Certification of personnel is a rather important component of management, and is also the most effective form of personnel assessment. It is mandatory for those employees for whom such a procedure is provided for by applicable law.
Voluntary certification of personnel is carried out directly by decision of the management team in order to optimize management, as well as increase the efficiency and stability of the business. It is worth noting that this procedure today, without exaggeration, can be called one of the most popular forms of employee assessment, or rather, whether they really correspond to the position they occupy.
Regular certification of personnel, which includes checking the business and personal qualities of each individual employee, as well as his labor indicators, provides for the practical application of the results. This helps to improve staff recruitment, as well as constantly stimulate employees to improve their own skills. After all, the effectiveness of any company is a combination of all organizational resources, including the potential of employees.
Why is it being done?
First of all, personnel certification is carried out so that managers can make certain managerial decisions. Initially, an assessment is made of how the potential of employees provides the company with the opportunity to realize their own goals. Such a procedure is quite relevant for promising enterprises that are developing quite actively, have a flexible structure and management system.
Also, due to this, managers receive the information that they need to ensure the most effective work with staff. With its help, they can adjust the activities and behavior of employees, as well as identify those areas that require increased control. Careful development of a system for moving workers is ensured precisely by using such data. First of all, this is important when working with specialists. Evaluation and certification of personnel provides an opportunity to provide much more efficient and cheaper movement of employees, especially if at the moment the company is experiencing a shortage of professional personnel. A staff training and development system is also being developed and refined, and decisions regarding the dismissal of various personnel are streamlined.
Among other things, it is worth mentioning that all stages of personnel certification allow you to create a system of motivation and incentive for employees to increase the efficiency of their work. As a result of this, the responsibility of each employee increases for how competently he fulfills his own duties, and incentives are introduced in order to increase professionalism and improve knowledge and skills. It is impossible not to say that in this way the individual goals of employees come closer to those tasks that must be solved by the company itself.
How effective is it?
The effectiveness of the types of personnel certification primarily depends on how well the procedure is carried out, how qualified specialists deal with it, and also what principles are pursued by the personnel policy of the company’s management.
All organizational decisions that are applied at the company and must be taken into account and programmed in the process of preparation and initial development of the certification system must be foreseen in order to minimize any difficulties if possible. Unforeseen situations can arise in the process of performing the check itself, so you need to do everything possible to prevent them. Thus, the personnel certification procedure will become much more effective, and will also not include any unexpected or inaccurate moments.
If a person does not know the legal aspects of certification or simply does not follow principles such as objectivity of the assessment, as well as ensuring the complete confidentiality of the results, then this process will give a negative result for the company, which will manifest itself in the occurrence of conflicts and absolutely unjustified expenses of time.
What is the purpose?
The purpose of personnel certification is to reveal the capabilities of the company in order to formulate decisions based on the results of the assessment, as well as provide an impact on the level of employee loyalty and commitment to the company. This will help to involve each employee in the strategy of the company. Ensuring such results can be achieved only if there is a clearly defined goal of carrying out this procedure, which, of course, can subsequently be changed in accordance with the organization’s strategy and general goals, as well as the level of interconnection and interdependence of this procedure from other areas of work with staff. For this reason, such work is planned and organized individually for each company.
If the assessment and certification of personnel at the enterprise are carried out competently, this will positively affect all aspects of the work of not only the management team, but also specialists. Activities that are related to the organization itself, as well as certification, provide a much deeper study of personnel, improve the correctness of their selection, and also make it possible to carry out more effective placement of personnel and its use. Certification motivates to develop creative activity and initiative on the part of employees, which is especially important in modern conditions.
How is it carried out?
Personnel certification, an example of which can be seen today in most modern companies, is carried out in several stages, each of which must be carried out extremely competently. This procedure requires a thorough approach and attention from specialists.
Preliminary stage
In this case, the preparation of the certification implementation project is carried out. Among other things, the specialists responsible for carrying out this procedure substantiate and conduct a detailed presentation for the management team.
