In Part 1 of our series about refining your hiring process in 2022, we discussed the importance of a good employer brand for candidate attraction. However, that’s only the first step — once you attract that talent, the pressure is on to identify the top candidates from the applicant pool.
In order to accomplish this, hiring managers often turn to two elements of an application: the resume and cover letter. While it’s hard to debate the value of a good resume, the cover letter is a far more controversial part of the modern application routine. From an employer perspective, it’s not necessarily helpful in providing accurate insight about the candidate. In fact, 68% of recruiters think cover letters are unimportant.1 From an applicant perspective, it can be a time-consuming step and slow the overall job search.
If both sides dislike cover letters, then why are they used at all? First, it’s important to understand where cover letters came from and why they may or may not be necessary for talent acquisition.
A Brief History of the Cover Letter
The cover letter is believed to have existed for hundreds of years, with speculation that Leonardo da Vinci wrote the first-ever cover letter in the 1480s when he applied to work for the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza.2 In it, he described his eagerness to work for the Duke and listed his applicable skills and the ideas that he would implement if hired for the role. You can read the full letter here. Not only did his cover letter get him the job, but it also led him to be commissioned by Sforza to paint The Last Supper.
Although the subject matter of da Vinci’s cover letter may not be relevant to today’s workforce, the structure and talking points he includes are still commonly used. This similar format has been present throughout history in one form or another, and for many, it is weighed as heavily as the resume itself in determining a candidate’s worth.
Should You Require a Cover Letter?
While the cover letter worked for Leonardo da Vinci, how necessary are cover letters in 2022? Due to the unique demands of certain job roles, some hiring managers may find them to remain a necessary part of the hiring process. But for most, they’re not needed.
Cover letters are often a barrier for even talented applicants who are legitimately interested in a certain role because of the time and effort they require. Standing out in a competitive job market requires removing as many barriers as possible to allow the prospective employee to apply quickly and easily.
The best litmus test is to consider the job seeker’s perspective: if you were to find similar open roles at two different companies, would you take the time to apply to the one that requires a cover letter or one that does not?
The Alternative
In the absence of a cover letter, how can you measure a candidate’s likelihood of success? The most proven method is through scientifically valid personality tests. Simple to administer and easy to complete for the candidate, personality tests can make the hiring process more efficient and more effective.
By reducing the likelihood of bias and the potential for human error, personality tests make the hiring process more objective and improve the odds of making a successful hire. A well-validated personality test can give hiring managers insight as to how a candidate is likely to perform on an everyday basis — for example, how they will be likely to interact with others or how they will approach organizational and personal objectives.
Cover letters have served their purpose in the workplace for hundreds of years, offering applicants the opportunity to elaborate on their unique skill set beyond the limitations of a resume. However, in today’s fast-paced and competitive hiring landscape, more refined solutions for talent acquisition exist that yield better results, making cover letters a thing of the past.
January always brings a wave of New Year’s resolutions, fresh starts, and new opportunities. As people set goals for this upcoming calendar year, both employees and employers will find that it may be time to make changes to how they work — and who they work with. Many organizations have taken this new year as an opportunity to refine their talent acquisition process, particularly in light of the ongoing talent shortage and the wave of quits many are dubbing the Great Resignation.
This article is the first in a series we’ve put together about refining your talent acquisition process to find, impress, hire, and onboard talented employees who are looking to grow in a new and exciting workplace. To kick things off, we’re starting at the foundation of a successful hiring process — your employer brand.
In a competitive employment environment where organizations around the world are competing for a small talent pool, your employer brand can either be your greatest asset or biggest weakness. It may come as a surprise that 75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before applying for a job,1 meaning that your organization’s digital reputation is one of the most integral elements of attracting top talent.
If you’re unsure of what to look for and how to improve your employer reputation, we’ve put together a step-by-step system for you to follow.
The Employer Brand Strategy
Assess
Before anything can be done to bolster your employer brand, it’s crucial to gauge your current level of success. From social media to employer review platforms such as Glassdoor, how your company presents itself and how others interact with your organization is the clearest sign of a positive or negative employer brand.
Measuring Employer Brand
To help capture the current state of your employer brand, take a moment to answer the following questions:
Do you have a business profile on Glassdoor, Indeed, Comparably, etc.? If so, how many employee reviews do you have?
What feedback, if any, do you see consistently mentioned — either positive or negative?
Are current or ex-employees leaving most of the feedback?
Does your Google My Business profile have employee reviews?
Are employee reviews drowning out customer feedback?
Do you have a company LinkedIn page? If so, are employees connected to it? Do you post frequently?
