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What is an Employee Integrity Test?

  • By saumy tripathi
  • February 4, 2025
  • 6 mins read
What is an Employee Integrity Test?
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    Six to nine months of a candidate’s annual salary. This is said to be the cost of hiring an employee who is not suitable for the role, according to a report by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). So, any organization cannot afford to hire such candidates regularly. Thus, companies try to use different methods to ensure they do good hiring, one of which is the employee integrity test.

    While talking about a good employee, one tends to usually focus on a candidate’s core skills and the job that they are supposed to do. However, what about the soft skills? Leadership, teamwork, and, most importantly, integrity.  In a survey, 84 per cent of companies stated that they tried to promote a culture where honesty and integrity were valued, with 76 per cent of them stating that it led to increased productivity.

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    Another survey conducted with employees found that 79 per cent of them would work at their best if the company had an environment where honesty was valued. So, now that we have established that honesty and integrity are important, we must now move to the main question. What is an employee integrity test?

    Employee Integrity Test

    An Employee Integrity Test is a set of questions that are asked of the candidate during or after the interview. The aim of the questions is to determine honesty, trustworthiness, and ethicalness. However, what does honesty, trustworthiness, and ethicalness mean for a company? This could range from how likely a candidate is to be involved in theft, fraud, unruly behavior, or harassment.

    The main aim of an employee integrity test is to find the risks associated with every hire. While not entirely effective on its own, if used with a robust hiring process, this test is a great asset for improving recruitment quality.

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    Types of Employee Integrity Tests

    Two types of employee integrity tests are generally used: the Overt Integrity Test and the Covert Integrity Test.

    Overt Integrity Test 

    The Overt Integrity Test, as the name suggests, is where the interviewer directly asks questions to check about the employee’s integrity and honesty. Some examples of overt integrity tests are as follows:

    • Is taking small items from your workplace, like office supplies, ever acceptable without permission?
    • Do you think stealing from an employer is justified if you feel underpaid?
    • Would you do it if a colleague asked you to clock them in when they were late?
    • How do you ensure everything is accounted for when given responsibility for handling money or valuables?
    • Do you think it’s okay to break company rules if you don’t agree with them?

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    Covert Integrity Test 

    The second way that companies use employee integrity tests is to measure ethicalness, honesty, and conscientiousness. Some of the most famous personality tests that companies commonly use are:

    • Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI)
    • Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
    • Caliper Profile
    • Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF)
    • Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R)

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    Examples of Covert Integrity Test Questions 

    • I find it hard to stay focused when working on repetitive tasks. Answer on a scale from one to five, with one being strongly agree and five being strongly disagree.
    • I double-check my work to make sure it’s accurate. Answer on a scale from one to five, with one being strongly agree and five being strongly disagree.
    • I trust my coworkers to complete their tasks on time. Answer on a scale from one to five, with one being strongly agree and five being strongly disagree.
    • Taking risks is essential for success in any job. Answer on a scale from one to five, with one being strongly agree and five being strongly disagree.

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    Advantages of Employee Integrity Test 

    Using the employee integrity test does have its advantages if used correctly as a part of the recruitment process. This is the reason why companies are increasingly using such tests. We must remember that the workplace has also undergone a significant change in recent years, with several jobs moving to either a work-from-home or hybrid role. This means that employees are spending time away from their workplace, thus increasing the chance of a malicious actor committing fraud.

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    Increases productivity 

    Having a group of employees with integrity and ethics will make the workplace a healthy environment. This ensures that there are fewer chances of conflicts happening in the workplace and increases teamwork within the company. This will immediately be a major boost in productivity and will allow the company to grow further. 

    Another advantage of having a team of honest employees is that a company can allow them to work with less supervision. This means that less time and manpower are lost, and the resources saved can be used in other areas to further boost productivity.

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    Makes the workplace safer 

    In today’s age, with social media, no company can afford to have bad publicity. Just one incident of theft, fraud, or harassment can have dire consequences on the company’s image. This is where an employee integrity test can be a game-changer by hiring employees who are less likely or not likely at all to commit acts that might bring disrepute to the company.

    This not only improves the workplace environment but also strengthens the company’s brand image, thus motivating more employees to apply for the company.

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    Reduces the cost of hiring 

    A Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) report stated that the cost of hiring an employee could rise to as much as $240,000. If the employee is dishonest and is involved in things such as embezzlement or financial fraud, the cost to the company can spiral upwards massively.  A report found that companies in the United States were collectively losing $110 million daily due to some form of employee-related crimes, and a company can massively reduce any such costs by making their recruitment process hire more honest employees.

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    Decreases the cost of turnover 

    There are some metrics that can cause alarm in any company. One such metric is the cost of turnover. It is defined as the amount of financial resources incurred by the company to replace an employee. The employees could have left the company for several reasons, be it termination or resignation, owing to better opportunities.

    However, if the company has ethical employees, they are bound to stay loyal and spend more time at the company. This also ensures that there are fewer disruptions caused due to resignations.

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    Disadvantages of employee integrity test 

    As mentioned earlier, an employee integrity test is good as long as only it is used along with a robust recruitment process. However, companies relying solely on such methods often get dissatisfactory results. 

    False positives and false negatives 

    The biggest problem with integrity tests is that they can give false positives and false negatives. Using integrity tests solely leaves it at the expense of the candidates being completely honest. However, this is where dishonest employees can easily give incorrect or manipulative answers to circumvent the integrity test. 

    Even honest employees may find themselves being disqualified from the recruitment process because their answers might suggest dishonesty.

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    Can cause discrimination in hiring 

    Integrity tests are designed to help the company catch an employee who might turn out to be dishonest. However, designing questions for such tests is no mean feat, as the questions could discriminate against certain groups. This may open the company to legal challenges. Companies must also need to adhere to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines while designing such tests.

    Not doing so can lead to severe consequences for any company, as American retail corporation Target found out in 2015 when they had to pay over $2.8 million because their tests were found to disproportionately exclude women and minorities from specific positions.

    As mentioned earlier, integrity tests are a lost cause and need to be part of a robust recruitment process. However, few companies have cracked the code for a perfect recruitment process.

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    This is where we present to you BarRaiser, a state-of-the-art AI-based interview assistant that will take the quality of your hiring to the next level. With BarRaiser, recruiters can create a detailed interview plan for candidates. The interviewer can give specific instructions to our AI bot to create an interview, such as:

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    • The number of experience required for the job posting 
    • Must have skills
    • Additional Skills 

    Using these instructions, our tool will create a Structured interview format to ensure an unbiased candidate selection process.

    After this, our AI Interview Copilot assists the interviewer by giving them specific instructions. For example, if the interview exceeds the time limit, the AI bot will alert the recruiter to speed up the process. In addition, we are also committed to making our process as unbiased as possible. This is why our AI transcribes and records every interview and immediately raises an alert if the recruiter uses language that might be considered discriminatory to the candidate. 

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    After the interview, the AI asks for a detailed review of the candidate from the interviewer. We believe that our tool is an assistant and not the decision maker, so it formulates answers only after receiving instructions from the interviewer. While this happens, the AI also creates another report that measures the recruiter’s effectiveness and performance. This report acts as a check and balance to ensure accountability for every stakeholder involved in the recruitment process.

    Using BarRaiser, we guarantee Quality hiring that will bolster Diversity and inclusion. BarRaiser is the best AI Interview platform that features Structured interviews and tools to ensure quality hiring while eliminating recruitment bias. With BarRaiser’s support, you’ll be well-equipped to build a strong team of sales associates who will drive sales and deliver exceptional customer service.

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