Here is an excerpt from an article written by Ira Grossman and Bill Holmes for Talent Management magazine in which they explain how Reebok used pre-hire assessments to identify the behavioral attributes that support the company culture and individual job requirements.

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Problem: Reebok retail had high-volume recruiting plans to open more stores, but the process was manual, which limited candidate pools, was time-consuming and added pressure to fill staffing needs without ensuring fit.

Solution: Using pre-hire assessments, Reebok is able to identify the behavioral attributes that support the company culture and individual job requirements. The candidate workflow is automated so the recruitment and hiring process provides better, more consistent hiring decisions and gets new employees on the job faster.

As recently as 2010, when prospective candidates wanted to apply for a job at a Reebok store in North America, they stopped by and filled out a paper application. Then hiring managers flipped through stacks of applications, searching for candidates who looked like they might fit. The process was subjective, slow and the candidate pool was limited. Sometimes hiring managers needed to fill positions fast, so they hired the first candidate they could find without analyzing whether the person was the best fit.

In 2011, Reebok was in retail growth mode. While still focused on wholesale to major accounts, the Adidas subsidiary had plans in 2012 to add eight Fitness Concept stores — a partnership between Reebok and fitness company CrossFit — to the 121 Reebok outlet locations in the U.S. and 17 in Canada. Hiring managers needed more contemporary recruiting and hiring practices and predictive systems to speed up and simplify the recruitment process. They wanted to hire better people more consistently.

Science Improves Decisions

Reebok managers knew they needed qualified, intelligent and product-focused people who could answer customers’ fitness questions with credibility. They also wanted employees with passion for fitness.

The new Fitness Concept stores are branded as being the experts on training and fitness, and Reebok wants customers to know this value proposition every time they walk into a store. Each location needs a staff interested in and knowledgeable about fitness and nutrition to deliver this. Reebok leaders knew some employees embraced the brand and provided great service, but they needed a way to find more people like this across all locations.

Reebok leaders knew that automating their paper-based hiring process wouldn’t achieve their goals. The process was too subjective and labor intensive. Instead, the company looked to its peers and found most used assessment technology to improve customer service and hire better people.

Reebok used assessment software from PeopleAnswers to understand the behaviors most relevant to real-world performance in these customer-facing roles. The technology collected behavioral information based on existing employees, which served as a benchmark to help Reebok hire new staff who were better fits for each role, more productive and lived the brand.

Today Reebok sees 3,000 to 5,000 candidate applications per month for its retail stores, and it has achieved its goal to hire better people and lower turnover. In the most recent 20-month study including hires and terminations from January 2011 through October 2012, new hires who completed the assessment during their application process had a 32 percent lower turnover rate. During mid-year employee reviews, these employees also achieved 13 percent higher average performance ratings than those who had not completed the assessment.

During the same study period, the new hires ranked by the software in the top two recommendation categories had a 20 percent lower turnover rate and 11 percent higher average performance rating than new hires who scored in the bottom two categories. These employees generated more sales and were happier, and more productive employees lead to more engaged customers.

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To read the complete article, please click here.

Ira Grossman is chief operating officer at PeopleAnswers, and Bill Holmes is senior vice president of human resources at Reebok International.