Does your website have a robust About Us page?
Does your website highlight the benefits of working for your organization?
These questions should help you understand what specific pros and cons a prospective employee might be looking for or notice during their research. If you’re missing one of these elements or answered in the negative, don’t worry — identification is only the first step.
Act
Now that you’ve asked the right questions and potentially found some weaknesses, it’s time to make one more assessment: does your employer brand need to be built, or does it require fixing?
How to Build Employer Brand
As previously mentioned, you can target a few specific platforms to make your employer brand more robust:
Glassdoor, Indeed, Comparably, and other HR-focused employee review platforms
Google My Business
LinkedIn
Your organization’s website
If you are missing one of these profiles or pages, the best first step is creating it and developing it with thoughtful content, related company images, and other relevant information.
For LinkedIn, as a platform to engage with professionals, it’s recommended that you create relevant, thought-provoking posts at a frequency of two to three times per week.2
For Glassdoor, Indeed, Comparably, and Google My Business, it will likely take time to gather reviews. To help start the process, encourage your employees to leave honest feedback at their discretion.
These actions will help searchers find your company, gather more information, and gauge your level of engagement with current and past employees.
How to Improve Employer Brand
If you identified negative feedback while assessing your employer brand, you can take steps to help counteract its effect. While you might not be able to delete negative employee reviews on most platforms — a practice that can actually do more harm than good3 — responding to them is the best form of damage control.
When responding to a negative comment, just remember that it’s important to stay calm, cool, and collected. A prospective employee will read the original review and judge your response to measure your organization’s level of compassion. If you are quick to deny or shut down any criticism, you will paint your organization as cold and heartless. Failing to address the reviewer’s specific feedback can also be damaging to your organizational reputation.
The best response is structured in the following way:
Acknowledge the specific issue being raised.
Offer up a solution, if possible, to remedy the situation.
Thank the reviewer for their feedback.
Following this simple template should defuse the situation and provide a positive representation of your organization’s commitment to conflict resolution.
Attract
With these steps, you will have redefined your employer brand as an enticing opportunity to job hunters. The best employer brandis one that is present, thoughtful, and actively engaged with current and ex-employees. While the circumstances of talent acquisition in 2022 might be challenging, being proactive about understanding and managing your organization’s reputation can help position your organization to weather the storm and come out on top.
Barone, L. (2010, November 19). 5 Reasons Not to Delete Negative News. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/5-reasons-not-to-delete-negative-reviews-2010-11
Year-end is the perfect time for reflection, a time to ponder the ups and down of the past year. On the last working day of 2021, Infelligent Coaching & Consulting, an authorized Hogan distributor in China and Taiwan, hosted a Hogan-certified alumni reunion. Sounds Good, a Taipei coffee shop located in a quiet alley and known for its wide collection of vinyl records, offered an inviting atmosphere for some of Infelligent’s alumni to share their experiences using Hogan’s personality tests.
Judy Yu, HR manager at Eternal Materials, spoke on using personality tests for key talent management initiatives. Eternal Materials is a leading traditional manufacturing company in southern Taiwan that enjoys high employee engagement and retention. Using insight gained from Hogan’s personality tests, Judy’s team established the company’s talent acquisition, succession planning, and talent development programs. Eternal Materials uses Hogan’s talent management solutions companywide, and all data are analyzed and compiled as the basis for tracking leadership performance and development.
One of the challenges the company has faced is developing an R&D leadership team equipped for a changing environment. With the help of Hogan personality data, the HR team recognized the employees’ preference for reforming the system and made the needed changes. For Judy, Hogan’s personality tests have helped Eternal not only find the right talent, but also put that talent in the right places.
Gina Chang, senior manager of HR for Hong Kong and Taiwan at Edwards Life Sciences, went on to share her story. Modestly, she began by quoting Ginni Rometty: “Your value will be not what you know; it will be what you share.” Gina then shared how, with the approval of her company’s headquarters, she utilized Hogan’s personality tests for facilitating team development in Taiwan. Following her success, the company now uses Hogan’s products for employee development in China and Korea as well.
In sharing their stories, both Judy and Gina emphasized the importance of feedback for talent development. Feedback from peers and other colleagues adds dimension to the learning and development experience.
Following the sharing, it was time for some relaxation. A believer in balancing life and work, Infelligent hosts a salon event series that always combines learning with fun. For this event, Howard Ko, vice president of KGI Bank and an expert in music, led the audience through some songs. He played a number of pieces from the vinyl collection at Sounds Good, including the Getz and Gilberto recording of “The Girl from Ipanema,” Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas,” Idina Menzel and Michael Bublé’s “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” Dan Fogelberg’s “Same Old Lang Syne,” and George Michael’s “Last Christmas.” The playlist was quite diverse but filled with holiday spirit.
