Employee Appreciation Day is celebrated on the first Friday of every March all around the U.S. at companies big and small. Some organizations plan big outings, half-days, or brunches with a spread of delicious food to show their employees recognition for the past year of work. These celebrations once a year don’t exactly have a lot of meaning, though, if employees don’t feel valued and appreciated all year long. Appreciation and recognition should be instilled into a company’s value system and talked about regularly, not just once a year.
WCN’s HR Director, Katherine Allison, recently answered some questions about cultural fit at WCN and how we integrate our values into everything we do, starting with the recruiting process. Check out some advice for your Employee Appreciation Day based on the experiences of WCN’s own recruitment team!
Q: What do you do around ‘cultural fit’ in your organization, in terms of recruiting someone who will thrive in the culture of your company? (eg processes, tools, softer stuff etc)
A: We build our company values into our competency-based interview questions to ensure that the professional standards and ways of operating that we value as an organization are equally valued by anyone that we hire. But before that even happens, we carry out a first stage telephone interview - a crucial part of this is establishing cultural fit especially as 70% of our hiring is direct. For us, the candidate experience is incredibly important in conjunction with pre-onboarding once we have made an offer. We are honest and candid about what it’s like to work here so that candidates have an authentic view of us before joining and there are no issues with cultural fit. For example, our office is dress down, which isn’t for everyone but for most people it’s an attraction.
By explaining even the simplest things about everyday working at WCN and keeping in contact every step of the way prior to joining, there are no surprises on the first day. We also encourage people to meet the team or join team socials beforehand so they can get to know their future work colleagues on a personal level before their first day. This means the first day isn’t daunting as they already feel part of WCN before they walk across the threshold for the first time.
Q: How can HR help hiring managers distinguish between attributes that will ensure colleagues mesh well to create a distinct company culture, and those points of difference that will also contribute richly to the organization through ensuring there are plenty of diverse perspectives in the mix?
A: HR plays a crucial role in setting the tone for the culture of any organization, the people are the fabric of our organization and by hiring in diverse talent and positively recognizing different perspective through different global initiatives, we can actively encourage collaboration and sharing of different viewpoints. Our value ‘one team’ strives to achieve this, we believe that we achieve great things together by seeking out different perspectives. We are currently seeking out stories that promote this value internally and will soon be launching a new reward programme that encourages this positive behavior.
Implementing programs like this to encourage collaboration can make it feel like Employee Appreciation Day all year long. While everyone loves a good celebration, ensuring your employees feel valued from the start is crucial to the success of your workforce. Great employees begin with exceptional talent acquisition.
This article originally featured on the WCN blog by Katherine Allison, WCN's HR Director.
About Jeanette Maister:
Global talent acquisition technology leader with extensive experience in global talent acquisition, applicant tracking systems & recruiting technology, recruiting metrics and process. Deep insight into all aspects of campus recruiting strategy. Recognized for driving growth and helping clients transform their recruiting efforts.
