Recruitment hints and tips
Making adjustments to online tests
Online psychometric tests
Psychometric tests can help determine an individuals abilities and potential. The DDA places a duty on employers to make reasonable adjustments to any tests to ensure they do not discriminate against disabled people.
Reasonable adjustments to tests are possible. Remember, you will be expected to have explored how the test could be adjusted for individual disabled applicants. Consult the publisher of the test on how flexible it can be and what adjustments can be made for disabled people without invalidating the results
When using online ability and psychometric tests ensure that tests are fair to the candidate and when making adjustments, consider the following points:
- Provide opportunities for applicants to use practice tests before taking the real thing. Practice tests are often available from the test-provider's website but ensure any sites you use are accessible to the applicant
- Identify whether the applicant needs an adjustment to the test for a reason related to their disability. The majority of disabled applicants are unlikely to require adjustments. However, candidates with visual impairments or with dyslexia, may well require adjustments. These should be in line with those you would make to fit them to the job
- Adjustments to the time allowed for the test may sometimes be made to online tests. This can help avoid penalising the candidates unnecessarily for speed, but this will affect the standardisation
- For some applicants online testing will not be suitable. Security features used in many online tests mean browser options cannot be changed, making them inaccessible to users, for example some applicants with visual impairments. Alternative equivalent testing should be provided, for example at an assessment centre
Ability tests
If you use ability tests:
- Ensure they are relevant to the essential components of the job
- Provide tests in alternative formats if requested
- Weight the relevant items to take into account questions the applicant identifies as problematic for a reason related to their disability
- Be flexible with time. A candidate may, for example, need to stand or walk around to alleviate back pain, or type slowly, because of their disability
Ensure any tests provided online are accessible. If tests take place in an assessment centre, ensure the centre itself is accessible.
"SHL is committed to helping employers assess the skills and competencies of all candidates effectively, including those with disabilities. We know that employers are increasingly aware of the importance of ensuring assessment is fair to every candidate. We can provide a number of solutions and a range of guidance to ensure that disabled people are not disadvantaged during the assessment process."
James Bywater, Head of e-Assessment, SHL
Do all your employees truly have to be team players?
Many organisations are seeking to emphasise the importance of teams. They perceive that a successful team will usually outperform a similar group of people acting individually, and this has been built into the way the work is structured in many organisational settings. It would not be unusual in this setting to define competencies that reflect the importance of teamwork since this would be important at both a task level (they have to liase with their colleagues), and at an attribute level (better performers are likely to be more gregarious).
However, if these competencies are being used as part of a wider changes process to make the organisation more team based in order to differentiate it from its competitors and add a competitive advantage, then the temptation would be to make a blanket statement that all jobs in this organisation require this teamwork competency. It thus becomes a core organisational competency and an absolute job requirement across the board.
However, if this was applied to a more isolated, back room, analytical role (say a stock controller) within this setting, the natural assumption would be that a job applicant with Aspergers Syndrome (a form of autism) may not be suited to the job. Their typical high degree of concentration upon the details of the task to be performed, rather than on social skills, would count against them in this core organisational competency. We feel, however, that the organisation would struggle to justify this decision in a Tribunal and would, in all likelihood, be liable for prosecution under the Disability Discrimination Act. Although the spirit and culture of the business may require this competency, the specific job being considered does not.
Bywater, J. and Baron, H. (2001). Competencies: Competent enough to be fair? Selection and Development Review. BPS