As the finale, Pei-ru, the owner of Sounds Good, told the alumni the story of her shop and collections. She also played an old Chinese song from her treasured 1910s gramophone. The artist’s sultry voice took everyone back to past times. It was the perfect ending to the afternoon.
Until next time, Infelligent wishes all of you work-life balance in 2022.
As COVID-19 cases surge once again, organizations that were eager to have employees return to the office are delaying those plans — in many cases, indefinitely. This means that many employees will continue to work from home, whether they like it or not.
There are pros and cons of working from home, both for employees and employers. For example, one common concern among company leadership is about distractions at home and reduced productivity. Some have gone so far as to determine how to monitor employees working from home. On the other hand, working from home has revolutionized the employment perks enjoyed by many workers, offering more flexibility and fewer formalities compared to the office.
Maintaining productivity while ensuring employees stay happy in their roles is a balancing act that organizations strive to perfect. However, as the world’s progress toward ending the pandemic fluctuates, it’s important that both sides of this discussion — employer and employee — take steps to ensure a healthy and prosperous partnership.
Tips for Employees
How to Stay Motivated Working from Home
One of the best ways to stay motivated and avoid burnout is setting goals. But not all goals are made equal. Large, abstract goals that are difficult or time-consuming can be more harmful than helpful, leaving you feeling inadequate as you fail to meet milestones. Instead, set small, attainable goals that can be accomplished steadily over the course of a project or period of time.
How to Stay Focused Working from Home
Distractions are present in any working environment, but working from home can often pose even greater challenges to remaining focused. Aside from removing distractions, such as phones, televisions, and other entertainment sources, one of the most effective strategies is creating a dedicated workspace that helps divide work from home. In the absence of a commute, having a workspace that is detached from the areas of your home where you relax and unwind will help you mentally “clock out” when work ends.
Tips for Employers
How to Keep Employees on Track
Similar to how employees can set goals for individual growth, good leaders can set goals for their teams that will help keep people across job functions aligned and motivated. To support these goals, leaders should remember to encourage their employees at every milestone and make sure to be present to support them as needed.
How to Avoid Becoming an Absentee Leader
Absentee leaders are those who are disengaged from their teams. Absentee leaders don’t communicate with or actively lead the employees who rely on their guidance. To evaluate the strength of your leadership, look at the effectiveness of your team to gauge if your employees are effective, communicative, and empowered in their roles. Other strategies for avoiding absentee leadership include setting up open-door time or one-on-one check-in meetings, creating agendas to structure meetings, offering opportunities for employees to share feedback and ideas, and investing in team building.
While 2022 is already starting off with uncertainty, organizations around the world are taking forward the lessons of the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and adapting to the new realities of doing business. Both employee and employer will play a role in the success of this ever-evolving, work-from-home environment, and flexibility and understanding on both sides are our best tools in building success.
A book on the history of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) made waves back in 2018 by putting the media into a feeding frenzy over the accuracy and validity of personality assessments. This criticism specifically extended into the popular use of personality testing for careers and their HR applications. As we’ve seen before, the feedback tended to fall into one of three generic claims:
Hiring personality tests are biased and discriminatory
They aren’t relevant for the job
They simply fail to predict performance
Many articles that came from this discussion echoed these themes, going so far as to state that many of the benefits of personality tests are actually myths. However, the talking points raised in this discussion seem to miss one critical detail: It’s difficult, but necessary, to distinguish scientifically proven, reliable tools from those that are of poor quality.
So, should personality tests be used for hiring?
Yes, and here’s why.
Contrary to what these articles are claiming, high-quality personality assessments do, actually, predict performance, surpassing the quality of alternative, more traditional talent acquisition methods such as resumés and interviews. For these reasons and more, there are clear advantages of using personality tests in the hiring process — so why does controversy still exist? The true criticism of personality assessments actually stems from the widespread popularity of inexpensive, ‘trendy’ tools that lack science-based conclusions.
In a flooded market of personality tests that claim to be accurate, how can you know which assessments are truly effective? In short, looking at the validity and reliability of an assessment tool.
Validity
Validity indicates the predictive ability of an assessment by measuring the correlation of one thing with another, such as the correlation of personality with job performance.
