An effective tool when it comes to hiring, performance benchmarking is the process of determining who is the very best, who sets the standard, and what that standard is. How does it work? Although the technology and methods vary, generally benchmarking works like this: employers screen all potential employees in terms of their behavioural attributes, and they then align all new or potential hires against a benchmark “top performer” to discover who the best matches are. PhD Unlike traditional testing instruments and services for employee aptitude and benchmarking, PhD uses an organization's current employee population as a template of what to look for in future applications. Clients create a benchmark of traits possessed by the best workers in any position in their company, thus defining their own definition of their top performers instead of depending upon the generic job profile template provided by traditional testing. The process How can you get the best? In general, high performer employees tend to produce better than average performances on a consistent basis. This consistency of performance over time indicates that success is neither accidental nor random. Success is caused by attributes that are possessed by certain employees. When true causes of success can be identified, predictive co-relationships between particular attributes and important outcomes (such as sales volume and retention) can be described by mathematical equations. These equations can then be used as a selection tool in the workplace to identify those applicants who are most likely to succeed before they are hired, transferred or promoted. Case studies Another client, auto dealership Drew Ford in San Diego, increased their average auto sales from 500 to 800 per month since starting with PhD four years ago. This has worked out to be an increase of sales of over $380 million, or 67 percent, and the company is now ranked #1 Auto Dealership in San Diego County. By using PhD, it was discovered that existing high performer employees selected by the PhD system sold, on average, 2 to 3 more cars per month than employees selected by the previous hiring strategy. This compelling evidence shows how the use of PhD Benchmarks can significantly reduce early terminations and the replacement costs associated with them, as well as increasing employee productivity. For more information:
Pre-screening and assessment tools have been around in one form or another for the better part of a decade. It has been within the last five years, however, that the technology's sophistication and reliability are at a level that demands the attention of human resource managers.
PhD – a program created by a team of experts with over 70 years of combined experience in employee selection, psychological assessment and information technology - is ahead of the curve in terms of accuracy and efficiency. Designed as an in-house procedure, the program does not require an off-site consultant (which costs more time and money), with the system standing by itself as a service in recruitment.
The PhD process begins with a 10-minute, Internet-based assessment test. This test gives the company a sense of each candidate in terms of his or her attributes. The key is the test's ability to decipher the traits and behaviour styles displayed by the company's top performers. Managers identify a performance outcome goal for the position they are looking to fill and a candidate’s results are ranked by “percentage of fit. ”
The PhD creaters have researched and developed a mathematical assessment approach that provides greater predictive validity than other industry method. The system does this by creating mathematical equations that synthesize particular behavioural attributes to characteristics that are associated with success in a position.
In one case a client used PhD to solve the problem of a retention problem. The company had a 56 percent turnover rate in two key positions. By using PhD, the company created a benchmark that focused on the behavioral attributes associated with the client's long-term employees. The result? Turnover dropped from 56 percent to 18 percent, saving the client between $4 and $8 million a year in replacement costs, and the company is now one of Forbes "25 Top Companies."
The Personnel Department, a leading Human Resources company with clients in Australia, Canada, the US and the UK, is the current service provider for PhD.
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