This is the first time I've seen so much effort put into skill assessments. I've also never seen a deadline assigned to completion. Will the skill assessments be used to produce targets for cuts?
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@OP - why wouldn’t they be ? It’s just another way for them to label a bunch of good employees as “inferior” and kick them out the door.
If there are two equivalent people in one group, but one has marked up more skills (3 vs 2) it would be easier for HR to select who to keep ...
You can tack on all the negative points you want. In the end, the Courts will decide whether it is legal to impose these types of testing. Very glad somebody brought this subject up.
So if you're a white male with a decent command of the English language, you will pass with flying colors. What's the point of the test anyways if it's to test for personality? If I have a terrible personality, I can easily fake my answers too. It's basically to test how well you are in tune with the white male culture. Many folks whose English is not their first language will not grasp the underlying concepts of those sample "very American" questions. I can already guess which part of the population will pretty much guarantee to pass this test.
Skills Assessment - hot topic.
First - this is NOT a biased IQ test.
At the same time it is not an assessment of your professional/technical skills.
It is assessing your personality - your management skills.
Typical sample:
- Can you k–l 'five with one blow'?
- Read a good book lately?
- Would you: 1. Row the boat 2. Rock the boat 3. Sink the boat ???
(extra points - write in: "bailing out the boat")
- Is greed good?
- Johnny lives 4 miles away from the campus, but his pool is not olympic-sized. What do you think of Johnny?
Most people can pass the test.
Keep an open mind.
I would think these work assessments would be illegal unless employer can prove that it is not 100% discriminatory. Is everyone required to take the test or only certain chosen individuals?
Some people do not test as well as others even if they can do the job. Can employer prove that these work assessments are 100% effective in determining who perform the tasks better than others? Those are questions that need to be raised for legal purposes.
I hate to burst your bubble but, during a Town Hall last week, it was mentioned that skill assessment will be part of the decision making process. If the Company does not have a need for your “skills”, you’re gone. This was an interesting statement after the safety minute was about Dealing with Mental Health and Stress. No stress there!!! And the big November 1 announcement will likely be about health insurance and benefits. Again, no stress there!!
Not true. My current role is part of promoting the Skills Development Assessment and I can assure you that these assessments have no part in any decisions around employee reductions. They use the performance assessment (ranking) process to decide who goes and who stays.
@cyw that is not true for most US employees. At least those in TX or LA are "at will". The only restriction for XOM is they can't fire you for an illegal reason, such as age, s-x, or ethnicity.
Legally, there has to be an obkective basis for letting you go. Therefore, there must be an irrefutable body of data that would easily stand up in court shold you try to sue - assuming you can afford years of drawn oit legal actiin. Thus, yes, skill assessments are one of several collected metrics.
No. They aren't going to use skill assessments to meet headcount targets
Interestingly, my job role was just upgraded (e.g. booper to advanced booper) to reflect my "growth". Naturally this means the skill targets are higher and some new skills added. Has this happened to anyone else?
When the skill assessments rolled out, the explanation was that you should not meet all of the skill targets for your roll. As you progressed, your skills would advance and when you met or exceeded the targets that would be a signal that you're ready for a different or more demanding job.
I really don't see why they would use skill assessments for performance cuts. Clearly the new ranking system is flexible enough to meet whatever headcount reduction targets there are. I could see it feeding into their studies and justifying cutting positions because the skill assessment says those that remain are competent enough in the relevant skills to cover the work.
Yes.