To break it down, validity is measured with a coefficient between 0 and 1 (absolute value). The closer to one, the more accurate the predictive power of the assessment. A robust assessment tool, such as the Hogan Assessment suite (HPI, HDS, and MVPI) has a predictive validity of .54. Comparatively, the structured interviewing of candidates has a predictive validity of only .18.
In other words, validity is a measure of accuracy.
Reliability
Reliability, on the other hand, can tell you if the assessment can properly measure the same thing time and time again. The reliability of an assessment can be evaluated in two broad ways: 1) internal consistency and 2) test-retest reliability.
Internal consistency relates to the questions that are used in each assessment; by asking a question in a few different ways, the tester helps ensure that the assessment is getting an accurate measurement of the concept.
Test-retest reliability is a measure of the consistency of responses over time. Are people responding to questions the same way each time they take the test? Inconsistent responses can indicate that assessments results are not actually measuring personality, which should be relatively stable over time.
To put it plainly, reliability is a measure of consistency.
While there’s no doubt that, in some cases, there are pros and cons of personality tests, it’s important to make the distinction between tests that are ‘flashy’ and those that are science-based. In your search for a high-quality assessment tool, pay close attention to the following topics to ensure efficacy:
Validity and reliability — Ask the vendor for information on the reliability and predictive validity of their assessments. These two things can tell you if the assessment is accurately and consistently measuring what they say it does.
Scientific background — Quality assessment tools should be heavily researched and built on a sound theoretical framework. If this information is not readily available, there’s a good chance the quality of that assessment is poor.
Accordance with employment guidelines — Many countries have employment guidelines to protect employees from discrimination. Any assessment used for recruitment purposes should demonstrate how they follow those guidelines.
Predictive ability for job performance — Often, assessments feature questions that measure identity or self-perception of oneself, which can often be flawed. A better approach is to use objective measures of reputational factors that predict performance.
Adaptability for different cultures/languages — Be sure to find out if an assessment is adapted to your specific language and culture. Proper translation is important but not sufficient to account for all cultural differences.
The next time you hear someone highlight the problem with using personality tests for hiring, urge them to look deeper into the options available and equip them with the means to properly vette an assessment tool. As Adrian Furnham, internationally acclaimed management expert and Professor of Psychology at University College London emphasizes:
“There are two criteria for a good assessment: evidence of test validity and quality of feedback on questionnaire. It should be useful for the employer and the employee alike: It measures clearly what you need it to measure; it is clear and straightforward for the respondent; the test has considerable evidence of reliability and validity, and the employee gets rich and useful feedback. In my experience, the three Hogan measures (HPI, HDS and MVPI) are the ones that have proved to be the most effective, because of the above reasons.”
3 Minute Mile is a London-based consultancy that has been working with Hogan for more than 15 years. The 3MM team works with organizations, including some of the largest globally, to help them achieve peak performance through agility and effective leadership.
The bold choice to name the company 3 Minute Mile reflects a commitment to excellence and pushing the boundaries of human performance. At one point, many believed that it would be impossible for humans to run a sub-four-minute mile. However, on the May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister did just that at Oxford University’s Iffley Road Track. The three-minute mile is now the new frontier for mile runners to pursue.
About 3MM
The 3MM team values progress, impact, excellence, detail, and respect. You can expect them to create innovative approaches to solve problems, deliver solutions based on validated personality assessments, and provide responsive and efficient service. Their main areas of expertise include leadership, personality, and inspiration, and they implement those in executive development and coaching projects. They also offer a variety of competency-based strategies to assist prestigious clients around the world.
How 3MM Aligns with Hogan’s Values
Hogan commitment to customer relationships is mirrored by the 3MM team’s stellar reputation for customer service. At the beginning of 2021, all organizations were beginning to reemerge and readjust to life in our new world. While much has changed, the 3MM team knows how important the customer is and remains committed to delivering world-class service. At Hogan headquarters we consistently get feedback that responses from 3MM are swift, valuable, and friendly. You can always expect to get service with a smile and a wave from 3MM!
2021 Wins
This has been a successful year. Here are just a few of 3MM’s accomplishments:
Assisting a worldwide sustainable technology brand for selection and development purposes. The organization began using Hogan’s Leadership Forecast Series at the senior executive level and has expanded to using the Hogan competency model as well.
Working with a multinational information technology and electronics company to use Hogan’s assessments for executive assessments. 3MM was able to beat out another assessment firm who was the incumbent provider.
Setting up an integration with a multinational telecommunications company. We are excited to see the impact of embedding Hogan in the company’s programs!
