Firms to embrace psychometrics: survey

Tata Strategic Management Group survey says 87% companies to use these tools within next 2 years

A survey by management consulting firm Tata Strategic Management Group has said by 2016, 87 per cent of Indian companies will use psychometrics for personnel management.

The study showed organisations were progressively using psychometric instruments to address behavioural changes for recruitment & selection, leadership development, succession planning, high performance identification, team allocations, etc. According to the survey, 52 per cent organisations use psychometric instruments.

The survey said while a relatively lower number of companies in mining & metals (four per cent) and real estate (two per cent) were using such instruments, they saw a clear shift in the future. Rohan Chopra, principal & head (organisational effectiveness), Tata Strategic Management Group, said certain sectors weren’t professionalised yet and, therefore, would need time for the transition. “Soon, they will see value in having psychometric tools to increase employee effectiveness and productivity,” he said.

In emerging sectors where the talent pool was wide but competitive, psychometric instruments were less widely used for recruitment, the survey said. Though traditional instruments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment were holding their ground, contemporary instruments such as Hogan were becoming increasingly popular, as these measured specific workplace behaviour, displayed clear linkages to competencies and generated a variety of reports, the survey said.

Hogan Assessments, a late entrant in the Indian market, is the second-most widely used tool and is rapidly gaining popularity over others.

Chopra said the number of companies using psychometric instruments had increased, especially in services sectors such as retail, education and consulting. “It has been observed 75 per cent of the organisations that aren’t using psychometric instruments have expressed keenness to learn more, gain insights on industry trends and implement these instruments in their talent management processes,” he said.

Though there could be cost concerns in implementing psychometrics on a wider scale, Chopra added that cost does not pull back companies from using it in a top to down manner. This meant that they start from the top where the impact is maximum and then move gradually to the other employees in the hierarchy below.
 
The study was executed in 2 phases. Data was collected via an online instrument between September 2013 and December 2013. Simultaneously, TSMG sought to gather further insights through voice of CXO’s and senior HR executives on psychometric instruments in their respective organizations and in the industry.The data in this report has been provided by 105 organisations operating in India.