All Assessment posts

How $30 Can Save You $5000 and Reduce Employee Turnover

January 3, 2019/in Assessments, General /by Sue Devendorf

A simple assessment during the pre-hire phase of your process can literally save you thousands of dollars and reduce employee turnover.

Did you know that over 50% of companies / organizations are using assessments and over 94% of top performing organizations use assessments? (as reported by Aberdeen)

Are All Assessments Valid for Hiring?

There are many assessments out there and too many to compare in this article. BUT you should be aware that many popular assessments should not be used in the hiring process. Many assessments measure what we call Adaptive Behaviors where a candidate rates themselves in different scenarios. These behaviors are learned and can change.

Current psychometric technology measures Core Behaviors (or behaviors that are inherent in the individual and do not change). This will give you a more accurate picture of how someone will perform.

Many assessments only measure personality traits. We recommend measuring cognitive or reasoning which tell us how quickly a candidate learns. This can be extremely valuable for onboarding and training and indicate if someone is a good fit for a job.

Honesty and Integrity is also a measure that is so important these days.

It is also advantageous to measure a candidate’s interests. Will they like the job?

Make sure your assessment is valid for hiring and that it has a validation study to show that it does what it is supposed to do.

The Harvard Business Review published a study that shows that an assessment that uses all of the measures mentioned above ( in one assessment ) has the highest correllation to job performance of any information available in the hiring process. (NOTE: A resume doesn’t even make the list!) Finding the right person for the right job can reduce turnover.

We offer a suite of assessments which are amazingly priced for entry-level / hourly, mid-level, and upper-level jobs. Compare candidates to a benchmark.

Find the right person for the right job and reduce employee turnover with our easy to use and affordable assessments.

So How Exactly Can $30 Save You $5000?

Let’s take a look at How to Estimate the Cost of Turnover.

Research by SHRM and by the American Center for Progress show that the average cost of Turnover is about 20% of an employee’s annual wage. This is a very conservative figure but this is what I will use for comparison.

Depending on the job, these percentages will vary and there are studies that quote turnover costs as high as 50 – 60%. Also, the type of job or salary range of a job can reduce or increase the effective cost of turnover. Workers making less than $30,000 a year may be 16.1 – 20% and manager and executive levels would be considerably higher.

Think about all of the peripheral costs associated with losing an employee such as:

Cost of Temp workers and lost productivity while they learn the job
Reduced morale and lost productivity from co-workers and managers covering for the lost position
Recruiting Costs which could include an outside recruiter, resume screening, background checks, reference checks, interviews, applicant screening, assessments, physicals, drug tests, travel expenses
Onboarding and Training Costs for the new employee which may include certifications and licenses, uniforms, training to learn company procedures and computer systems, etc.
The time it takes for a new employee to become productive

If you are not using assessments, or if you are currently using assessments and would like to compare, please visit our site at PDServices.com to learn more about our next generation assessments.

Call us today at 740 397-4928 to learn how easy and inexpensive it is to get started. You’ll be glad you did!

Thus the average cost of losing an employee who makes $30,000 a year is $6000 assuming a 20% cost of turnover and $4830 assuming a 16.1% cost of turnover… And that’s how $30 can save you $5000 or more and help reduce employee turnover!

Elder Care Front Line Employees Case Study

June 11, 2018/in Assessments, General /by Phil Devendorf

Organizations working with seniors are experiencing high turnover in elder care front line positions. This is frustrating because it is difficult to attract candidates in the first place. PDServices was invited to participate in a case study to help Elder Care organizations improve the quality of new hires and reduce turnover.

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to validate the use and value of entry level assessments for hiring front line employees in elder care.

Approach

Our approach was to create a benchmark of characteristics for high performing, long term employees. Assessments of high and low performing front line employees were completed across multiple elder care organizations. Employees were grouped by job type and performance level for analysis. The goal was to identify where high performers score in various assessment categories. This provides a roadmap or benchmark of desired scores (High, Med, Low or 1 – 18), for each assessment score.

Results

The elder care study validated the benefit in using this assessment for front line hiring and onboarding. The assessment differentiates high performers in different elder care job types and gives the hiring organization a great deal of objective information about a candidate at a remarkably low cost. Using the benchmarks should result in reduced turnover and increased productivity.

Assessment Scales

Can Do
Do they have the learning and reasoning ability to do the job?
Positive Outlook
Optimism toward people and outcomes
People Orientation
Preference in working with and socializing with people
Productivity
Stamina, endurance, and a capacity for a fast pace
Conscientiousness
To work and treat others with honesty and integrity, and to adhere to rules and policies

High Performer Ranges

Position
Care Givers
Front Line

Can Do
High
Med / High

Outlook
11+
9+

People
8 – 15
6 – 12

Conscientiousness
Med / High
Med / High

Top performing Care Givers have high reasoning ability , (Can Do), as their jobs require problem solving and decision making. High Positive Outlook correlates to being able to overcome setbacks, important for Care Givers. Care Givers are mid range on People Orientation. This may seem surprising and although we want them to be pleasant, we also want them to be able to manage their time and not get caught up in small talk at the expense of their duties. Productivity is high but not so high as to lose attention to detail.