Everything is getting more expensive these days, and bad hires are no exception. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, employees who fail to live up to expectations usually cost their organizations at least 30% of their first-year earnings.1 And the indirect costs of a bad hire? They can be even more draining.
While there are wide-ranging reasons why bad hires are so expensive, let’s review four of the most common reasons why bad hires cost so much.
1. Compensation
Employees are paid salaries in exchange for services they’re expected to render. If a bad hire delivers subpar services (or doesn’t deliver at all), other employees must fix the bad hire’s work or repair additional problems that the person causes — meaning they have less time to perform their own work responsibilities.
Add the cost of the bad hire’s benefits to the equation, and the financial hits can really add up. While an entry-level employee’s salary and benefits might not bankrupt an organization, multiple bad hires or a bad hire in a leadership position threaten forward momentum.
2. Onboarding
Savvy employers know that investing resources and energy into the onboarding process will deliver returns in employee productivity later on. Therefore, they encourage managers to spend substantial one-on-one time integrating new hires into their teams. Employers also use resources from HR and other central departments to provide new hires with a comprehensive orientation, process their documents, and equip them with office supplies, software, and equipment.
In all, the costs of onboarding can equal 16% to 20% of an employee’s annual salary.2 When you consider the fact that it takes up to eight months for a new hire to be productive in their role and that 23% of these employees turn over before their first anniversary, the loss of resources from onboarding bad hires can be staggering.3
3. Opportunity
People power is the center mass in the work-worker-workplace trio, and a single bad hire has the potential to throw an entire organization off balance. Every second that a bad hire spends not living up to their job description represents a rising opportunity cost for employers. With a talent shortage in full effect that has no sign of slowing anytime soon, employers cannot risk losing out on candidates who would be better aligned with organizational goals.
Some bad hires can clog talent pipelines. A particularly charismatic one might even cause employers to overlook more effective employees in succession planning. If an ineffective employee is in a role that influences revenue generation or customer retention, opportunity costs can be astronomical. For example, a salesperson who consistently alienates customers can drive business to the competition.
4. Engagement
Bad hires can erode the engagement of other employees. Their behavior can impact overall productivity. For example, a bad hire might slow or sabotage workflows, spread contagious negativity, or introduce bad work hygiene into the organizational culture. And a poor review posted on a job forum by a disgruntled ex-employee? That could surely undercut talent attraction efforts.
With employee engagement rates at just 49% as of 2020, employers cannot afford to let a bad hire incite disengagement within their organizations.4Lost employee engagement costs the United States $1 trillion, or 10% of GDP, per year, and employers bear the brunt of these costs.5
What Can Be Done?
You get the point: bad hires are not cheap. In some cases, they can even be dangerous or fatal. Unfortunately, they’re not uncommon either, as nearly three-quarters of hiring managers admit to having made a bad hire.6 Often, this happens because they need to fill a role quickly but don’t have a sound talent acquisition strategy.
Effective talent acquisition requires more than simply finding people with the appropriate experience and hard skills. Instead, soft skills are often what determine who is a good hire: Do they get along with others? Do they enjoy the work, and are they motivated to do it? Do they have values that align with those of the organization?
So, how can hiring managers find employees with suitable soft skills? Take an evidence-based approach to talent acquisition. Interviews are well documented to have insufficient predictive validity for effective job performance, so exhaustive interviewing is not the solution. Moreover, nearly one-quarter of hiring managers say they just don’t have the skills to avoid bad hires and select the right people.7
But well-validated personality tests offer proven insight into candidates’ soft skills and even shorten time to hire. Paired with structured interviews and other complementary evaluation methods, personality tests can help employers root out bad hires from the candidate pool and identify the ideal candidate for nearly any job role — saving money, time, and of course, morale.
References
Brandwein, S. (2021, January 19). What Is the Cost of a Bad Hire? Higher Than You Think…. Ladders. https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/what-is-the-cost-of-a-bad-hire-higher-than-you-think
Kuepers, J. (2021, February 28). How to Calculate Employee Onboarding Costs. Clickboarding. https://www.clickboarding.com/how-to-calculate-onboarding-costs/
Ferrazzi, K. (2015, March 25). Technology Can Save Onboarding from Itself. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2015/03/technology-can-save-onboarding-from-itself
Clifton, D., & Rath, T. (2004, July 8). The Power of Praise and Recognition. Gallup. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/321965/employee-engagement-reverts-back-pre-covid-levels.aspx
Abel, A., Levanon, G., Li, A., & Rong, C. (n.d.). Job Satisfaction 2021: Job Satisfaction Remains High Even in the Midst of the Pandemic and Economic Chaos. The Conference Board. https://conference-board.org/research/job-satisfaction/job-satisfaction-2021?mkt_tok=MjI1LVdCWi0wMjUAAAF80KUm7sd6Z0BJuD7-
Bolden-Barrett, V. (2017, December 8). CareerBuilder: 74% of Employers Admit Hiring the Wrong Candidate. HR Dive. https://www.hrdive.com/news/careerbuilder-74-of-employers-admit-hiring-the-wrong-candidate/512577/
Frye, L. (2017, May 9). The Cost of a Bad Hire Can Be Astronomical. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/cost-of-bad-hires.aspx
Alto Impacto, one of Hogan’s authorized distributors, is a leading HR and talent consulting firm with global presence managed by senior consultants who are leaders in their fields and practices and who have gained experience in multinational companies and top international consulting firms.
