Improving hiring process for skilled-level positions with Talogy’s manufacturing solution

The situation

A large automotive manufacturer contracted Talogy to help improve its hiring process for skilled-level manufacturing positions with a volume of over 10,000 job candidates across four locations. The hiring process includes an application, the Talogy manufacturing solution (formerly known as Select Assessment® for Manufacturing (SAM)), technical tests and interviews. Talogy was tasked with evaluating the effectiveness of the selection system and to seek continuous improvement and make the process work better by standardising the assessment profile across locations and fine-tuning the assessment profile to meet the organisation’s new hiring needs. Validity of decisions was assessed and adjustments were made to maximise validity, fairness and efficiency.

The solution

Our manufacturing solution was utilised, which is an in-depth, online assessment that measures key competencies needed to be successful in the manufacturing industry. There are multiple measurement methods such as personality, cognitive ability and situational judgement. There are also interactive simulations that are engaging to the applicants. The purpose of the study is to show that there is a statistical relationship between the competencies measured in the Talogy manufacturing solution and actual performance on the job as rated by supervisors. Validity evidence shows that employees who score high on the assessment also tend to receive high job performance ratings.

Outcomes

Job performance was rated by supervisors. Specifically, the different domains of job performance included: task performance, contextual performance and global rating. Task performance refers to performance on tasks specified in the job requirements, whereas contextual performance describes employees’ behaviours that are beneficial to the organisation but outside of established job responsibilities. Global ratings assess the supervisor’s overall impression of the individual. Overall performance is a combination of these three domains.

The assessment was significantly and positively related to overall performance, task performance, contextual performance and global rating. As shown in the graph, the bottom scorers are compared to the top scorers in terms of job performance ratings in percentile. Average performance is considered the 50th percentile. Top scorers on the assessment have noticeably higher job performance (above average) as compared to bottom scorers (below average).

In addition, supervisors provided ratings on counterproductive work behaviours (CWBs) that are detrimental to the organisation’s goals, such as engaging in a verbal altercation with a co-worker, ignoring company polices and skipping work without notice. Top scorers are less likely to engage in CWBs. Specifically, there was a 56% decrease in the number of CWBs when comparing bottom versus top scorers. There was a 33% decrease in safety incident involvement when comparing bottom and top scorers, as can be seen in the next graph.

Outcomes

Our manufacturing solution is predictive of job performance in this organisation and accurately identifies high performing individuals in their skilled-level manufacturing positions. With this assessment, this organisation benefits from a more productive workforce and reduced CWBs and safety incidents. This assessment is a valuable tool for hiring quality skilled-level manufacturing positions.