UNIONS RECENTLY called for a ban on psychometric testing in public sector agencies, after NSW RailCorp sacked a worker for failing a psychometric test which was found to be an invalid and unreliable way of predicting how safely train drivers could operate on the job
UNIONS RECENTLY called for a ban on psychometric testing in public sector agencies, after NSW RailCorp sacked a worker for failing a psychometric test, which was found to be an invalid and unreliable way of predicting how safely train drivers could operate on the job.
NSW Labor Council Secretary John Robertson said RailCorp was breaching Government policy through psychometric testing and then allegedly standing down workers on the basis of test results.
The Labor Council commissioned a report into the validity of RailCorp’s tests, and the authors recommended that RailCorp put a hold on any further testing until more research could be carried out.
The Council, which has been threatened with legal action over its criticism of psychometric testing, echoed the Australian Workers Union, which last year called for restrictions on the unfettered use of psychometric testing.
“Psychometric testing is a voodoo science being used by RailCorp as a command and control tool over its workforce,” said Robertson.
“Labor Council has evidence that workers are actually being stood down on the basis of these secret, bogus evaluations.”
Robertson said that psychometric testing was nothing but a fad and a money making exercise, rather than a serious attempt to address safety concerns in the workplace.
Assessment firm SHL said that any psychometric assessment processes should be called into question if best practice is not adopted, and this approach would also address the issues raised by the NSW Labour Council.
Rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater, SHL said that identifying tests that don’t accurately predict job performance against specific job criteria thwarts the issues raised.
“Those tests simply should not be used in the first place to predict job performance so the argument then becomes arbitrary in itself,” said managing director of SHL, Sarah Kearney.
Unfortunately, quality measures and trustworthy test publishers are few and far between, according to SHL.
“There are a number of unreliable and invalidated tests readily available on the market,” said Kearney.
“Organisations must be discerning when selecting the most appropriate psychometric tests.”
Kearney said employers should only use job-relevant measures that are proven to predict on-the-job success and performance, such as occupational testing.
