It's the biggest mystery of how modern businesses work.
Today, an entrepreneur can tell you his top annual turnover, a Head of Sales checks the closing rate of his salespeople every day and a Marketing Director knows the average value of a lead like the back of his hand.
Data is everywhere in the professional world and makes business progress objective.
However, most major human decisions within a company (i.e. recruitment, evaluation, promotion, coaching, etc.) are still made on the basis of perceptions and intuitions.
“He seemed motivated”
“I don't feel ready”
“We think he's the right person”
But why then?
What is stopping the use of data when making decisions that represent the biggest challenges for organizations?
Unawareness? Taboo? Lack of interest?
In any case it is not the absence of tools because adapted solutions exist!
Psychometric data in particular have proven again and again that they are an excellent reading grid for evaluating an individual.
So today, let's take a look at the benefits of using psychometric data in HR decision making together.
Psychometric data can help predict an individual's job performance.
Personality inventories, such as those based on Famous Big Five for example, can provide information about an individual's personality traits, such as their level of extroversion, open-mindedness, or conscientiousness, which may impact their performance at work.
Cognitive tests, on the other hand, can measure an individual's cognitive abilities, such as their ability to solve problems or to process complex information. Traits that may also be linked to her performance at work.
According to studies by Hogan Assessments and McKinsey, businesses that use psychometric data in their hiring process are twice as likely to have high-performing employees as those that don't.
Indeed, Hogan's data shows that employees whose personalities fit better with the expectations of their job and with the corporate culture are more productive, 2.5 times more committed than others and stay with the company longer.
This is far from being negligible!
Finally, Hogan's data shows that those who have a personality in line with their job are 3 times more likely to succeed in high-pressure positions than those who are not. Hence the importance of properly evaluating your managers and their C-levels!
Additionally, a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review found that cognitive tests were reliable predictors of job performance.
The study looked at the cognitive test scores of over 300,000 workers and found that high scores correlated with higher performance in problem solving, decision-making, and overall job performance.
In addition to predicting individual performance, the use of psychometric data can also help predict the collective performance of teams.
A study by the Society for Human Resource Management found that teams whose members have complementary personalities are more effective than teams where the personalities are similar.
A Hogan Assessments study was even able to quantify this difference. Teams with complementary personalities outperform those whose members have similar personalities by 36%!
It's like the Power Rangers, but in the real world.
But not all traits are equally important.
A study conducted by Google discovered that the most successful teams are those made up of members with personality traits such as professional conscientiousness, open-mindedness, and caring.
By identifying team members who have these personality traits, HR decision makers can build better and more cohesive teams. Psychometric data can also help managers identify gaps in their team's skills. This helps them make informed decisions about skills development.
These studies suggest that the use of psychometric tools helps to identify complementary personalities and diverse behavioral skills within teams. And these factors can help improve their performance.
Psychometric data can also help improve employee retention. According to a study by the Harvard Business Review, employees whose values are aligned with those of their company tend to stay longer than those who are not.
At a time when we are talking about Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting, reliably measuring the alignment between the values of the candidate and those of the company is crucial in order to recruit those who are most likely to thrive within the company.
So why a psychometric tool rather than an authentic exchange between the candidate and the recruiter to measure this?
Simply because a psychometric tool can help candidates better prioritize their drivers and give a clear vision to the recruiter, without the risk of over-interpretation.
This is not so easy when you consider that introspection is not an innate exercise. A large number of candidates — if they no longer feel they belong in a company — may struggle to be lucid about the real causes of their discomfort.
On the other hand, companies in their efforts to be attractive can reflect a sometimes misleading perception of their culture. If the intention is not to deceive or disappoint, the result may however be this. Hence the interest in providing data to offer both parties essential information about their level of fit.
So to increase talent retention, the ability to more reliably assess managers offered by psychometric tools is a real advantage. And that's when you recruit them or promote them internally.
We all have a multitude of cases in mind of managers who were very good experts, who were promoted without a real assessment of their potential for success in a managerial role. However, we know that today most people leave their manager more than their company.
By better selecting managers or by helping them, through a better knowledge of their operating methods, to develop their ability to engage teams, we would inevitably gain in retention rates.
Personality tests can help identify unconscious biases in the hiring process.
In other words, this data can help broaden the base of potential candidates. And therefore to build more diverse and more inclusive teams.
A job interview will leave a subjective impression. The recruiter's opinion may be influenced in part by his perception of the candidate. Personality inventories and cognitive tests are not influenced by factors such as a candidate's gender, race, or age. By using psychometric data to assess candidates, employers can make more objective hiring decisions.
They can also illustrate the desire in their recruitment to offer the same opportunities to all.
Let's remember that more than 50% of younger generations are ready to leave their company in favor of a company that seems more inclusive to them.
Psychometric data can also help facilitate talent management in business.
By using personality tests and cognitive tests to assess the skills and personality traits of current employees, employers can identify areas where an employee can excel and help them develop their skills.
Employers can also identify areas where an employee may need additional support or training.
Psychometric tools can also help identify areas where team members need to develop. This can then facilitate the design of targeted and effective team development programs.
In conclusion, the use of psychometric data can offer numerous advantages when it comes to making HR decisions in business.
They help predict job performance and facilitate recruitment decisions. They also simplify talent management and reduce bias in hiring decisions.
While psychometric data should not be used as the only method of decision making, it can be a valuable tool for employees.
So why not consider using psychometric data in your human decisions? You have nothing to lose, and maybe everything to gain
