The power of assessment in business

The power of examination in business

Why conduct examinations in organisations? Employees are preoccupied with them. They can make them nervous, and what do the results actually mean? Nevertheless, examinations can be very useful in a corporate environment. They provide clear insight into employees' strengths, enabling you to deploy them even more effectively.

In education, examinations are used to ensure that students are not dependent on a single assessment moment and to see how they are doing in the interim. In the business world, the opposite seems to be true: training and development are more central than (final) examinations. This is logical, because the employee has already proven their worth, so there is no need to decide whether someone has sufficient knowledge and skills. Or is there?

Read below for some of the advantages of examining within a corporate environment.

1. Insight into the return on education or training

There are many different ways to assess the effectiveness of an education or training programme. Testing is one of them. If the learning objectives are clear, an assessment can determine the extent to which these learning objectives have actually been achieved.

2. Qualifying employees

Many large organisations have their own corporate academies. These are extremely valuable and contribute to employee development.

But does this academy also have value outside the company? Employees like to think ahead and therefore want to know how their training will benefit them in a possible new job. Certification can then add value to a subsequent career outside the company. If you want to meet this desire of employees, it may be worthwhile to have an external (independent) party examine and thus to recognise and broadly qualify employees.

3. Making informed decisions about career advancement opportunities

Within an organisation, countless decisions are made about the possible promotion of employees. There are four ways to deal with this:

Subjectively, based on proven performance and favourable reviews.
Through a talent assessment. This provides insight into the employee's (social) competencies and career development opportunities.
Through training (without assessment). This does not guarantee actual mastery of the subject matter.
Through training combined with assessment. You measure the knowledge and specific skills that the employee already possesses and place them in the context of the current employer and the future position. Failure to succeed in the (higher) position can have major consequences. Training that includes assessment allows you to partially mitigate this risk.

4. Prevention of risks and claims

The government has established legal requirements for the performance of certain activities. Consider, for example, the provision of financial advice. According to the Financial Supervision Act (WFT), this is reserved exclusively for professionals who are authorised to do so. This means that they have passed the necessary examinations and obtained the required qualifications.

Not everything is always regulated by the government. Consider quality marks and associated quality testing and examination. It can be particularly relevant for companies to take care of this themselves.

Examination is certainly relevant, especially where there are risks that could potentially lead to claims. An example of this is the VCA certificate, which stands for Safety, Health and Environment Checklist for Contractors. This certificate is not mandatory, but it is required in the industry. The VCA certificate demonstrates that the requirements of health and safety legislation are being met.

5. Demonstrate quality of service

A quality mark demonstrates the quality of your services. Combining this with examinations and/or certification reinforces this effect.

Take a funeral home, for example. The profession of funeral director is unregulated, but the quality of service is very important, even crucial. It is therefore not surprising that the sector in question has recently introduced a quality mark and certification, consisting of theoretical and practical testing.

6. Increasing employee motivation

A course without assessment is much less binding. Assessment can increase motivation, focus and a sense of recognition. Achieving the result also brings a sense of pride.

7. Understanding basic requirements

Perhaps the most obvious reason for testing is to find out whether people simply meet certain requirements. Does everyone have sufficient digital skills? Does everyone have sufficient knowledge of the requirements we set for customer-focused behaviour? Are employees aware of the compliance guidelines? Such questions usually arise after the implementation of corporate learning programmes and e-learning courses and can be answered through testing.

8. Assessing the competencies of professionals

Many self-employed professionals are often busy demonstrating their distinctive capabilities and added value. What makes them better than their (many) competitors? Of course, diplomas, quality marks and registrations help in this regard. Consider, for example, registration as a mediator, psychologist or divorce specialist. Assessment can also make a difference here.

When entering registers, there is often a fixed training requirement. Testing can be used to demonstrate compliance with the requirements in a different way. This is useful for ‘lateral entrants’ and others who have not followed the usual path.

Conclusion

Despite the doubts about testing and the fact that assessment is undervalued in the business world, there are a number of clear reasons to invest in assessment. Are you open to this idea? Invest in the quality and relevance of assessment, and you will find more and more reasons to assess.