Redundancy: It's a psychological thing

For decades, psychometrics have given employers a reliable and scientific basis to make difficult people decisions. Objectivity in these can easily become contaminated by “gut instinct”, personal favouritism and subjective impressions. Psychometrics can help bring a degree of accuracy and precision to this. Decisions in redundancy situations have a massive impact on those who stay as well as those who go. When made on an emotional or non-transparent basis, these decisions could not only leave the employer with the wrong mix of talent for the mission ahead, but could also result in legal difficulties. Used as part of a mix of tools, psychometric instruments such as the 16PF add greater validity to, and an evidence base for, such decisions. Their long term credibility though could be undermined by the fact that many employers make some basic mistakes. These aren’t tools that should be used carelessly. It’s important to understand not only when to use them, but how to use them well.