Workplace culture and fit can’t be stressed enough when finding a job – in fact, a bad fit is why nearly half (47%) of Canadians are unhappy with their jobs, according to a new survey.
Recruitment firm Hays Canada conducted the survey, and found 86% of Canadian workers think company fit is essential to overall happiness, but it often ends up taking a backseat to money.
Company “fit” is essentially a match between people and workplace practices and culture, and a mismatch is the primary reason a person leaves their job or is fired, according to the survey.
In fact, employers surveyed said hiring someone who wasn’t a match with the company harmed morale, and usually ended up in the person’s dismissal. Half of employers admit to hiring someone they didn’t feel was a good fit for the team, and many say it ended up costing the company anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000, and sometimes up to $100,000.
“No one intends to be unhappy but one-in-two Canadians spend their working lives that way because they disregard fit. We can no longer afford to have such a relaxed stance on the value of strong connections between people and where they choose to work,” says president of Hays Canada Rowan O’Grady in a release.
So what exactly determines workplace fit? Hays Canada says four key factors influence fit: work ethic, social behaviour, office conformity, and one’s ability to connect with a team’s working style. Unfortunately, only 30% of Canadians know how to evaluate a proper company fit.
“Learning that relatively few people know how to gauge workplace fit is troubling but it’s not entirely surprising,” says O’Grady. “Things like salary, benefits and holiday time are very easily quantified and so they rise to the top of people’s checklists almost by default. Assessing intangible things like a person’s preferred level of social interaction is not clear-cut.”
Hays Canada polled more than 2,500 Canadian employees and employers to gather the data.
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