Employee assessments are all the rage; whether it’s assessing employee engagement via a survey or assessing performance at the annual review, it sure seems like we can’t get enough of evaluating our employees.
But have you ever thought of assessing personality and potential with psychometric tests? It definitely should be top of mind when it comes to employee assessments, because you are actually evaluating what makes your employees who they are in the first place: their unique personality.
Here are 6 pretty original reasons why you shouldn’t ignore employee assessments as part of your successful journey as an organization.
#1 – Employee Assessments will pinpoint strengths and weaknesses
Assessing employees based on their personality profile will simplify your life, and that’s a promise. Why? Simply because you will be able to uncover strengths and weaknesses (hidden or evident), understand behaviors and, to a certain extent, predict actions.
For instance, knowing that a certain employee is more of a team player, is very organized and tends to be more assertive will tell you that he or she is a better fit to lead the organization’s social committee. Not to say that someone who is not wouldn’t do the job, but only for a little while before it starts getting on his nerves, because he’d be constantly swimming against the current.
But you can’t blame him, because you could have known!
See, that’s the beauty of an employee assessment tool; you’ll know what drains their energy, and what they strive for… and if you use these tools for recruitment, you’ll get to know all that before you even meet them!
While some personality aspects are pretty “in-your-face”, others are far less obvious, and that’s where these assessments really come in handy.
#2 – These Assessments will engage and motivate your employees
Because you’ll know exactly how to do so! Assessing your employees’ innate personalities will allow for better onboarding, training, development and clearer insights on how likely they will strive for recognition and rewards.
If you are skeptical about the whole thing, consider this: would you say anyone could be a good fit if you were to hire a salesperson? Doubt it.
Now, why is that? Because not everyone is naturally built to be able to do a sales pitch, sell a product, close a sale, nor is everyone likely to be happy with the often unusual compensation that comes with being a salesperson. Someone who prefers to have a steady paycheck, is more introverted, thus less uncomfortable establishing new contacts, and is not driven by challenges and results might not be your best bet for the job.
You guessed it; you can find that out with Employee Personality Assessments.
#3 – They will provide you with a great ROI
Do you know how much a bad hire costs? Whether or not you believe some of the things you read regarding the unexpectedly high costs of a bad hire, you know it’s a luxury you simply can’t afford.
Psychometrics assessments have a good return on investment, especially if you are aware that it means investing in your company’s most important asset: your employees!
Finding out right off the bat if a candidate has the natural abilities and tendencies to be fit for a position, recognizing if the latest hire will be a good fit with the company’s culture, knowing if the person you are about to promote as manager will be a good fit for their team, are all time and money-savers.
Being on the money (pun not intended) on how the team’s personalities fit together will definitely be a bang for your buck (Yes. I did it again). Bottom line: employee assessments ensure you find the right overall fit for your organization, and that certainly proves to be undeniable ROI.
#4 – Psychometric assessments will give managers a better mindset
An interesting statistic shows that 75% of employees who voluntarily leave an organization do not quit their jobs, but their bosses… Yikes! When the time comes to improve employee-manager relationships, employee assessments turn out to be quite useful.
Those assessments evaluate the compatibility of your managerial style with your employees’ personalities and motivations. And don’t worry: the outcome of these assessments is not a matter of finger pointing or layoffs. Au contraire! They’re meant to highlight aspects that are more prone to conflicts, while providing tangible advice to make sure you do everything in your power to resolve these personality conflicting issues.
Conflict aside, you will also get insights on how to deal with situations, based on your employee’s personality. For instance, you shouldn’t proceed the same way when you give constructive feedback (who are we kidding: negative feedback) to a sensitive employee than you would with a more enduring person. People who are more sensitive tend to have a tendency to take criticism more personally and feel victimized more quickly.
And because that personality trait is often mistaken for actual physical outbursts, such as crying, pouting, or any other emotionally obvious reaction, not often will people tell you that they are indeed sensitive. In fact, I’m not sure the majority of sensitive people know that they are, especially if they never experienced these misconceived myths about what it is to be sensitive on a resistance-to-stress spectrum.
By the way: I am sensitive, so i’m really hoping you continue reading to point #5, or i’ll most likely take it personally 😉
#5 – Psychometric Employee Assessments form better teams, period
Whether it is by assessing the compatibility between two personalities, or by analysing the whole team’s personality profile, the beauty of an assessment based on psychometrics is how it makes it easier to work together.
Sure, it’s great to know that your employee is a flexible and spontaneous being, but what happens if you team him up with a more conventional and organized individual? Or what if you appoint him as the new project manager? It doesn’t mean that he will automatically botch the job, but it will definitely require more effort that might go as far as employee burnout, as it will not come naturally to him to do follow-ups, plan ahead, or respect timelines and deadlines.
So make the most of your employees’ natural tendencies, instead. Think of the team’s personality as one of its own!
#6 – You will increase retention and lower turnover
Some might argue that one doesn’t go without the other, but either way: personality assessments will do both!
While reducing turnover usually consists of improving processes like training and hiring, and increasing retention usually involves things like development opportunities and challenges, both are closely related and are a must to any successful organisation.
If your employees do what they are (literally) naturally born to do, they will tend to be more engaged, thus leading to being loyal and more likely to stay in the organisation. Make sure you increase your organization’s retention rate and reduce your turnover by doing just that: finding out what every employee is naturally born to do!
Have you ever said “Had I known that, I wouldn’t have hired him in the first place” after what turned out to be a bad hire? Or “Why didn’t you tell me this before? I wish I had known” in an exit interview? Or maybe “I really don’t understand why this person reacts the way she does when I ask her to do this. Is it THAT hard to handle emergencies and do something last minute”.
Hopefully this employee assessments read has turned out to be the answer to all those questions.