How to learn about company culture (before you take the job!) + free checklist

Whether you’ve snagged a job offer or are seeking opportunities, you might ask yourself: Is this company right for me?

And if you’re not, you should. Researching your next employer’s company culture is vital for making sure it fits your values, development trajectory, and work-life balance needs. Otherwise, you risk joining a workplace with high burnout levels and underappreciation – and you’ll likely rejoin the job market sooner than expected.

In this article, we break down how to learn about company culture in five practical ways, pointing out both red (🚩) and green (🙌) flags.

Key Takeaways 

• Before diving into company research, write a checklist of your top workplace culture priorities. 

• Dig up public information about the company from LinkedIn, Glassdoor, the company’s website, and annual reports. Look out for high employee turnover, low job fulfillment scores, and the top cultural elements that staff appreciate.

• Get facetime with current and past employees before signing on the dotted line. Ask standard questions like “What excites you about this company?” and bold ones like “Why did you leave?”

Prep step: Define your ideal company culture

In the US, only two in ten employees connect to their organizational culture. However, a strong company culture engages teams up to 50% more. Plus, strong cultural components like ethical and honest management make employees five times more likely to stay with the company a long time.

That said, different people want different cultural elements. For example, some like friendly competition, while others value collaboration. 

Pick up a pen (or keyboard) and write out your team culture priorities. Here’s a work culture checklist to get you going. Fill out what you’re looking for in a company alongside each checkbox – then use the checklist to evaluate employers, checking items off when a company meets your expectations. 

• Work-life balance: How do you want the company to support your work-life balance? Do you want flexible work policies, after-hours boundaries, or a focus on growth and results rather than clocked-in hours?

• Staff well-being: How should the employer support your well-being? Should they openly discuss burnout prevention, offer meditation app subsidies, or discourage back-to-back video meetings, for instance?

• Collaboration: Which team collaboration practices do you vibe with? For instance, if you’re an independent worker, you might value quick meetings and clear processes.

• Diversity and inclusion: Which D&I initiatives are important to you? Do you, for instance, want to join a company with employee resource groups, fair hiring practices, or regular diversity training? 

• Professional development: How do you hope an employer will enable your professional development? Do you want weekly mentoring sessions with a subject-matter expert or regular training courses?

• Recognition: What kinds of recognition programs do you find most encouraging? Do you like employee-of-the-month awards and weekly recognition at team meetings?

• Leadership style: Do you prefer a down-to-earth leadership style, a Steve Jobs-esque one, or something else?

How to learn about company culture: 5 practical steps

To learn about a company’s culture, You might start by checking what the employer says about this on its website – for instance, on its “About us” or “Our team” web pages. 

While these sources will give you a general sense of the environment (e.g., “vibrant” versus “driven by excellence”), they’re also prone to culture washing – where the company misrepresents its culture intentionally or unintentionally. For instance, the company might brand its culture as collaborative – when in reality it’s riddled with internal politics. 

Use our strategies below to dig deep into your would-be employer’s culture.

Step 1: Research key employee data

Gather some employee facts and stats from publicly available sources to understand if the team is happy, productive, and fulfilled. For example, check the company’s annual reports, its Glassdoor page, social media posts, and current and former employees’ LinkedIn profiles. 

Have a notepad or online doc ready to scribble down your findings. Here are some data points you can use to assess whether an employer matches up with your culture checklist.

• Employee satisfaction indicators, such as employee ratings, turnover, and average tenure.

• Work-life balance indicators such as the presence (or absence) of remote/hybrid work options, paid leave, and flexible work schedules.

• Leadership style pointers, such as language used in leaders’ LinkedIn posts (e.g., “I’d like to thank my team for…” versus “I’m excited to announce that I…”)

Let’s look at how you might interpret your findings with two examples. 

Average tenure 

Average tenure tells you how many years the average employee works at a company before leaving. For example, one person staying for four years and another leaving after six years create an average five-year tenure. 

To get this number, find a reputable source such as the company website or its Glassdoor page – or pop some employees’ tenures from LinkedIn into an Excel spreadsheet. Then, calculate the average tenure by adding up the tenures of the employees you can find data on and dividing this by the number of employees whose tenures you’ve included in your calculation. 

Beware of extremes. For instance, a one-year average tenure could mean the company doesn’t support growth or has a toxic culture 🚩. Equally, a 20-year average tenure would make us wonder if the company has enough fresh ideas and cross-industry experience to be innovative and open-minded. 

