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In today's professional world, acknowledging human values has become essential and trendy across industries. Hearing phrases like "Your values matter to us" is uplifting as it shows recognition and appreciation for our individuality. When employers prioritize this, it inspires us and enhances their reputation in our eyes.
Acknowledging the significance of personal values is indeed a fact. However, several questions arise: How are companies actively discerning employees' values? How are these values integrated into the work environment? Can values even be measured?
Without addressing these questions, the notion that employee values matter may remain a mere slogan.
In 2016, Deloitte shared data indicating that 88% of employees believe alignment between company and talent values affects engagement [1]. Recently, in March 2023, Gartner reported that while 82% of employees express the importance of being seen as individuals rather than just employees, only 45% feel their organization truly perceives them in that light [2]. What does this imply? It highlights the existence of a specific need among employees that organizations often fail to meet fully. If we represent an organization, it becomes our responsibility to address the needs of our workforce.
This becomes especially relevant in the context of today's circumstances.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a new normal with distributed and hybrid teams. The trends of mass layoffs in 2020 have evolved into the phenomenon known as the Great Resignation in 2021—an ongoing surge of employee turnover. Current research vividly depicts the persistent nature of this trend in various countries.
For instance, Michael Page's Talent Trends 2023 India study suggests that global economic uncertainty may further fuel job changes throughout 2023 [3].
It signifies that employees are becoming increasingly discerning about where they choose to work. They are asserting their rights and expecting their core needs to be met. And those needs are shaped by their individual values. All these facts and reflections prompt us to contemplate how we can effectively translate the "employee values matter" concept into actionable practices.
Our more than 15 years of research in neuroscience and behavioral psychology have laid the groundwork for the development of a reliable psychometric tool capable of assessing personal potential applicable to various spheres of modern human activity. These include personal development, career, communication with others, crisis states, and more.
In our practice, which consisted both of clinical research on people with minimal mental disturbances and observational studies of healthy adults in the corporate sector, we have observed a clear link between behavior and decision-making processes with the values and leading motives relevant to each individual at the given time.
We saw that value models change as people mature and develop, and these changes follow certain patterns. Consequently, we identified a clear need for a method of predicting human behavior based on changing values.
Our experience has shown that such a comprehensive approach is not an easy task, but it can be accomplished if we base it on the value-based approach and the concept of adult vertical development. These approaches are scientifically proven and substantiated, and many truly outstanding contemporary scientists have worked on them, such as Carl Gustav Jung, Clare W. Graves, Don Beck, Christopher Cowan, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Susanne Cook-Greuter, Jane Loevinger, Robert Kegan, and others.
Our research culminated in the creation of the Skillsy Behavioral Patterns Predictive System.
Limitations of existing approaches
Tools for objectively assessing the values and motivations of employees are available on the market. One such tool is the Values and Lifestyles (VALS) test, a psychographic instrument developed by the company Strategic Business Insights (SBI) [4]. A significant limitation of this tool is that, according to the manufacturers, the test questions are intended for individuals whose native language is American English. If English is not the user's native language or they are not familiar with the culture of the United States and its idioms, the results may be inaccurate.
Another tool for objectively assessing personality traits is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Despite not being specifically designed for corporate use, this test provides insight into various personality types of employees [5,6].
A common limitation of both these approaches is that users spend a substantial amount of time taking the test, significantly reducing engagement and loyalty to the testing process when used in the corporate sector.
Another personality assessment tool, which, among other things, aims to forecast employee behavior, is Hogan Assessments.
A notable advantage of this method is its adaptation to the corporate environment and its applicability to talent assessment. However, there is a significant limitation: the need for accurate interpretation: Effective use of assessment tools requires accurately interpreting Hogan Assessments results. Incorrect interpretation can lead to erroneous conclusions and decisions. Thus, using this tool implies additional expenses for the services of a professional coach who possesses the interpretation skill.Another significant limitation for each of the listed methods is that the user may provide socially desirable responses, significantly affecting the results' reliability and reproducibility.
Another limitation is that the current functionality of testing tools assumes that users receive the results themselves. In this scenario, the research client does not receive reports with statistical data on the sample, and additional data processing is required to obtain a comprehensive picture of the employee’s value landscape.
All the mentioned limitations served as prerequisites for the development of our own diagnostic model, which optimally overcomes subjectivity and can be used in a corporate environment, satisfying the demands of the contemporary market for thorough and dependable employee assessment.
References
The Deloitte HX TrustIDTM Survey, May 2020 (n=7,500). See: Ashley Reichheld and Amelia Dunlop, The Four Factors of Trust: How organizations can earn lifelong loyalty, (New York: Wiley, 2022).
Gartner, Inc, Jordan Turner, March 2023, More than a year out from the Great Resignation, we’re at another liminal moment for work.
‘The Invisible Revolution’ - Michael Page’s comprehensive Talent Trends Report 2023
VALS Fact Sheet. URL https://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ (02.05.2023).
Capraro, R. M., & Capraro, M. M. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator score reliability across: Studies a meta-analytic reliability generalization study. / R. M. Capraro, M. M. Capraro, // Educational and Psychological Measurement — 2002, 62(4), P. 590-602.
Furnham, A. The big five versus the big four: The relationship between the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and NEO-PI five factor model of personality. / A. Furnham // Personality and individual differences — 1996, 21(2), P. 303-307.