Front Line includes maintenance, housekeeping and food service. The jobs here vary a bit and the high performing scores reflect that. Maintenance is generally a problem solver so high Can Do is the best fit. Housekeeping and food service are more repetitive so medium Can Do fits. Mid to high Positive Outlook, People Orientation and Productivity are best fits for these Front Line jobs.

High Conscientiousness is a critical measure for any Care Giver or Front Line employee. These employees often have access to residents’ quarters and build trusting relationships with residents. Honesty and integrity, measured by Conscientiousness, is crucial.

Recommendation

The elder care front line study results show a high correlation between assessment scores and high performers. Using a candidate’s fit to the score ranges above will be a good predictor of fit to the job. Better job fit leads to improved retention and productivity.

It is also important to note the value of this information in on-boarding and managing new hires. If you choose to hire a candidate who isn’t a good fit, their assessment results can help target training areas. By working with the new employee to adapt to any shortcomings, you improve your chance of retaining that employee.

Given the low cost and convenience of these assessments, there is significant value in incorporating these assessments in the elder care hiring process to improve retention and productivity.

Learn more about this assessment for entry level and hourly employees.

Schedule Trial

Contact PDServices today to see how easy and affordable it is.

Contact PDServices at 740-326-4494 or info@PDServices.com

Select Entry Level Hires to Fit Your Job

May 10, 2017/in Assessments, General /by Phil Devendorf

Your entry level hires today are key to the future of your company.

“97% of employers cite that entry-level positions are important to their organizations” (from The State of Entry-Level Employment, March 2017, Rockefeller Foundation)

Most of us see the truth in the statement above. In many industries, our entry-level or hourly employees make our product, deliver our service and/or interface with our customers.

Entry level employees are directly responsible for:

Product / Service Quality
Product / Service Cost
Customer Satisfaction

The same study confirms that a majority of organizations are still relying on outdated hiring practices. These practices often lead to hiring based on first impressions and selecting candidates based on irrelevant factors.

What do we need to know?

Here are three areas that matter when evaluating entry level hires:

Can They Do the Job?

We are good at evaluating physical abilities like lifting and climbing. However, studies show that fitting a candidate’s cognitive abilities with the job, (ability to learn and reasoning ability), is the biggest factor in productivity and retention. Gaining insight into candidate’s cognitive abilities is critical to making good entry level hires.

Lower cognitive abilities are a fit for repetitive jobs while higher cognitive abilities are needed for jobs that require continual learning, decision making and adaptation. Conversely, a candidate with high cognitive skills will be bored in a repetitive job and is likely to quit.

Will They Do the Job?

This is where a candidate’s personality traits come in. For example, understanding if a candidate is people oriented is key if the job requires customer contact. On the other hand, high sociability is a negative if the job requires working alone. Patience and focus might influence job fit for employees making a product or delivering service.

How Will They Approach the Job?

Conscientiousness is important in any entry level position. Conscientiousness tells us the candidate’s tendency to work with honesty and integrity and to follow the rules of the organization. If your employees enter customers homes or have access to sensitive information, conscientiousness is particularly important.

How Do We Improve Selection of Our Entry Level Hires?

Assessment tools targeted for entry level hires can give us good, objective measures of a candidate’s cognitive ability, personality traits and conscientiousness. They help us to evaluate a candidate’s fit with the job. These tools can be surprisingly inexpensive (~$30 per candidate) and are easy to administer.

See our article title How $30 Can Save You $5000 and learn about the cost of Turnover.

Visit PDServices for more information on entry level assessments. Call 740-326-4494 or email info@PDServices.com to request a complimentary entry level assessment.

Contact PDServices today to schedule a demo and learn how we can help your organization!

Smart Management Development

March 9, 2017/in Assessments /by Sue Devendorf

SmartManagementDevelopment

Smart Management Development

By Phil Devendorf

It’s no secret that the higher the quality of your management / leadership team, the more productive and profitable your business will be. Strong leaders and managers create higher staff productivity, reduced turnover, and increased profitability. Smart management development means your management / leadership team will develop skills targeted to the individual.

Management skills are learned and need to be developed. Manager development has been a one size fits all approach, but we now know that this doesn’t really work. Seminars, books and training programs treat all managers as if their needs are the same. In reality, managers are individuals with different strengths and needs. In addition, management jobs vary, requiring different skills and priorities.

