David Towler

These days there are, literally, thousands of assessment options available, and an entire industry in place to support those in hiring-mode. When employers need to confirm an applicant’s skills and abilities or develop the competencies of an existing employee, the world’s their oyster.

Whether it’s a basic skill like reading comprehension or numeracy, knowledge of HVAC or inventory management, accounts payable/receivable, or the ability to spot quality imperfections, there’s a plethora of reliable and accurate measures to choose from. Savvy employers who want to help ensure that they get it right the first time, identify and separate the winners from the losers, and save tens of thousands of dollars by avoiding a bad hire, will need something more than a Microsoft Word or Sales Aptitude test.

That’s where tools like the AtmanCo Assessment Platform come in! It’s an all-in-one platform designed to respond to your hiring, leadership, and talent development challenges. It is a comprehensive psychometric assessment that provides easy-to-interpret results you can use to boost performance and foster happiness at work that can be leveraged throughout an employee’s work-life.

People with low literacy skills face considerable challenges in a modern, complex work environment that demands adaptability and continuous learning.  It is a considerable problem for employers, and costs them a lot in terms of productivity, mistakes, re-work, customer service, and workplace safety.  Unlike complete illiteracy, functional illiteracy (as its name implies) enables the poorly literate to ‘hide’ their dysfunction because they’re able to get by without their poor reading skills being obvious.

Recent studies have found that Gen Z (individuals born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s) and who are graduating from colleges now, are posing a significant problem for employers these days.  Our clients are also complaining about the same things that these studies have highlighted.  It seems to be a nearly universal occurrence across North America.  The findings are concerning, widespread, and difficult to resolve.  None of this bodes well for employers or for young people entering the workforce.  Gen Z will overtake Boomers in the full-time workforce and so, employers (and the rest of us) will have to deal with them one way or another.

Corporate management is currently under siege, and senior leaders are retiring in record numbers. When these people leave the workforce, they’ll be taking years of training, knowledge, and mentoring opportunities with them.  Many of those left standing will not yet be ready to assume the responsibilities of the roles left vacant, and their organizations will suffer a variety of negative consequences unless they act proactively to ensure a smooth transition as senior team members age out of the workforce.  Savvy and forward-thinking organizations need to ensure that the next generation of managers is ready to step into leadership positions and be successful in them.