Values at Work: Finding your perfect fit

So what IS a ‘work value’?

 Cubiks defines work values as:

"the importance individuals place on different aspects in their working life, which helps to guide their judgement and behaviour in the work environment"

And why do they matter? Work values are important because value congruence (i.e. the extent to which the individuals values are in line with the organisations) which is one of the key components of person-organisation fit. Person-organisation fit is the degree to which an individual’s traits, values and beliefs are aligned with those of the organisation.

So why is Person-Organisation fit something we should be interested in?

Many of the elements assessed in selection processes relate to the candidate’s ability to perform well. What is considered less frequently is a candidate’s likelihood of remaining in the organisation, or if it is, it is typically a subjective judgement formed during an interview. While it is very important to try to establish whether someone will perform well, we should also consider whether they are likely to stay. It is pointless to hire a high performer and invest time in onboarding and training, only to have them leave shortly afterwards and have to start the process over again. In 2017, the CIPD estimated that recruitment costs alone for a new hire range from ￡2,000 for the average employee to ￡6,000 for a senior manager.

Both P-O fit and specifically value congruence have been empirically demonstrated to relate to commitment, job satisfaction and intention to stay. A few key studies in this area are:

• Van Vianen et al., (2007) found that when someone’s personal work values aligned with their perception of the organisations’ values, they were significantly less likely to harbour intentions to leave.
• McCulloch & Turban (2007) found that P-O fit, contributed to the variance in turnover and job satisfaction in a sample of employees from eleven different call centres. Call centres have on average 32% yearly turnover (Anton, 2005).
•  Kristof-Brown et al., (2005) looked at 172 studies of person-organization fit and found strong relationships with job satisfaction , organisational commitment and intention to quit.

How can you incorporate values based P-O fit into your selection process?

Our new assessment, Cubiks Capture, assess the alignment of the applicant’s work values to the organisation’s values. It provides what I like to call a ‘realistic organisation preview’ as opposed to a realistic job preview in that it communicates the organisation’s culture and brand to the applicant throughout the assessment experience. From the applicant’s responses to a series of images and phrases presented through a social media style feed (below) our algorithms calculate their degree of fit with your organisation.

It is a fun, brief and engaging task that enables us to get a sense of their work values and/or interests. At the end, applicants who are a strong fit will be encouraged to progress themselves on to the next stage of the selection process, while candidates with lower levels of fit will be advised that it may not be the best fit for them.

If values alignment is so important, why do we leave the decision in the applicant’s hands?

Empowering the applicant to make this decision themselves will encourage them to be more honest in their responses, thus enabling them to get a better understanding of what is important to them and whether the organisation shares their values. For employers, this will result in filtering out some of the applicants who are not a good fit before assessing competencies related to performance, thus decreasing the chance of hiring someone who seems like a good choice because of their likelihood to perform well, but ends up being dissatisfied, disengaged and ultimately leaving.

For more information, visit our website or contact [email protected]