Located in Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, Alto Impacto has been a leading source of information and methodologies for applying science to talent processes in talent acquisition, leadership, coaching, culture transformation, as well as talent, team, and organizational development.
Alto Impacto has helped and supported local and global firms from all industries since 1998 and has represented and distributed Hogan Assessments since 2009. Alto Impacto uses specific models and methodologies to assess and help develop individuals, teams, and organizations. Their focus on putting together a precise and customized assessment solution for each client distinguishes them from other HR consulting firms.
Achieving Team and Organizational Effectiveness
Alto Impacto’s process for building organizational effectiveness is structured and systematic. Alto Impacto begins by gaining a very clear understanding of stakeholder needs and expectations and then translates those into key performance indicators and ideal organizational skills.
All of Alto Impacto’s consultancy projects involve an in-depth analysis of the current capabilities of the organization, including its teams, leaders, and collaborators. Alto Impacto defines key improvement initiatives for them, supports their progress, and helps them develop their individual, team, and organizational skills and competencies that impact key business indicators.
Alto Impacto also has broad experience developing programs for strategic talent attraction and organizational development, including executive search, talent mapping, succession planning, leadership development, onboarding processes, among other services.
Alto Impacto focuses on generating business results by improving the effectiveness of organizations and teams, as well as their talent and leaders. They build personalized solutions to develop individual contributors, leaders, teams, and organizational culture, and they support clients to help them gain a sustainable competitive advantage.
What is something that produces chemicals within the brain as if you are meditating and exercising at the same time, but is HR approved? Humor.1 Humor can be beneficial both outside the workplace and within the workplace. Outside of the workplace, humor improves physical well-being and mental health.2 Inside of the workplace, humor has been shown to reduce the negative effects of workplace stress and enhance job performance. Employee humor also boosts job satisfaction, team cohesion, health, and coping effectiveness, while decreasing burnout and work withdrawal.2
But what exactly is humor? Is it stand-up comedy at the local club? Is it enjoyed with a bowl of freshly popped popcorn while watching Saturday Night Live? How can humor even be used tastefully within the workplace? Can you use it to get stiff peaks in your meringues? All of these are excellent questions (especially the last one), and we hope to touch on some of them in this wonderfully written blog post.
What Is Humor?
Alas, we do not have any answers to how humor can be used to get stiff peaks in your meringues because meringue behavior is not easy to research from a psychology perspective. Luckily, human behavior is relatively easy to research; however, a definition of humor is sadly not as easy to understand as the jokes that come with it.3
One of the keys to understanding and defining humor is the distinction between humor and sense of humor. Humor is a behavior or communication style that is mutually amusing, whereas sense of humor has been defined as a quasi-personality characteristic or cognitive ability.2 Another way of thinking about the differences is that humor is a behavior and sense of humor is a characteristic or trait.4
Types of Humor Styles
We will focus on the model that served as the foundation of the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ),5 which was used in our research at Hogan. This theory categorizes humor into four different humor styles:
Affiliative humor – This is a positive humor style that is nonthreatening and nonhostile toward others.5 An individual who scores high on Affiliative humor tends to create relationships and reduce interpersonal tension by telling jokes, saying funny things, or just being witty.6
Self-enhancing humor – This is a positive humor style that is nonthreatening and nonhostile toward oneself.5 Someone who uses this humor style might try to twist the situation to lighten the mood after something bad happens to them. Individuals who score higher on this humor style tend to maintain a humorous and positive outlook on life, even during challenging times.5
Self-defeating humor – This is a negative humor style that is threatening and hostile toward the person using it.5 While this is a negative humor style, it can be used strategically to reduce the status and power distance between a leader and their followers.6
Aggressive humor – This is a negative humor style that is threatening and hostile towards others.5 Individuals higher on this humor style tend to use humor without any regard for others’ feelings.7
You may have noticed there are some common denominators across these humor styles. All four humor styles can be categorized into a two-by-two matrix with one side of the matrix representing the direction of humor that is being used (self-directed versus other-directed) and the other side of the matrix representing the impact of the humor (positive versus negative).8
Other-Directed
Self-Directed
Positive
Affiliative
Self-Enhancing
Negative
Aggressive
Self-Defeating
Successful Humor is Relational and Situational
So, should an individual just stay away from using negative forms of humor? The answer to this question is the typical “it depends” answer. It really depends on the context and the relationship between the individuals. Within the leadership realm, specifically, both positive and negative humor have been found to be good (or bad) for a leader and follower, depending on the relationship between the two.8 If the two have built rapport and trust, then either positive or negative forms of humor can be successful.9 But if the relationship between the two individuals is not healthy and trustful, then both positive and negative forms of humor will likely fail and quite possibly do more harm than good.
