The Validity of Integrity and Honesty Testing in Job Recruitment

Today, many companies use pre-employment integrity and honesty tests to help detect job applicants who admit to having counterproductive behaviors such as propensity for theft, sexual harassment, hostility and substance abuse, but these tests are sometimes controversial. 

It’s a little bit of a catch-22 for employers, because they need to do everything they can to screen out problematic and even dangerous individuals, while at the same time being careful to follow acceptable hiring practices.   

There are restrictions and sensitivities around what you can ask and what you can’t ask, so it’s a balance that employers need to have in order to use these testing tools in a manner that is valid and legal. 

Some employers look at integrity and honesty testing and assume that you can’t use them, or may otherwise have a misconception about them. (There are a few states that have passed restrictions around the use of honesty/integrity testing, so employers should consult their own counsel to find out if there are any restrictions within their state.) 

Common Mistakes or Misconceptions 

• Using honesty and integrity testing as a go or no-go—Companies sometimes use honesty and integrity testing as a ‘yes/no’ for hiring. Companies should not typically use any one single piece of information as a go or no-go. That’s not an indication of an effective and legally defensible selection process.
  
  

Good selection processes typically consider several pieces of criteria that are job specific that provide an overall picture of the fit of the individual for the job.  Most honesty and integrity tests ask very specific questions about things the individual has done or believe is OK to do in the workplace. If the employer doesn’t follow through to ask the behavioral interview questions to dive deeper around these items, they may screen out high quality individuals who had issues in the past, but they don’t today.

• Not using an honesty and integrity test for fear of how applicants will react—Companies sometimes don’t use these tests because they assume they will turn-off applicants.
  
  The reality is that more and more companies now use all kinds of assessments and employment testing in their hiring process, so it has become a more common practice. Most companies find that the use of honesty and integrity testing is widely accepted by applicants, particularly at the entry and mid-level type positions. At the higher paid and more skilled positions, there can be some impact due to the perception of applicants who are highly skilled and don’t perceive they should be subjected to these types of questions. The value of the information is the same, and in some cases even more important, because these positions may have broader access to financial data, security and other highly vulnerable information.
  
  
• Giving honesty and integrity tests to your current employees—This is a BIG no-no. There are two reasons for this:
  
  1) Let’s say you have an employee named Sally whose performance is fine and there are no issues with her as an employee. Now you give her an integrity and honesty test and she admits she has some counterproductive attitudes. Now you have information that is dangerous to you because if you act on the information and she hasn’t done anything wrong, you’re setting yourself up for legal challenges.
  
  2) These tests are not valid for current employees, because the validity and scoring for honesty and integrity tests is built and validated around the mindset of an applicant. Applicants typically exaggerate more and/or are less willing to openly offer information versus an employee who is not as concerned about answering the questions in a straight forward manner. 

Honesty and Integrity tests can provide very critical information for employers to consider as part of their selection process, but care must be taken to determine how to use them effectively and legally. 

In my next Insight, I’ll give you some steps to take to ensure the validity of integrity and honesty testing in job recruitment. 

This article is intended to provide general information only. Employers are encouraged to seek legal counsel before implementing any kind of pre-employment testing.

Honesty and Integrity tests can provide very critical information for employers to consider as part of their selection process, but care must be taken to determine how to use them effectively and legally.