According to Jobvite research, the national new hire turnover rate is nearly 30% in the first 90 days and 40% in the first year. When hiring goes bad, productivity for the whole team decreases, and burnout increases. Furthermore, If you consider these statistics and combine the costs typically associated with recruiting, onboarding, training, developing, supporting, and ultimately losing an employee, the total loss can often amount to over 30% of that individual’s overall salary.
It adds up to the idea that character matters to the bottom line. We often see this play out in professional sports, but it is true for every business. And it isn’t an ‘either-or’ scenario but rather a call for balance. While technical skills remain pivotal, the persuasive power of character lies in the ability to complement necessary skills, resulting in a proficient work team that becomes a culture of character. It’s a ‘both/and’ way of looking at hiring that brings the best results and a happier workplace with less burnout, siloing, and turnover.
Now, this isn’t a didactic pitch from a do-gooder. I have run businesses and made the mistake of hiring for technical skills and overlooking character issues, and it blew up in my face. I was in a hurry, thinking about other things. It was not a major role in the organization, so I wanted to get it over with and made the hire. But like cancer, this person’s bad character grew into a problem that was way bigger than the inconvenience of looking for a better candidate or training a person of character with the necessary skills. It all could have been avoided if I followed my own advice. Lesson learned.
This balanced approach leans into character-centric hiring practices. Traditional skills assessments give way to more nuanced evaluations, such as behavioral interviews and values-based assessments, which provide deeper insights into an individual’s character. The persuasive case for character-centric hiring also extends to the critical aspect of values alignment. It goes way beyond hiring with a questionnaire or interview style that tries to evaluate character or even a superficial match between individual and company values; character-centric hiring involves a profound alignment of core beliefs, ethical principles, and work-related values as part of doing business every day.
This alignment, which we at Character.org call creating a culture of character, is supported by Deloitte’s Gen Z and Millennial Survey, which found that 87% of Gen Z workers cite a sense of purpose as a reason for joining their companies and that 44% turned down an offer from an employer based on personal ethics or beliefs. Or a McKinsey study that found when employee purpose is aligned with organizational goals, it leads to stronger engagement, loyalty, and a greater willingness to recommend the company to others. Or research by BetterUp which found that when employees feel a sense of belonging, companies experience a 56% improvement in job performance, a 50% reduction in turnover risk, and a 75% decrease in employee sick days.
This research establishes that a foundation for long-term success begins by nurturing a sense of higher purpose, a commitment to ethics, and a culture worth belonging to. By developing a culture of character, core values aren’t just window dressing for an annual report or a poster on a wall but become ideals that cultivate a workplace culture, enhance employee retention, and propel the organization forward. People want to work for companies they can trust. And according to Deloitte’s 2022 report, trusted companies outperform their peers by 400%
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