengaged.
• That means that 71% of the Americans who go to work
everyday are not engaged in their job.
• This equates to businesses operating at one third of their
capacity.
• This can cost the economy up to $350 billion per year.
• HR movement – Presenteeism……..
• We have to “measure what we treasure”

18. The Cost of the Disengaged
1,000 Employees
x average hourly wage
of $15/hour = $15,000
$15,000 x 2 hours/day in lost
productivity = $30,000
$30,000 x 20 days worked in a
month = $600,000
$600,000 x 12 months
= $7.2 M in lost productivity.
These figures are based on a M–F, 8–5pm operation.

19. So how do you get people engaged?
How about have some fun!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

20. Boomer Fit
This was an actual picture on the career site for
Harrah’s Casino in Las Vegas
 It was predicted that in 2010, 30,000 boomers would
retire a day in the US.
 We have to get creative to keep our older workers - IP.
 There is as much competition to retain the boomers as
there is to attract Gen Y.

21. The Next Gen Challenges…and you
know what they are!
• Social networking is KEY
Facebook, YouTube and
Twitter are the new norms in
communication and have
changed the branding
landscape
• UAB Emergency Room Rap
http://tinyurl.com/6zvmj7
• Read the ERE.net article by
Dr. John Sullivan re: who
owns your brand
http://tinyurl.com/yzfmspb

22. How Does Organizational Cultural Fit Relate
to Your Employment Branding Efforts?
• Vision, Mission, Values - leaders create and sustain
organizational culture
• A common way of thinking, which drives a common way
of acting
• Shared assumptions and beliefs: the silent code of
conduct. It is the glue that holds an organization
together…or not
• It is your employment BRAND in the truest form –
whether you have consciously created it or not
• How employees feel they fit and identify with the
organization

23. Cult-like Cultures - What do they have in
common?
• Strong sense of identity –
BRAND - a core ideology.
They are VERY clear about
who they are and who they are
not
• Greater tightness of fit.
Employees either “buy-in” or
“get out”
• Self selection process... “this is
just not for me”
• Show evidence of elitism. They
create a sense of belonging
[internally] and superiority
[externally]

24. Who Has a Cult-like Culture? Built to Last
• Southwest Airlines has
earned its reputation as
one of the most
outstanding companies
in consumer and
employment branding:
Fast, FUN and Friendly
is who they are… bags
fly free 
• You want to be a
Nordee?
• Mayo Clinic’s Mission
• Zappos!
Photo Source: Libby Sartain

25. Encourage & Promote Executive
Sponsorship

26. The Starbucks Brand: It’s all “Green” to Me
…and to Them!

27. Values Alignment
Knowing your intrinsic values and asking an organization to
complete a values assessment.

28. What is Employee Value Proposition (EVP)?
• A narrative proclamation – to the employees – of how an
employer will carry out the promise and uphold the values
in the employment relationship. It needs to be both
rational and emotional.
• Make sure you have a clear understanding of EVP before
going to the C-suite. Create a proclamation before you
outline any creative approach

29. Creative Approach to EVP
While your internal marketing departments know your company’s
brand, they may not have the psychometrics or external exposure
to pinpoint the EVP or employment brand perception. People
relate best to visual images. Consistency is quality!
Source: Southwest Airlines

30. EVP and the New Addition of Social
Networking and Sustainability
Company Commitment
Employees
Employee Value Proposition/Brand
Recruiting/ Training and Pay, Health and Financial Work/ Work
Orientation Career Recognition, Well-being Security Life Environment Social
Networks
Development Performance BalanceSustainability
Leadership programs
Program Communication Delivery
Content Vehicles Channels
Source: Libby Sartain, co-author “Brand from the
Inside”

31. Example of positioning your EVP.
Start each top line with “we offer”…….
Compensation Benefits Amenities Career Life Tools Connections
Development
More solutions
Competitive More choices, Free Latte, More You can work
to help you
Salary, Stock more options, Health Club, Opportunities with some of
plan your life
Options, Bonus, more Foos Ball, to learn and the brightest
and future
and Promotional possibilities Sport Courts, grow people around,
Financial
Opportunities Covered in a dynamic,
Planning, Child
Parking challenging
Care environment.
Assistance,
So that you 401(k)
Can So that you
Customize can grow your
So that you your Package career with us So that your
can grow with to meet your So that you
So that you and get the work Makes a
us and create needs Can Create
Can take a most important Difference
the career and Financial
break and things
experience Security..
have fun at in your life.
you want.
work
Source: Libby Sartain, co-author “Brand From the Inside”

32. Employment Brand Promise:
Delivery Timeline
Results 1 to 3 Years
Full alignment
Significantly better business results
Increased ROI of recruitment & retention programs
3 to 6 Months
Establish value proposition
Develop brand message
Roll out initiatives
12 Months
Redeploy diagnostic to measure progress
Track ROI
1 to 3 Months
Diagnostic, Data Collection, Analysis
Delivery of action plan
Time

33. Sustainability
What about being green? How will you shift your culture?

34. Going Green to Attract, Retain and Repel
What are your core values as it relates to being a green organization?
A report by Sustainable Business Network of Washington (SB NOW)
gives us a great list to why a company should go green.
Their number one reason?
1. Increasing employee satisfaction, retention and productivity
2. Improving operational efficiency and effectiveness
3. Saving energy, water and raw materials
4. Shielding yourself from escalating energy and water prices
5. Branding the business and differentiating it from the competition
6. Developing a positive, proactive relationship with local compliance
inspectors
7. Reducing pollution, waste and greenhouse gas emissions
8. Avoiding fines and other sanctions green guide and certification

35. The Way We Interview Candidates is
Forever Changing

36. CO2 Reduction Using Virtual Interviews
645 kg CO2 17 kg CO2
In-person Interview Live virtual Interview
Conducting just 30 live virtual interviews per month is the same CO2
savings as taking 60 cars off the road annually

37. Join the new LinkedHR Green Group!

38. Why is Green Important to Your Recruiting
Strategy and Overall HR Initiatives?
“While candidates of all generations have begun
evaluating potential employers based on their
greenness few in recruiting have leveraged this hot
topic in recruitment communication and activities”.
“Individual recruiters need to make their firm’s
environment stance a critical element of their sales pitch
to potential applicants and candidates”
Dr. John Sullivan
June, 2007

39. Social Media
• We cannot talk about Video/Photo
cultural fit without talking Sharing Blogging
about how Social Media
is changing today’s Podcasts
employment.
Micro
• Social media has Key Social Blogging
created a fundamental Platforms
shift in the way people Message
Boards
communicate via real-
time conversations RSS
online. Chat
Rooms Social
Networking

40. The World of Social Networking Changes
Every Day!

41. Social Media Revolution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8

42. ROI: The Cost of Using Social Media vs.
Other Methods
$$$ $$ Free
Corporate
Niche boards
Micro sites
Web advertisements
(word press)
(application)

43. Questions?
Lizz Pellet’s Contact information:
lpellet@felixglobal.com
(480) 221-9649
Follow me on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/lizzpellet
Invite me on LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/lizzpellet