When organizations evaluate candidates for jobs, sometimes assessments are considered or already part of the process. Everything DiSC® is a tool often sought by companies for hiring, but is it a good idea? Everything DiSC is intended for use as a development tool to foster self-awareness, communication, and teamwork between employees.
Development tools help employees relate to higher-quality relationships with their co-workers, direct reports, and bosses, be more productive in their personal work styles, and contribute to the company community. Selecting candidates should be reserved for tools that are built and validated with the intent of predicting success in a role (such as cognitive ability and work experience) which Everything DiSC does not address.
Everything DiSC measures where a person’s natural priorities lie in a work setting (approximately speaking around Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness expanded to 8 scales and 12 styles using their circumplex model). While it is certainly possible that these things can be related to success on the job, Everything DiSC was not designed to measure that. People are attracted to certain types of jobs or career paths over time because they fit (or don’t) with their behavioral priorities. Someone high in D or Di will naturally find themselves in positions of leadership, sales, and high risk/reward decision-making jobs because fast-paced and challenging environments allow them to behave naturally.
Someone high in S or iS will naturally be attracted to roles that involve team facilitation, customer service, or support because steady and people-focused environments allow them to behave naturally. If someone is in a position that requires them to regularly stretch (behaviorally) into their weaker quadrants, it takes effort and can cause them to burn out, experience job dissatisfaction, or act outside of their expectations (i.e. high-C individual stressed in a quick-paced sales environment may focus too much on details and not sell enough).
Ipsative versus Normative Assessments
Everything DiSC is an ipsative assessment which means it forces individuals to respond in a way that compares their answers to each other (i.e. “Is Influence more important to you than Conscientiousness?”). Comparing yourself to yourself is great for development because it can help you understand how you differ from others and where you may need to adapt to different styles or situations. However, ipsative tests are not ideal for hiring because you can’t reasonably compare one applicant to another. Normative tests (intelligence tests and many hiring assessments) compare an individual’s response to baselines like what is “average” and provide a fixed basis for comparison between applicants. Hiring should be multifaceted and test characteristics that are directly linked to job performance. Companies like Wiley offer normative selection-focused instruments like PxT Select which is a cognitive and personality assessment combination built from the ground up to be used for best hiring practices.
Best Practices:
If you do decide to use Everything DiSC in some capacity for hiring, follow these best practices.
- Use it as a supplementary tool only. Everything DiSC should count for no more than one-third toward the hiring decision. The other two-thirds should be dedicated to resume-screening/hire experience and structured interviewing. Make reference to the test as a development tool only and focus on administering it after an offer has been made or during onboarding. Many companies use Everything DiSC during onboarding to help new hires understand their team members’ communication styles and how they may need to adapt when working with certain individuals.
- Everything DiSC is about behavior and work preferences, not tying a style to any one role. Someone with a high-I might make a great engineer just as much as someone with a high-C. Fit depends on the context of the job and the team they are working with (in addition to skills/experience). Things like cognitive ability, certifiable skills, company values, and motive will always be better predictors of job success and should be incorporated into your decision.
- On the flip side, Everything DiSC could unintentionally screen out members of a protected class at higher rates than other applicants or potential top performers. Be aware of adverse impact studies to ensure your hiring process, including assessments, does not show adverse impact on any class or group. In the United States, this is determined by the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP) and subsequent four-fifths (80%) rule set by the EEOC. If the selection rate for any race, sex, or ethnic group is less than 80% of the rate for the group with the highest selection rate, then there may be evidence of adverse impact, and the selection process should be reviewed for job-relatedness and business necessity. Pass rates should be calculated for every demographic group.
Ethical/Legal “Don’ts”
There are several ways using Everything DiSC (or any ipsative personality/inventory tool) can get you in hot water. Google “Best Buy Employment Practices Investigation” and you’ll find several articles about EEOC cracking down on the use of personality tests for hiring. You can be found guilty of discrimination if there is an unintentional difference in selection rates between groups (disparate impact) under Title VII and other federal legislation if the employers cannot validate their test as job-related.
Selecting candidates who only fit certain “types.” Everything DiSC and other styles theories are controversial due to people stereotyping and profiling candidates as being unable to do a job. Someone may think that a high-C will never be able to succeed in a sales role because they are not “social enough.” Depending on the job and team, someone with an iS could be a fantastic salesperson. Everything should be transparent to candidates. Give candidates information on how their data will be used. Do not make the assessment feel like it is a “make or break” a high-stakes gamut.
Also, be sure to follow FAQS on privacy when administering assessments. Use assessments that have been validated and administer them with a certified administrator.
Recommendations
Everything DiSC is an excellent tool to use after hiring employees to help them acclimate to their team and understand how to communicate better. However, when used for hiring it should only be one piece of your “Hiring Pie.” Using Everything DiSC during hiring can put your company at risk legally and should only be used for developmental feedback if utilized at all. Use validated pre-employment assessments like Wiley’s PxT Select that are built from the ground up to predict job success.
References
Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures. (2013). Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/research/publications/testing-and-assessment-employers-guide-good-practices
