How Safe Are Personality Tests?

October 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment
How Safe Are Workplace Personality Tests

Many people still believe personality tests are illegal and that their use exposes an employer to more risk. But a new research paper titled Legal Risk in Selection: An analysis of processes and tools presented at the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology conference dispels many of the lingering myths associated with using personality and other employee tests. The research findings reviewed EEOC and OFCCP cases settled both in and out of court between 1998 and 2010. Two key areas were covered: (1) type of selection test and (2) the hiring process. Based on the findings, personality and other psychometric tests do carry some risk. But in nearly every case, the challenge did not involve the validity or reliability of the test … [Read more...]

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Disorganized Workers Cost Employers Time and Money

August 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Messy Desk

Cluttered desks, disorganized email folders, and lost files seem to be taken for granted in the workplace. But all that time searching for lost information and playing phone tag adds up to a lot of costly, unproductive time. For example: The average American spends almost 4 minutes searching for lost keys, television remote controls, mobile telephones, and other items every time one of the little suckers sprouts legs and walks off. Four minutes may not sound like a long time, but the minutes add up. If a person misplaces his wallet once every week, he would spend 3.5 hours each year trying to hunt the darn thing down. Americans who consider themselves as "extremely organized" spend as little as 1 minute and 18 seconds finding … [Read more...]

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Employee Turnover On The Rise.

June 22, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Employee turnover rates will be slightly higher this year compared to a year ago according to the just released Convenience Store News 2011 HR & Labor Study.  Turnover is nothing new to convenience store retailers. Historically high employee turnover was treated as a fact of life and absorbed almost as a fixed expense. But this year stiffer competition for good workers from other businesses is adding to voluntary and involuntary termination. To become more competitive, many retailers have increased salaries and benefits for their store level workers, according to the study.  Convenient stores aren't the only businesses facing higher turnover. Employee turnover at restaurants is on the rise, according to the latest People Report … [Read more...]

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7 Reasons Why Employees Fail

June 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you ask 100 managers explain why employees fail, you will likely get at least 101 different answers. But once you remove all the smoke, mirrors, theories, and old wives tales, there are really only seven reasons.  1. Lack of Technical Skills/Knowledge. Everywhere you turn these days it seems you read and hear about the shortage of skilled workers and the Baby Boomer brain drain. A lack of skills and experience may prevent a candidate from being hired but is far from the most common reason, an employee is terminated. In fact, most employers seems to be overly tolerant of under- and unskilled employees they like. 2. Cognitive Skill Mismatch. Cognitive skills, or general mental abilities, are playing an ever-increasing role in … [Read more...]

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