It's No Lie: Integrity Testing Can Improve Your Hiring Practices
An organization’s safety program begins with the hiring process. In an effort to hire the “right person” for the job, hiring managers often use online resources in addition to telephone and personal interviews. These include criminal background checks and motor vehicle records histories.
These are useful tools, but have some significant limitations. Past behavior may or may not be an indication of current or future behavior. However, an evaluation of current attitudes, tendencies, and behavior is a more relevant exercise, especially regarding workplace safety.
Behavioral and integrity based testing has been utilized for more than 50 years and has been proven to be an effective tool for selecting low risk employees. It requires sustained commitment from the organization, but if adhered to, the results can be very beneficial, particularly in high risk/ high turnover industries. In addition to gauging a candidate’s risk taking behavior, integrity testing can also indicate a candidate’s propensity towards quality customer service, high productivity, optimism, and resiliency.
The costs associated with making a “bad hire” are significant. Integrity testing is designed to identify those individuals prone to absenteeism, drug/alcohol abuse, theft, habitual lying, and those with entitlement personalities. These qualities all present challenges to a safe workplace, but will also negatively impact the bottom line with high turnover rates and low morale. If your organization struggles with hiring, then integrity testing inserted into the hiring process may provide a cost effective solution.
There are many online vendors and a variety of testing products available. One such product comes from Merchants Information Solutions. The Merchants Integrity Test™(MIT) has shown that significant decreases in Workers’ Compensation losses can be obtained when following through with the testing. The test takes an average of 10 minutes to complete and a Pass/Fail result is immediately available.