Career trajectory 

Where do this company’s employees come from and where do they go next? Do they usually climb the internal ladder or grow in responsibility? Pick a diverse “sample” of current and past employees to build a picture of the average trajectory.

For instance, a firm might be hiring generalists for roles like yours, suggesting an openness to new ideas and innovation. Say that within 4-5 years, these generalists become more senior and move on to industry-specialized companies. This suggests the firm helps employees find career focus 🙌.

Step 2: Take note of hiring practices

Are you one of the 90% of candidates associating skills-based hiring with dream jobs? We don’t blame you: Employers that make hiring decisions based on real-life skills (and not just experience and degrees) level the playing field for candidates and are more likely to have fair, meritocratic (ability- and performance-based) cultures.

If you want an employer who bases hiring, promotion, pay, and other decisions on your skills and performance, start by thinking about how the employer screens candidates: Do they assess key skills and abilities – or rely solely on traditional methods such as resumes and cover letters?

• 🙌 Skills assessments 

• 🚩 Resume screening only

Step 3: Interact with current staff

Spend some on- or offline time with existing employees, including potential team members, managers, and department heads. While they may be on their “best behavior,” you’ll get a sense of the team culture's strengths and weaknesses. Plus, you can ask targeted questions based on your culture checklist.

Direct-message a few employees on LinkedIn and ask if they’ll answer some questions. 

Nearing the end of the hiring process? Consider asking your line-manager-to-be or recruiting contact to connect you with a couple relevant team members for short Q&As over an audio-video call or half-day at the office. 

Example question: What makes you excited to come to work every day?

This question assumes the employee is excited to come to work – so watch for any signals suggesting they disagree with this premise. These might include raised eyebrows in a face-to-face meeting, long pauses or sighs on a call, or a straight-face emoji in a chat conversation. 

Secondly, pay attention to the reasons given, such as interesting projects, supportive coworkers, or a calm working environment. Do these motivating factors resonate with you? 

• 🙌 ”I get lots of freedom, trust, and mentorship from my manager.”

• 🚩 ”Free lunch!” or “Not much.” 

Extra Qs to ask employees and leaders 

Step 4: Speak with former staff 

Former staff can also be goldmines of information. Go to LinkedIn, search for the company name, and scroll through the profile list until you find people with another current company who formerly worked at your prospective company. Send them connection requests with a short note attached, such as: 

“Hi, [Their name]. I’m [Your name] and I’m thinking about working with [Company]. I see you worked there as [Job title] until [Month / year]. Would you be up for answering some questions about the company culture? If so, I can send these to you by email or speak over a call, if you’re free. Thanks!”

Here’s what you could ask former staff members:

• What were your favorite and least favorite parts about company culture?

• Why did you leave?

• My priorities for company culture are [insert your top priorities]. If I take this job, what should I know? 

In their replies, look for red and green flags similar to those described in the section above. Major red flags include toxic cultures with workplace abuse or bullying. 

With grievances, note whether they share your culture priorities. For example, while they may complain about everyone leaving work unfinished at 5:00 pm, to you, this might sound like a healthy workplace. 

Step 5: Read between the li(n)es

Translating what current or former employees or bosses say is an art, not a science. Consider the bigger picture when making assessments – including the sources we covered in previous steps and what you know about the industry and individuals’ backgrounds.

To explain what we mean, here are some “translation” examples.

Use red flags as “triggers” for further research. For instance, if you fear employees might get stuck in specific areas without being offered growth opportunities, consider seeking feedback on this from former or current employees. 

Get your dream job with a company you want to work for

A solid culture fit can bring your job fulfillment to the next level. Before signing that contract, research and analyze how the company actually works internally. 

By asking current and former employees some key questions – and checking what and how they respond – you can spot green and red flags. Plus, you can see how many boxes employers tick off on your culture checklist.

Searching for your dream job? TestGorilla’s job board features remote-friendly opportunities from employers that hire based on skills. When you apply for a job, you ask to be invited to take an assessment first – before anything else.

Learn more about skills-based hiring in our job seeker hub.

FAQs

What are the 4 types of organizational cultures?

Clan cultures prioritize family-like work relationships, while hierarchy cultures are based on rules and structures. Meanwhile, market cultures are driven by internal competitiveness, and adhocracy cultures encourage risk and innovation.

What does good company culture look like?

A good company culture helps employees hit professional goals through training, development, mentorship, collaboration, and recognition. Plus, it enables workers to be themselves – for example, through diversity and inclusion initiatives and informal social activities. Finally, it supports staff well-being through paid leave, flexible work, and other perks.