The smarter approach:

New managers need training on all aspects of management. Experienced managers, however, need more of a tune up. It’s a more effective use of their time to focus on developing management skills where they are needed or that have a high priority in their job. The 360 feedback process gives us the tools to do just that!

The 360 approach is a form of popular (and often needed) continuous improvement processes:

If you are not familiar with 360 feedback, we gather anonymous feedback on management competencies from the target manager (referred to as Self), boss, peers, direct reports, and other groups in order to provide a measurement of strengths and areas for improvement. That feedback is given to the self and, usually, the boss, for analysis and understanding. The self and boss then create a targeted development plan to guide the self toward improvement of his/her management skills.

The 360 feedback tool provides survey questions to measure appropriate competencies and provides a report that evaluates the data gathered and helps you prioritize development. It is important that direct reports, peers and other respondents are comfortable that their feedback is anonymous. If feedback is not perceived as confidential, your results won’t be accurate.

Once you complete the 360 and review the report, you are in a position to create a personalized management development plan. The plan should focus on areas that need improvement and areas identified as high priorities for the job.

The development plan should include action items to drive improvement. Some action items may be as simple as identifying specific things you should do more often, do less often, or begin.to do. Other action items might include training, mentoring, and coaching. The important thing is that you create a plan and hold parties accountable to implement the plan.

Solution

Talassure360 is a modern 360 tool that offers some key advantages over other 360 tools:

Researched and tested
Safeguards confidential feedback
Management skills prioritized by boss and self
Easy to understand reports
Steps manager through development planning
Web based, mobile friendly
Easy to administer
Cost effective

For more information contact phild@pdservices.com, or call us at 740-397-4928, or visit our website https://www.pdservices.com/360feedback/ for a sample report and brochures.

Make Informed Hiring Decisions

November 28, 2016/in Assessments, General /by Phil Devendorf

At a recent business conference, a number of people told me that they are struggling to hire qualified candidates who perform at or above expectations. Turnover is also a problem. Research shows many CEOs and other executives believe that their competitive advantage and even survival is based on the quality of their employees. That means you must excel in hiring and retaining top performing employees. And how can you do that? By making informed hiring decisions.

One hiring challenge has been “instinctive” hiring, where the interviewer/ hiring manager makes a gut decision based on instinct. A lack of reliable, objective information forces a decision that is not data driven. This gut feel hiring has an average success rate of 25%, meaning that 75% of the time you will end up with an employee who does not meet your expectations in some fashion.

Traditional information sources such as applications, resumes, and interviews all provide candidate information with questionable validity. How can we make good hiring decisions with poor information?

Objective Information

One popular approach to making informed hiring decisions is to gather objective candidate information by using candidate assessments. This has become a $400 million industry and is growing by 8 to 10% annually. Bersin (a Deloitte company) estimates that 90% of top performing organizations use assessments in some fashion.

A Harvard Business Review study found that a candidate’s reasoning ability, personality traits and interests are key indicators of success and retention in a job. Psychometric research supports the HBR findings.

This candidate information is not easily gathered through traditional interviews, applications, etc. Assessments give reliable information on these candidate characteristics.

As an example, high reasoning ability means that the candidate can learn quickly and process large amounts of information effectively. This characteristic is critical to success in information intensive jobs. On the other hand, if the job is repetitive, an employee with high reasoning ability will get bored and disengage, leading to poor performance and/or turnover.

Consider a personality characteristic like People Contact. This is the tendency to be outgoing, people oriented, and to participate with others. A high score in people contact is important to performance in a customer service related job but could be detrimental to an engineer or programmer who needs to work independently for long periods of time.

Our “Workforce” assessment measures Conscientiousness, a measure of one’s willingness to work with honesty and integrity, and to follow rules. Are these characteristics important to your entry level hiring? Do you have any other reliable way to evaluate this candidate characteristic?

Job Fit

Gathering objective information on a candidate’s reasoning ability, behavioral traits and interests is only helpful if you know what you are looking for. Studies show that employees who are well matched to their jobs are 2.5 times more productive. This means you should first define a benchmark of characteristics that make an employee successful in the job. Once you have a benchmark, you can compare a candidate’s assessment results to gain insight into job fit. This allows you to truly make an informed hiring decision.

There are a few ways to create a benchmark and it is much easier that most people think.

The most objective approach is to assess top performing employees in a particular job in your organization. Use their results to form the benchmark for that job. You will see top performers cluster together in important characteristics for success.

Often, you won’t have the luxury of having enough top performing employees in a job to use as benchmarking models. Fortunately, there are preliminary benchmarks available for most jobs. These can be used as a starting point and adjusted as needed for your specific job responsibilities and organizational culture.