Humor is subjective. An individual using humor may intend to use it for one purpose, but the result of the humor may not go as planned. An individual may use a positive form of humor with the intent to build a relationship with a new coworker, but if the new coworker is not receptive to the humor, then the humor has failed.
The key to successful humor is how the humor is received, not the intent. It’s very similar to how Hogan views personality. At Hogan, we focus on how others are likely to see you in the workplace (your reputation) rather than how you see yourself (your identity). Using a humor style in certain situations could result in a negative impact on your reputation in the workplace, regardless of how you see yourself.
For example, using self-enhancing humor could lead to people viewing you as overconfident. Or maybe you use an aggressive type of humor without a strong relationship with an individual and they start to see you as being inappropriate and unprofessional in the workplace. Years of research by Hogan has determined that reputation matters more than identity when it comes to workplace outcomes. What this means is that someone can think they are using humor to their benefit, but others may not perceive it positively — and that’s what really matters.
Context is the other key factor for using humor well at work. If you’re a stand-up comedian in a bar, then you will likely be in an environment where some risky types of humor could be used, but if you’re a judge in a courtroom, you may want to steer clear of some types of humor.
The use of humor can be a fine line to walk, especially with humor’s subjectivity and strong potential for causing offense (especially when dabbling in negative humor types). Being aware of your context and environment is key for the successful use of humor. In addition to the context of the environment, being aware of which humor style you are using is important. Having that awareness can prevent you from unintentionally using a form of humor that may not be appropriate in your current context.
The Role of Personality in Humor Style
At Hogan, we know that behaviors and personality characteristics are related. An individual’s personality will be a driver for their behavior, but through strategic self-awareness, feedback, and targeted development, people can modify their behavior. Strategic self-awareness has three components:
Understanding our own strengths and opportunities for change and growth
Understanding how our strengths and challenges relate to those of others
Understanding how to adapt our behavior to increase our effectiveness
To use humor effectively in the workplace, individuals must have some degree of strategic self-awareness. They should understand their own humor style, when that humor style is effective, and when they need to flex away from their natural humor style to be successful. Individuals who do that are more likely to garner a reputation of being influential and gregarious in the organization, which can help them ultimately become more successful.
The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), Hogan Development Survey (HDS), and Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI) are excellent resources that can assist with becoming more strategically self-aware of your own personality. If you are interested in learning how these Hogan assessments relate to humor style (or just have some free time on your calendar), please join us for our upcoming webinar.
This post was authored by Cody Warren, talent analytics consultant, and Jessie McClure, corporate solutions consultant.
References
1. Aaker, J., & Bagdonas, N. (2021, February 5). How to Be Funny at Work. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/02/how-to-be-funny-at-work
2. Mesmer-Magnus, J., Glew, D. J., & Viswesvaran, C. (2012). A meta-analysis of positive humor in the workplace, Journal of Managerial Psychology, 27(2), 155-190.
3. Burford, C. (1987). Humor of principals and its impact on teachers and the school. Journal of Educational Administration, 25(1), 29-54.
4. Cooper, C. D. (2005). Just joking around? Employee humor expression as an ingratiatory behavior. Academy of Management Review, 30(4), 765-776.
5. Martin, R. A., Puhlik-Doris, P., Larsen, G., Gray, J., & Weir, K. (2003). Individual differences in uses of humor and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the Humor Styles Questionnaire. Journal of Research in Personality, 37(1), 48-75.
6. Romero, E. J., & Cruthirds, K. W. (2006). The use of humor in the workplace. Academy of Management Perspectives, 20(2), 58-69.
