June 4, 2014
Sarah H. Lamar of HunterMaclean’s employment practice group participated as a panelist in this ALFA International webinar on June 4, 2014, about pre-employment screening and behavior forecasting.
Webinar summary:
Businesses have long employed testing to aid in the decision-making process for hiring, advancement, and retention of employees. By using behavior modeling, personality tests, competency mapping, cognitive skills testing, drug and alcohol screening, physical capacities evaluations, and medical examinations, employers can obtain data that assists in identifying and vetting candidates who are a good fit with organizational goals.
Some industries are required by regulation to perform qualification testing in safety sensitive occupations. Testing can assist in predicting a candidate’s potential for performance and reliability to fill a particular role, and many employers attest to the success of using such tools to separate the wheat from the chaff (i.e., those persons of high quality from those of lower quality).
In the webinar, the panelists discussed the effectiveness of such programs and how they can create potential legal liability.
