Coaching for Work Policies
A commitment to respect you, your teams and everything shared.Ethical and Professional Test Use Policy
Introduction
This policy aims at describing the tests will be selected, used and treated with a strong focus on ethical and professional standards. This document shall we updated as new opportunities and tools are made available to continuously improve these standards.
Test Selection
The tests administered on each project will be selected in detail in order to ensure fairness and ethics and that they do not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, age or religion. The tests selected with be based on extensive research and only the latest versions will be used.
The results of the tests will be compared with normative data and, when applicable, the most relevant will be selected according to the project at hand. When the project consists of selection for a particular role or position, the test data will be use as a supplement to other data so the decision is not used solely based on the results of the administered test.
Test User Qualification
The administration, scoring and feedback of psychometric tests required a specific training and certification. To honor this, I will only use tests that I am qualified for and prepare in advance until I’m familiar and comfortable enough with the whole process and content.
The present qualification is provided by British Psychological Society (BPS) and the receipt/confirmation of qualification will be made available to the client, whenever requested or suggested.
Preparing Test Takes
The test takers will receive proper briefing and preparation beforehand. For that end:
- Test takers will be told in advance about the nature of the assessment, why it is being used, the conditions under which it will take place and the nature of the feedback they are expected to receive. Their informed consent in taking part of the process will be obtained, If a test-taker declines to take the test they will not be coerced and their non-completion will not be viewed negatively in any decisions arising from the assessment process
- When available, test-takers guides and practice exercises will be shared to help the test taker prepare in advance.All remaining materials will be kept secure and accessible only by the test users.
- The recommended administration, scoring and interpretation instructions are to be followed at all times
Data Storage and Confidentiality
The data created shall remain confidential, only be used for the purposed of the specific project for which the test was administered and the results should be kept only for the required amount of time.
This means that:
- Test takers will have the right to see any information about themselves that is held by the organisation
- Test takers will be informed in writing as to who their test results will be disclosed to. Access will be limited to those who need to know that information
- Test takers will provide their informed consent over the disclosure of the data
- Test administrator gather relevant background information on those taking the tests. Relevance is judged by the importance of the data in making accurate and meaningful interpretation of the data
- Where test data is held and directly linked to an individual, the principles of the Data Protection Act (1984) will apply both for data stored online and offline.
- Supplementary data is collected on all candidates for equal opportunities monitoring and from time to time research purposes. All data collected in this way will be stored without personal identifiers.
Fairness and Legal Requirements
All candidates will be informed about who will see their personality data, and/or reports written on the basis of these data. The candidate will have control over the disclosure of the data, ie the candidate’s personality data will only be revealed to others with the candidate’s prior informed consent. Where scores and other data from testing are stored, they will be accessible only by named persons who have been trained in the interpretation of the relevant tests. I will abide by the guidelines set out in the Data Protection Act. All candidates will be informed where and for how long the data will be stored. Scored and data from the testing will be destroyed between two to four years after the testing takes place.
Steps will be taken to ensure the selection conditions and test taking arrangements are adjusted to be suitable for those with disabilities, such that the procedures do not discriminate against the individual by differential impact through factors irrelevant to their ability to do the job. This includes active steps to find out the special needs of participants prior to their attendance at events related to the project at hand. These adjustments will follow standard procedures (such as Braille versions of the test, rooms with wheelchair access, etc) will be focused on bringing the whole process of the interaction between the person and the test into line with the experience of other candidates to ensure fairness between all candidates taking the test, regardless of their special needs.
Feedback
Feedback will be an integral part of the test-taker experience on all projects.
This includes:
- Providing the feedback as soon as reasonably possible after the test is taken
- The preferred format will be face to face; when that is not possible, a phone or video conference will be offered
- Feedback will only be provided by me, and on tests I’m qualified and trained for
- Feedback will include the relevance of the results and their relative value in the overall project and decisions, compared to other information being provided for the same effect. No decision relating to assessment for selection will be based on just one piece of information such as one ability test result.