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To build a positive company culture involve a more diverse group in the hiring process

Work jerks are destroying your company culture. From elevated turnover rates to lowered worker productivity, these business bullies–despite any brilliant skills they may possess– are making your business worse not better.

According to research by Charlotte Rayner, author of Workplace Bullying, not only do 25 percent of bullied victims leave their jobs, but 20 percent of people who witness the bullying also quit, compared to a typical quit rate of about five percent.

The news for people who stay is just as bad for your company success. Robert Sutton, author The No Asshole Rule, reports employees who work with abusive supervisors put forth less effort, make more errors on purpose, hide from their bosses, and avoid making suggestions or helping co-workers.

So what can you do to save your business from these company culture killers? Aside from firing the bully who makes your workplace atmosphere worse, the best solution is not to hire them in the first place.

Here’s how to hire the best.

Interview for personality not for qualifications.

Sutton suggests you spend your interview face-to-face time assessing employee personality, not their resume. Job qualifications should already have been verified prior to an interview. This way you can spend time assessing personal qualities and fit for your organization’s culture.

At our company, we spend most of our time getting to know someone’s “vibe.” We have a small company and it’s important to build a great community for teamwork. The hiring process usually takes a little longer to complete, with multiple interviews “chats” to get to know the person, but in the end we’re always happy with our choice.

Involve a more diverse group in the hiring process.

When interviewing a potential new employee, Sutton suggests having this person meet with a diverse group people–above their position, below their position, and at the same level–to get a sense of how the person treats people above and below them. Bullies, as a rule, treat people below them worse.

Also, make sure you have few jerks as possible on the hiring committee. Since like attracts like, Sutton says work jerks tend to hire other work jerks.

This is exactly the process we follow at our company. Each new hire meets multiple members of the team they are being hired for. We’ve had a consistently low turnover rate and the atmosphere at work is great.

Use the unanimous rule.

In his “Creating a Winning Culture” talk, MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe said his companies prevented work jerks by using the unanimous rule. He would have any new applicant meet with 12 people in the company, from the warehouse receptionist to the head of marketing operations, to get a sense of the person’s personality.

For that person to be hired, all 12 people would have to agree. Any one person could veto. Lowe explained not only did this practice prevent work jerks but also created 12 people invested in the success of the new employee.

Our company isn’t large enough to have 12 people on a hiring committee, but everyone on the team must agree before we hire the person.

Go out to lunch.

Many leaders like to take future hires out for a meal in order to observe the applicant’s behavior. If the new applicant is rude to the serving staff or gives their meal order like a command, the leader knows the applicant will be a work jerk and not hire them. However, this method might be limited by the fact that many career advice sites advise people to be nice to serving staff on lunch interviews.

We usually don’t do meals, but many times take people out for a coffee chat. You can learn a lot about a person’s character from the way they order at Starbucks.

The upshot is–take more time and involve more people in your hiring process to prevent jerks. Once you do, you’ll find you not only have a more positive company culture but, according to Sutton, you’ll also have lower turnover, higher productivity, and more sharing of ideas–all ingredients for a more successful company.

About the Author Ken Sterling

Access Ken’s Inc. Column here: https://www.inc.com/ken-sterling/4-great-methods-to-prevent-hiring-business-bullies.html?cid=search