The Role of Values-Based Hiring in Talent Attraction and Retention

June 27, 2024 – Today’s employees are more concerned than ever with aligning their work lives and their personal beliefs. This shift has given rise to a trend of values-based hiring, which can help to attract like-minded talent while increasing retention rates, according to a recent report from Blue Rock Search’s Ruben Moreno. “June is home to both Pride Month and Juneteenth, making it a perfect time to consider how your company is presenting its values and how that can help attract and retain a more diverse, loyal, and quality group of candidates,” he says.

Mr. Moreno offers a look at what today’s HR leaders should keep in mind when it comes to incorporating values into hiring and retention strategies.

The Importance of Aligning Values

It’s not a new phenomenon, people, in general, want to work somewhere that aligns with their values – and they’re willing to make tough choices to achieve that, according to Mr. Moreno. A LinkedIn survey found that 70 percent of employees would choose not to work at a leading company if it meant putting up with a bad workplace culture. Sixty-five percent would take a lower salary over a poor culture, 26 percent would similarly trade a higher title for a better culture, and 71 percent say they would take a pay cut in order to work somewhere that shares their mission and values.

In addition, the same survey found that 47 percent of employees say they’re proudest to work for companies that foster a culture where they can be themselves, and 46 percent say they’re proudest to work for companies that have a positive impact on society. “Understanding those positive values is important, but so too is understanding the other side: the negative traits that drive top talent away,” Mr. Moreno said. Research from MIT Sloan identified what they labeled the “toxic five” traits that define a “bad” culture: disrespectful, non-inclusive, unethical, cutthroat, and abusive.

Mr. Moreno explains that when we think about values in HR and hiring terms, we have to consider two kinds of values: work-centric values and personal/ethical-centric values. “Work values revolve around how people prefer to do their work,” he said. “This means things like valuing collaboration, transparency, the ability to ask questions and take risks, work-life balance, and so on. Personal or ethical values are the ones that people carry between work and non-work contexts, such as valuing diversity and inclusion, supporting rights for marginalized or historically underrepresented communities, and so on.”

Related: Understanding Employee Attrition & Retention

“Values-based hiring encompasses all values, not just one or the other type,” Mr. Moreno said. “In all aspects, it’s important for your company to walk the walk – if you talk about certain values, then you have to live them out in your hiring practices and your daily work and culture.”

Generational Values and Priorities

Younger generations (as in, Gen X and younger) tend to put more emphasis on work aligning with their values, according to Mr. Moreno. Research has found that these generations care more about investing in themselves, rather than achieving certain titles or other traditional markers of success. They value directness, engagement, equity, and collaboration – and they also are more likely to value cultures that encourage work-life balance.

Ruben Moreno leads the Blue Rock HR executive search practice specializing in the identification, assessment, recruitment, and onboarding of chief HR officers and their teams. As a subject matter expert and specialized executive recruiter, he has been dedicated to partnering with his clients to identify, assess, and recruit the best human resources leadership talent available for over 12 years.

Mr. Moreno also notes that these, of course, are the “work” values, but what about the personal values? Here, too, younger generations, such as Millennials and Gen Z, are leading a shift. Researchers from John Hopkins University conclude that: “Millennials are a highly progressive, empathetic generation that was the first to integrate moral values into the workplace: striving to only work in environments that aligned with their core socio-political values, even at the cost of a pay-cut.” Mr. Moreno says they seek flexibility, teamwork, the chance to learn new skills, and a diverse, inclusive environment.

Gen Z, meanwhile, is “the generation of truth, exploration, and identity (or lack thereof). Gen Z is driven by an insatiable hunger for underlying truths and seeks freedom from any confining labels that limits any exploration of these truths… Gen Z has no problem leaving a company or business that contrasts with their beliefs.”

Related: Future Insights for Engagement, Retention and Communication

Like their Millennial colleagues, they also seek inclusivity, transparency, and meaningful work, but they’re even more willing than their senior peers to give up tangible benefits like salary in order to align with their values, according to Mr. Moreno. “Younger generations, in other words, are more confident in their own values, and they are more likely to take that into consideration when choosing a job,” he said. “Companies looking to hire them, then, must also re-evaluate their commitment to their core values and must highlight them in candidate-facing processes.”

Take Your Values from Words to Actions

Even when your company has a strong sense of values, it can be challenging to take them from words to actions, Mr. Moreno explains. Here, he says that HR leaders can take the helm, helping to clarify values and develop ways to live them. “Values can range from the deeply-ingrained cultural bedrock of your company to the values that have arisen naturally over time – or even the ones that your company aspires to embody but does not yet,” Mr. Moreno says. “All of them, however, say something fundamental about your organization, and it’s important to have a strategy to communicate that meaning to both current and future employees.”

Just Released: 2024 Corporate Culture Report

As leaders recognize the critical role of culture in organizational success, building sustainable cultural change for engagement, performance, and growth is now essential. Emphasizing psychological safety allows employees to express ideas, take risks, and voice concerns, driving innovation and engagement.

Hunt Scanlon Media’s 2024 Corporate Culture Report shows how a strong, cohesive culture transforms organizations. By prioritizing cultural synergies and shared values, companies can attract and retain top talent while fostering innovation. Download now!

Mr. Moreno notes to consider: how does your company decide what its values are? How do you avoid making them too bland to be meaningful or too buzzword-focused to last? From there, consider how these values impact your hiring and retention process. Questions you might ask could include:

• Have you crafted behavioral questions or other methods to determine if candidates align with your values?
• How do you answer candidate questions to give them a sense of if your company aligns with their values?
• How does your day-to-day culture reflect those values in order to ensure retention?

“Values-based hiring is not about looking for an echo chamber, either on the part of employers or employees. Instead, it’s about ensuring that everyone is on the same page so that there’s not a bad fit loss of productivity or rapid turnover,” Mr. Moreno said. “When your values are shared, your team is moving in the same direction, and that, itself, is a significant win for companies across the board.”

Related: Seven Critical Actions to Elevate Recruiting and Retaining Efforts

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor  – Hunt Scanlon Media