Nonprofit HR’s Blog

Workplace culture continues to be identified as an agent of change by business leaders nationwide. The hiring process has also received renewed attention in recent years with the introduction of websites such as Glassdoor.com that publish anonymous candidate reviews.  Whereas business leaders have perceived both workplace culture and the hiring process as autonomous from each other, recent findings reveal that respect is an essential component that connects the two. Promoting something as simple as treating people the way you would like to be treated can have a significant positive impact on your organization. Respect is key to maintaining a healthy workplace culture and a well-received interview and hiring process.

In a piece published on Examiner.com, Benjamin McCargo discusses recent studies that reinforce a relationship between respect and workplace culture. Using the findings of Paul Meshanko, author of The Respect Effect: Using the Science of Neuroleadership to Inspire a More Loyal and Productive Workplace, McCargo emphasizes the value in ensuring respect in the workplace. He discovered that reports of discrimination and various other workplace violations are far less common in organizations that encourage respect. Recent scientific evidence provides insight into these findings: “Work environments that emphasize the value of their employees and seek to nurture and appreciate their involvement and input produce chemical cocktails of serotonin, oxytocin and dopamine in employee’s brains that improves their focus, advances collaboration and facilitates their resilience.” Employees that are treated with respect are more likely to feel a sense of connection to their work and as a result will be less inclined to engage in behaviors that will impair the rest of their team. Furthermore, it follows logically that employees who feel such a sense of connection will be more engaged and less likely to go looking for work elsewhere.

Respect is equally important in the hiring process. Smart Recruiter’s David Smooke recently discussed accountability with marketing professional Maren Hogan. His responses parallel the findings of  Meshanko’s research on respect and workplace culture: “When [someone is] searching for a job and you’re searching for the right person for that job, that can be a fairly intimate relationship and you need to treat it with the respect a relationship like that deserves.” When employers are respectful of their candidates, they are rewarded, often in ways that may not be immediately apparent. An organization’s digital footprint is more important than ever, and an individual treated with respect is far more likely to leave a positive review of the interview process, regardless of whether or not they receive a job offer.