Center for Business, Industry & Labor

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On Target • On Demand • On Site

IBM client training will be hosted at our DEC Computer Training Lab.  Nationwide Training Alliance has selected CBIL DEC lab as their St. Louis based training site.

Investing in the Future – Using Assessment Tools that Generate Results

Having the right tools and using them correctly are two integral parts of any productive person’s success. Tony Centracchio, a CBIL project associate, is a whiz with assessment tools, the kind of tools that help determine existing employee knowledge, skill and ability levels as well as pinpoint organizational needs. He not only uses tools effectively, he develops other tools that St. Louis area employers can use to gauge the performance of their workers.

Centracchio frequently works with employers to determine the effectiveness of their training programs. He is concerned with developing an instrument that accurately captures how training efforts have changed worker performance. “I start by observing worker performance both before and after training has occurred, looking for key behavior changes. Then I compare these changes with other hard data like productivity and scrap reports. Doing so helps me determine how training has affected bottom line results.” This is a boon for employers who are looking for a return on their training investment.

Centracchio used a similar approach when working with an area employer who was experiencing chronic high turnover. To standardize the pre-employment process and ensure that the right kinds of knowledge, skills, and abilities were being assessed, Centracchio piloted several off-the-shelf assessment instruments with existing employees. He compared their scores with existing performance measures such as the organization’s performance appraisals and looked for correlations between high test scores and high performers. The resulting positive correlation identified two instruments as valid predictors of job performance. These instruments were then integrated into the existing pre-employment system. As a result of these efforts, the company has experienced a reduction in turnover because the people they hire now fit the profile of the job.

Centracchio indicates that employers are always looking to streamline the way that data is collected. This is particularly important when organizations want to collect data easily and quickly over multiple sites. For one such client Centracchio took a 55 question survey and placed it on line, making it instantly accessible to over 300 employees at four different locations. Collecting the data with such ease allowed him to spend more time discussing the results with the client. Here Centracchio stresses, “I like to work with the organization, looking to see how they react to and interpret the results first – what they find important. Then I can collaborate with them on recommendations.” In this situation feedback from the data has allowed the company to address how it communicates with line workers, orients new employees, and structures its benefit package.

Centracchio says that one of the exciting programs on the horizon is a Level III/Level IV training evaluation that CBIL is working on in conjunction with DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education). Level III/Level IV evaluations occur after training is over and the worker has returned to the job. These instruments assess two different kinds of results. First, they determine if skills that have been taught are being used successfully to complete targeted work tasks. Second, they capture data that reports tangible effects the training efforts have had on specific bottom line results. Using Level III/Level IV evaluations helps DESE grant recipients show the impact their grant funds have had on their businesses.

The world of work continues to change based on fluctuations in the market place and the world. Centracchio has the tools to help organizations understand the impact of these fluctuations and assess information to help companies succeed in an ever-evolving economic climate.