How successful organizations define, cultivate and evolve company culture through leadership, transparency and effective employer branding.

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The Keys to Killer Company Culture
How successful organizations define, cultivate and evolve culture through leadership,
transparency and effective employer branding.

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46% of new hires fail within 18 months. 89% of these
failures are due to poor cultural fit.
“Culture is everything. The culture is the number one most
important thing about a company. And the success of
the company really depends on having the right culture and
keeping it strong.”
Curt Anastasio, CEO, NuStar Energy
54% of those who are proud of their company’s
contributions to society are engaged at work.
Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave the
organization than the disengaged.
Schawbel, Dan. "Hire For Attitude." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 23 Jan. 2012
Carnegie, Dale. "The Importance of Increasing Employee Engagement Using Corporate Giving Programs." Double the Donation, n.d.
"Employee Engagement Research." Performance Coaching International. N.p., n.d.

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Why Company Culture?
Strong culture
• Attracts the best talent
• Keeps your employees happy and
engaged
• Fuels performance and drives your
bottom line
How do you know you have a
great workplace culture?
• High employee referral rate
• Low turnover rate
You must be aware of your own culture
in order to articulate it
• Personality of the company
• Hiring outside of your network
67% of workers believe
that the most important
aspect of a job is to have
an employer with similar
values.
Companies with engaged
employees perform up to
202% better.

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How do you set the stage for company culture?
• Leadership influences
culture
• Design with the end in
mind
• Be deliberate before
periods of high growth
• Consistency is key

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Attracting
and Hiring
Onboarding
Development
and Training
HR
Operations
and Benefits
Programs
Exit /
Departure
How does culture play a role throughout the employee lifecycle?

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• In mergers and acquisitions, most
integrations fail due to cultural
disparity
• In global enterprises, workplace
culture is layered on top of
geographical cultural differences
When an organization is going through growth, what kinds of things
happen to company culture and what do you do to manage it?

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How can companies better hire for “cultural fit”?
• Identify your culture
• Assign behaviors to represent core
values
• Ask questions to identify desired
behaviors and values
• Utilize keywords and competitive
research to craft searchable,
specific job descriptions
• Train hiring managers to interview
for cultural fit

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What’s the difference between company culture and employer brand?
• Employer brand is the way enterprises
shine a light on themselves as an
employer, to establish a
distinguishable value proposition for
current and future employees.
• Company culture is the way an
organization’s employees perceive
and experience the employer brand
throughout the employee lifecycle.
• When there is a lack of congruity
between the two, that’s when you
run into breakdowns in cultural
alignment.

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• Evolution, not revolution
o Change must be handled in a sensitive way for older
organizations
o Acknowledge what has historically been done, but
communicating why a shift makes good business sense
o Be transparent about what you’re changing and why
• Sometimes it makes more sense to change strategy rather than
culture
o Can you change your basic assumptions about current strategy?
o Companies often fail due to refusal to change strategy
Your Questions:
How does a 100 year old organization begin to change its culture, any tips?

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• HR point of view is important in assessing
cultural fit, as opposed to numbers and
logistics
• Questions to ask:
o How does the organization conduct
performance reviews?
o What does the turnover rate look like?
o What is the physical environment –
creative, structured, communicative
employees?
o Does leadership lean on a robust
policy manual or is there open
conversation with HR and leadership?
Your Questions:
What strategies can you use to identify cultural attributes of possible acquisition
targets before a deal closes?

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• Err on the side of transparency
o It’s the right thing to do
o Share when you can
o Bring you employees along for
the journey
o It’s better to all be in it together,
in celebration or disappointment
• People leave companies because
they are not kept in the loop
o Have strategy of consistent
communication and
transparency
Your Questions:
We recently went through the possibility of a sale of the company. We presented it to
the employees in a positive light, favoring total transparency. But the deal fell through.
Should we have waited until it was a signed deal before disclosure?

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• Millennials bring unique elements to a
company
o Immense amount of knowledge at their
fingertips
o Entrepreneurial by nature
o High expectations for career growth
transparency
• Millennials value internal promotion and
progression planning
o They are more proactive about upward
mobility
o Employers must adjust value proposition
to include more learning and growth
opportunities
Your Questions:
Does any particular facet of cultural fit apply to retaining Millennials?

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• Success or failure can be identified within the first 30/60/90 days or the first 6 months.
o If there is failure, it’s possible something went wrong in the hiring process
o Re-examine expectations, interviewing process, onboarding and training to
determine where missteps occurred
• Proactively identifying mismatched employees can limit impact on workplace culture –
you don’t want disengaged employees sinking your ship.
o Consider a “probationary period” and plan a comprehensive 90-day review with
new hires
o Seek co-workers’ feedback in a 360 review
o Ask your new employees “Is this what you imagined? Are we in line with what you
expected from the company?”
o Evaluate how new hires communicate, challenge one another, propose new ideas?
• Hiring failures often occur with entry-level positions , when new hires accept positions to
“get in the door” at a company.
o In these cases, evaluate the employee for cultural fit. See if there’s an opportunity for
coaching or other roles for which the employee is better suited
Your Questions:
What does it failing mean with respect to new hires?

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Don’t forget to check out our Workplace Solutions Blog!
workplace.care.com
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We would love to hear from you!
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Email us at workplacesolutions@care.com
Contact Us

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These slides originally appeared as part of a
webinar titled: “Nurturing Company Culture
Through Organizational Change”
Held Thursday, March 12, 2015
Al Zink
Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Care.com
Joanne Derr
Vice President of Human Resources at Care.com
Norm Sozio
President of Corsica Partners

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Al Zink
Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Care.com
Joanne Derr
Vice President of Human Resources at Care.com
Norm Sozio
President of Corsica Partners
Al has over 30 years of human resources experience in Global Enterprises. Most recently, Al led HR for Boston-
Power as it grew a global business in US, China and Europe. Boston-Power develops portable power for
transportation and grid applications. He has also held several leadership positions including VP of Human
Resources for Compete Inc, Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Upromise in Newton, MA, Vice
President of Human Resources of Thomson Dialog worldwide in Raleigh, NC as well as establishing Human
Resources Functions for NewsEdge Corporation of Burlington, MA and for PictureTel Corporation of Andover,
MA. Al received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston College and a Masters of Education in Human
Resources from Boston University.
Joanne is a human resources leader with a track record of translating business strategy to create
significant organizational value. Passionate about diversifying a workforce through community
relationships and partnerships, she has lead teams to develop the employer brand and expand social
media reach to attract top talent to organizations. In prior roles, Joanne was the VP of HR for
Neighborhood Health Plan, Associate Vice Chancellor for HR at UMass Medical School, HR Director at
Nortel/Bay Networks, and managed her own coaching and consulting business. With expertise in merger
and acquisition integration, Joanne has repeatedly been recruited to lead new strategic corporate
initiatives, large and small. Joanne has a BS and MS from Boston University.
Norm is the founder and President of Corsica Partners, a boutique executive search and integrated talent
management firm providing comprehensive talent acquisition services to growth stage companies. Norm
founded Corsica Partners in 2006 after 20+ years of experience in high-tech, working in operational roles
spanning product development, professional services, marketing and executive management. In 1996,
Norm cofounded Synchronicity, a VC backed software company that developed web-based design
management applications for chip-design. Norm was heavily involved building the business, delivering
products and ultimately positioning the company for a successful exit. Prior to Synchronicity, Norm held
various positions at Viewlogic Systems and Digital Equipment Corporation.
Norm holds a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Northeastern
University.