Psychometric Assessments
Psychometric assessments can give managers and organisations objective, in-depth and consistent information about their employees. To manage effectively, one needs to measure effectively. Many factors inhibit managers from acquiring enough of the right information about their employees to make the best possible decisions for both the individual and the organisation.
There are 4 main reasons for this:
- People are difficult to read.
- Future employees have a tendency to embellish their c.v.’s and qualifications
- Managers tend to filter employee performance reviews
- We have biases that unconsciously influence our decisions such as race, gender, etc.
Valid psychometric assessments can uncover truthful information about the employee in a very cost and time effective manner.
When buying a R50 000 computer for a business, great care is taken in ensuring that a sound investment is made. The “right people” is said to be a companies greatest asset….do we spend enough time, effort and money in researching whether we make a wise investment in hiring and selecting the right people?
Here are some essential questions for selecting the right assessments for you and your organization:
- What is the purpose of the specific assessment tool and how will it help us accomplish the objectives of our assessment program?
- How does the assessment help us understand the whole-person to give us a more solid basis to make important career and employment-related decisions?
- Is the assessment instrument unbiased and fair to all groups who will be assessed?
- Is the assessment procedure and instrument adequately reliable for our use?
- Is the assessment procedure and instrument valid for our specific purpose?
- Is the assessment tool appropriate for our target population?
- Is there understandable and comprehensive documentation available for the assessment instrument?
- Is training and support provided for assessment administrators?
- Is the data from the assessment instrument secure?
- Is training and support available to ensure that scores are interpreted properly?
- Is the outcome of the assessment simple enough to enable managers to interpret the results or is a certified professional required?
Over 75% of the Times Top 100 companies in the UK and over 80% of the fortune 500 companies in the USA use psychometric assessments. If you or your organisation are not using assessments to assist in your people decisions have a look at the benefits thereof:
- Selecting people most likely to succeed in a job
- Accelerating time for people to become fully productive in a new role
- Improving alignment and communication between managers and employees
- Reducing workforce conflict and improving employee satisfaction
- Maximizing each employee’s contribution to the organization
- Reducing employee absenteeism and turnover
- Increasing sales performance and customer loyalty
- Enabling strategic workforce management and succession planning
- Increasing overall workforce capability, productivity, and agility
It has been said that to get to know people, you can either observe them, which takes time and is costly, or you can assess…
Good luck on your assessment journey and remember to make informed decisions regarding your greatest asset – ”the right people”.