Assessing Candidates

Once you have a benchmark of success characteristics, you are ready to assess candidates. First, decide when to assess. Some organizations assess early in the process in order to avoid wasting time on candidates who clearly don’t fit. Others choose to wait until later in the process to control the money spent on assessments. Whatever you do, just be consistent with all candidates within a given hiring requisition.

Most modern assessments can be administered via the internet. This streamlines the process and provides immediate results. Choose an assessment that is scored immediately and provides reports suitable for a typical hiring manager.
Compare your candidate’s results to your benchmark. Some assessments do this for you as part of the report and even suggest interview questions. If not, make sure you consider your benchmark as you review the report. Note that the assessment should not dictate a hiring decision, but will provide objective data to assist in your decision.

Finally, don’t throw this information away once you make a hire. The information from the assessment can be very helpful during your new employee’s on-boarding and beyond to help understand their strengths, weaknesses and motivations leading to longer term retention.

Contact PDServices today to schedule a demo and learn how we can help your organization!

PDServices has been helping organizations make informed hiring and management decisions by implementing assessments for over 20 years. Learn more about our employee talent assessments here . Contact us at info@PDServices.com or call 740-326-4494 to discuss how assessments can be valuable for your organization.

Identify and Develop Management and Leadership Skills

November 19, 2013/in Assessments /by Sue Devendorf

Employee Talent Assessments and Training

Why Are Management and Leadership Skills So Important?

Studies published by Robert Half International show two important facts:

Executives view employee retention as their number one concern.
The #1 reason for losing top performing employees is unhappiness with management.

In these competitive times, we cannot afford to lose top performing employees. With tight budgets and skills shortages, we must focus on cost effective means to avoid this type of turnover and leverage productivity. There are three areas that may offer a big return for a small investment:

Targeted, personalized management development
Improved performance management processes
Objective information for selecting, training and coaching employees

This white paper suggests and approach to Step 1 above.

Management Development

My daughter recently graduated from college and took a job with an insurance company. The company invested 3 months to teach her the insurance business in general and another three months of training and apprenticeship in her claims position. My bet is that when she is first promoted to a supervisory/management position, regardless of the company, she will need far less training for that role.

Often, a new manager is simply given a pat on the back and an encouraging word rather than training for his/her new responsibilities. Doesn’t the level of responsibility of a supervisor/manager exceed that of this entry level position?

What Can You Do to Identify Management and Leadership Skills?

A good “Management 101” program is best for new managers, but many of us have an existing staff of poorly trained and, to some degree, ineffective supervisors and managers. In most cases the managers have varied strengths and weaknesses. We don’t want to waste time and money providing development for specific managers in competencies they have already mastered. Instead, we need to identify areas of weakness and maximize the return on training by focusing on these areas that can offer the highest return.

360 Degree Feedback

The most effective approach to developing management skills in your existing management team is to first identify their individual strengths and weaknesses. Don’t be fooled into thinking that you know, or that their managers know what these are. The people who know best are their direct reports and their peers (in that order). The best way I have found to identify management strengths and weaknesses is through implementing a good 360 Degree Feedback survey.

A good 360 Degree Feedback survey should measure competencies that are appropriate and important to performing effectively as a manager in your organization. It should include feedback from the self (targeted manager), his/her boss, and anonymous feedback from direct reports and peers. The results should be presented in a fashion that facilitates identification of the manager’s strengths and weaknesses and is oriented to development versus evaluation. Depending on the number of managers you have, online administration and management tools may be important in order to contain the time and effort spent to implement the surveys.

Once you have the 360 degree feedback results, each manager should meet with HR and/or their manager to agree on a development plan. This plan should consider the relative weaknesses identified in the 360 and the importance of those competencies in effectively performing their job responsibilities. A plan that focuses on developing 1 to 3 competencies over a 12 month period has proven to be the most reasonable.

Create a Development Plan

Selecting development activities now becomes the challenge. You will want to consider options that specifically address the competencies identified as focus areas for the specific manager. You may have internal or external training that will fit the bill. Recommended development activities and guidance to “coaches” are included with our tool. Other alternatives may include self paced reading or mentoring with someone strong in that specific competency.

The key to success in the development phase is follow through and accountability. Follow through from the standpoint that managers with identified training needs (weaknesses) are encouraged to take action to improve. Accountability generally stems from executive management and buy in to the program, giving priority and emphasis to follow through.

Contact PDServices now to assess your management team!

PDServices offers a 360 degree feedback system. This tool provides an effective, personalized development program for individual managers. Contact PDServices at 740-397-4928 or visit our website at https://www.pdservices.com/360Feedback/.

How $30 Can Save You $5000 and Reduce Employee Turnover

Are All Assessments Valid for Hiring?

So How Exactly Can $30 Save You $5000?