Long part of the recruitment process, employers are increasingly turning to personality tests to improve workplace culture
As workplaces start to become more aware and adaptable to the wide variety of personalities and work styles in the office, learning how to identify and manage this kind of diversity becomes more and more important.
So, it perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn many workplaces are now starting to explore the usefulness of personality assessments ― yup, those quizzes that slot you into some kind of personality category ― to understand their workers better.
Many are now working it into the onboarding process, reported Worklife. “In doing so, they hope to make it easier for new and existing hires to get a measure of how best to work with colleagues who have different personalities and ways of working,” wrote Cloey Callahan. “Some are incorporating them into the hiring process, while others are waiting until people have been at the company for 60 to 90 days.”
One of the most popular versions is the DiSC test, categorizing people by their traits in dominance, influence, steadiness and conscientiousness.
Advocates say it lubricates all sorts of areas of friction within an organization. “Overall, personality assessments can help professionals to make more informed decisions about hiring, training and development, and can improve the overall performance and productivity of the organization,” said Nia D’Emilio, learning & events coordinator for Epicenter Innovation.
According to the Financial Times, around 10 to 15 per cent of Fortune 500 companies are now using some form of personality assessment. Experts in the recruiting field say personality assessments are best thought of as a tool to aid your people in making better decisions, rather than tests to make those decisions themselves. James Reed, CEO of the recruiting firm Reed, told FT that “The most important thing for hirers is integrity. Is this individual honest and trustworthy? And none of these products will do that.”
Content written by Kieran Delamont for Worklife, a partnership between Ahria Consulting and London Inc. To view this content in newsletter form, click here.