Talent management: Incorporating well-being

Ivan Robertson

Talent management• Attracting candidates

• Short-listing and selecting candidates

• Developing and sustaining high performance

• Managing career transitions - promotion - retraining - redundancy - retirement

Assessment:Current approaches

• PsychometricsAbility tests, e.g. verbal, numerical, spatial, general mental abilityPersonality assessment

• InterviewsStructured, e.g. behavioural, situational“Psychological”

• Biodata• Work samples• Situational judgement• Assessment centres (including work samples, situational,

psychometrics and interviews)

How do we know if an assessment method is any good?

Reliability & Validity

• ReliabilityDoes the method produce reliable scores for a candidate?

Inter-raterTest-re-testInternal consistency

How do we know if an assessment method is any good?

Reliability & ValidityValidityDoes it measure what it is supposed to?- Content validity- Construct validity

- Criterion validity – does it predict work performance?

How do we know if an assessment method is any good?

Criterion-related validity

Current approaches to assessment: The “Champions League”

Method Points Rank

Work sample tests 54 1st

Cognitive tests 51 2nd=

Structured interviews 51 2nd=

Personality tests 40 4th

Assessment centres 37 5th

Biodata 35 6th

… … …

References 26

… … …

Graphology 02 Relegation!

Current approaches to assessment

• Focus on performance & competencies – not well-being

Maximal performance … not, sustainable (typical)

Performance … not performance under pressure

Can someone do it … not, will they flourish?

Why well-being matters

People higher on psychological well-being• Show greater flexibility and originality• Respond better to unfavourable feedback • Make more positive judgements about others• Show higher levels of “Engagement”• Are more productive• Are likely to live longer … be sick less often … and

have happier work and home life

*Lyubomirsky, King & Diener, 2005

Why well-being matters

• Boorman review (2009)* Health & well-being related to: MRSA, Patient satisfaction, Agency spend

• Harter, Schmidt and Keyes (2003) Nearly 8,000 separate business units in 36 companies engagement/well-being correlated with business unit performance (sickness-absence, customer satisfaction, productivity, employee turnover, etc…)

www.nhshealthandwellbeing.org/FinalReport.html

Why well-being matters

Some studies:• Donald et al., (2005) – almost a

quarter (23%) of variance in employee productivity (sample of 16,000UK employees) is explained by:- Psychological well-being

- Perceived commitment of organisation to employee

- Resources and communications

• Cropanzano and Wright (1999) Five year longitudinal study of psychological well-being and performance. Strong correlation between well-being and work performance

• Taris & Schreurs (2009)Client satisfaction (66 organisations, r=.29)

• Ford et al., (2011)Overall performance (111 organisations, total sample 10,000+, r=.40)

Pressure, performance & well-being

• Demands

• Control

• Support

Johnson & Hall, 1988; De Lange et al., 2003; O’Driscoll & Brough, 2010

The “6 essential” sources of pressure

• Resources and communication (Pressure from lack of resources or information)

• Control and autonomy (Limitations on how the job is done or freedom to make decisions)

• Balanced workload (Peaks and troughs in workload, difficult deadlines, unsocial hours, work life balance challenges)

• Job security & change (Pressure from change and uncertainty about the future)

• Work relationships (High pressure relationships with colleagues, customers, bosses)

• Job conditions (Pressure from working conditions or pay and benefits)

Resources and Communication

Control

Work Relationships

Balanced workload

Job Security& Change

Job conditions

Psychological well-being

& coping

behaviour

Sustainable performance

Assessment for performance AND well-being

• Sources of pressure differ for different jobs

A Job “pressure profile”

• People differ in how well they can cope with different sources of pressure

A Person “pressure profile”

Job profile

Resources and Communication

Control

Work Relationships

Balanced workload

Job Security and Change

Job Conditions

Source of pressure in the job6…………………………………….1

Profiling the job

Person profile

Resources and Communication

Control

Work Relationships

Balanced workload

Job Security and Change

Job Conditions

Troubled by this1…………………………………….6

Profiling the job

Job profile

Resources and Communication

Control

Work Relationships

Balanced workload

Job Security and Change

Job Conditions

Person profile

Resources and Communication

Control

Work Relationships

Balanced workload

Job Security and Change

Job Conditions

Profiling the job

Person profile

Resources and Communication

Control

Work Relationships

Balanced workload

Job Security and Change

Job Conditions

Job profile

Resources and Communication

Control

Work Relationships

Balanced workload

Job Security and Change

Job Conditions

“Matching” ScoreScore indicates if person is likely to “flourish” or be “troubled” in the role

Comparing the job and the person

ASSET Selection ToolTwo part matching process:- Profile the pressures associated

with a role- Measure a candidate’s ability to

cope with these pressures

The selection tool is based on the valid and reliable ASSET ‘6 Essentials’ Model

Report includes a matching profile and overall matching score

ASSET Selection Tool

Collaboration to develop tool Requirements of collaborating organisations• Identify individual roles where there are reasonably large

numbers of employees (more than 10 – larger numbers are even better).

• Job holders complete two short questionnaires• Supervisors of the job holders complete a short performance

evaluation questionnaire for each job holder included in the study.

• Job experts complete a short questionnaire to provide information about each of the specific roles included in the research.

Collaboration to develop tool Expected outcomes• A new, simple tool that can be used to help ensure that

recruits are better able to withstand the pressures in a job. • Information for collaborating organisations that gives them

insights into the “pressure profile” of each of the jobs that are included in the research.

• An executive report summarising the work done and the main outcomes.

• Preferential access to the tool for collaborating organisations.