8. Robert, C., Dunne, T. C., & Iun, J. (2016). The impact of leader humor on subordinate job satisfaction: The crucial role of leader-subordinate relationship quality. Group and Organization Management, 41(3), 375-407.
9. Tremblay, M. (2017). Humor in Teams: Multilevel relationships between humor climate, inclusion, trust, and citizenship behaviors. Journal of Business Psychology, 32, 363-378.
A clip featuring comedian Chris Rock that went viral last year sums up the issue of high-stakes hiring. Skewering the “few bad apples” phrase often applied to policing in the United States, he riffs:
“Bad apples? Some jobs can’t have bad apples. Some jobs, everybody gotta be good. Like … pilots! American Airlines can’t be like, ‘Most of our pilots like to land. We just got a few bad apples that like to crash into mountains. Please bear with us.’”1
Rock’s bit on the unforgiving nature of high-stakes hiring is spot-on. Medical professionals, first responders, pilots, military personnel, and people in other potentially risky occupations have little room for error. A slip of the scalpel or a miscalculated military directive could easily result in the loss of human life. And just as precision is required of those who enter high-stakes professions, it is also required of the talent acquisition processes that fill these roles.
High-Stakes Hiring Depends on Data
Those who manage high-stakes hiring processes know that even the most competent candidates have weaknesses — the highly qualified are still human, after all. Problems arise when a candidate’s shortcomings conflict with the demands of the job. Using personality tests in talent acquisition processes can help identify a candidate’s possible weaknesses up front. This allows hiring managers to determine whether a person’s possible shortcomings represent an area for development or a potential liability.
To avoid headline-making accidents, employers should focus on crafting a hiring process that uses multiple evaluation methods — for example, interviews and personality tests. When interviews are used as the primary hiring method, incompetent hires are less likely to be detected. An objective measure of personality, though, can provide insights that cannot be gleaned from interviews.
The Consequences of High-Stakes Hiring
So, what behaviors might indicate incompetence for a high-stakes hire? Our database of global personality research shows that individuals who are prone to fail in high-risk occupations tend to be described as inattentive to detail, unreliable at rule following, susceptible to stress, ineffective at working with others, and overly concerned with being the center of attention. When a candidate exhibits one or more of these behaviors, safety should be a concern. Lives may even be at risk.
The Costa Concordia cruise ship accident is just one regrettable example of lethal misalignment between role and individual. On January 13, 2012, Captain Francesco Schettino turned off the ship’s warning systems because he felt confident that he knew the Italian coast well enough. Captain Schettino overestimated his capabilities. A coastal reef tore a 50-meter gash in the ship’s side, tragically killing 32 passengers. Captain Schettino was later convicted of manslaughter, and it is a shame that his negligent behaviors were not flagged during his former organization’s hiring process.
Hiring processes should prioritize candidates who are trainable, compliant, strong, poised, vigilant, and cautious. Well-validated personality tests can identify these qualities, so hiring managers can weigh them against an individual’s weaknesses. Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger III, also known as Sully, is an example of a successful high-stakes hire. On January 15, 2009, Captain Sullenberger was piloting U.S. Airways flight 1549 when both of the engines ceased to work. Captain Sullenberger was able to save the day by safely maneuvering the plane to land on the Hudson River near New York City.
Captain Sullenberger’s disposition played a big role in averting disaster. His subordinates described him as calm, cool, and collected during the ordeal. Hiring managers who are seeking to fill positions with a high risk of accidents should focus on finding people with qualities like those of Captain Sullenberger — people who can competently stand at the helm if (or when) catastrophe strikes.
Personality and Accident Prevention
Research shows that making hiring processes longer will not safeguard against bad hires. Incorporating well-validated personality tests, however, can make interview processes more comprehensive while shortening their length.
At Hogan, we’ve seen this firsthand. We once worked with a large metropolitan transportation company with the objective of using personality to reduce bus accidents. Employees hired using Hogan’s Safety solution were more safety-conscious. They had 40% fewer rule violations, 25% fewer workers’ compensation claims, and 20% fewer accidents.
In another instance, we worked with a U.S. plastic tube manufacturing company that was struggling with an increasing number of accidents and injuries. After the company introduced personality tests into its selection efforts, the accident rate was reduced to zero within two years, and the company received the maximum reduction in fines from past OSHA audits.
In some industries, the quality of the talent acquisition process can literally decide the fate of others’ lives. In more mundane circumstances, it can decide who fills key roles that are responsible for keeping the organization afloat. Regardless, no employer can afford to let bad hires spoil their organization.