Formalization of standards, rules and procedures
Specialists develop a complete package of relevant documentation, as well as take organizational decisions together with the company's management (or the management does it on its own). Proper documentation of the entire procedure for the first time allows you to correctly use the formed methods of personnel certification in the future.
It is highly recommended that you also develop a paragraph such as “Regulations on the certification of personnel”, which will subsequently be a single internal corporate regulatory document. It will identify common requirements for the frequency, technology, certification process, and also what it includes and how it should be developed.Formalization of this procedure in a documentary format provokes the need to specify and fully take into account all the rules, delve into the smallest details, describe all possible issues and details of how this event should be held.
Thus, the personnel certification system will become extremely transparent, as well as understandable to specialists from a technical point of view.
Trial phase
In order to test the proposed procedure, a pilot project is being formed in the personnel management department. At this stage, a thorough check and refinement of each individual section of the methodology that is subsequently going to be used at the enterprise is carried out.
Training
Before each certification procedure, which is planned in advance, specialists from the personnel management department should conduct detailed consulting work. In particular, two weeks before the procedure itself is carried out, detailed criteria, questions for the exam are communicated, an explanatory conversation is held, as well as consultation on what will be done and how.
Certification
The certification activities themselves are carried out directly, which are carried out in full accordance with the rules and methods that were developed by the personnel management department in the early stages.
Summarizing
The management team makes management decisions, and also discusses the results of certification in the team. Among other things, an assessment of the required period for further certifications is also being carried out.
Schedule
The schedule of how often certification of personnel should be carried out directly depends on which particular version of this procedure is involved.
- Another
Such certification is carried out at least once every five years, and it is mandatory for each employee of the company. The basis for such a procedure is information on how professional activity employee in the process of his work for a certain period of time, as well as what contribution he makes to the collective work of the team. This information is gradually accumulated in a common databank and subsequently can be used by management for further certification.
- Extraordinary
Such certification is carried out if it is necessary to evaluate the activities, as well as the individual qualities of the employee, if necessary, to increase his position or in order to create a reserve for nomination or to select for study for further retraining. If necessary, the reasons for the unsatisfactory work of a particular unit or a specific employee are also determined.
- Certification for career advancement or deciding on the transfer of an employee to another unit
This procedure is carried out taking into account the requirements of the new proposed position or new responsibilities. At the same time, the potential capabilities of the employee are determined, as well as at what level his professional training is.
- Repeated
Appointed on the basis of the certification, if the employee made certain comments, and also a period was determined for which he must correct them. This procedure can be carried out by any criterion using any specific or several methods at the same time.
- Expiration of trial period
In this case, the personnel certification process is carried out in order to obtain a documented conclusion on the results of this procedure, as well as make reasoned recommendations on how this employee can be used in the future.
What is graded?
Regardless of which particular certification in question, several basic criteria are determined.
- Behavior features
In this case, the employees' activities are preliminarily analyzed, and certain standards of behavior are established that can affect work efficiency. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the criteria are used to evaluate the personnel whose work involves direct contact with the company's clients.
- Efficiency
It necessitates the determination of exact performance criteria, examines in detail the appropriateness of the decisions made by the employee, and also evaluates the actions taken by him. Options for measuring performance criteria include the following: expert judgment by management, an assessment of the employee’s cost-effectiveness, and determination of customer satisfaction.
- Level of achievement of goals
It requires mandatory definition of exact tasks, as well as criteria for how these tasks were solved. It provides for a thorough analysis of the causes of failure in achieving a specific goal. Measurement technologies include determining the economic result, as well as conducting an expert assessment. In addition, the degree of performance of official duties is determined. This analysis is used in those conditions when job responsibilities are clearly defined and somehow regulated.
Among other things, it is worth mentioning that the characteristics of the employee’s personality are also subject to evaluation if the selection and further planning of the individual development of this employee for the benefit of the organization is carried out.
What criteria are used during verification?
Evaluation criteria that are developed in a particular company are divided into two main categories:
- Professional competency
This includes various criteria that are appropriate for the job occupied, as well as for the specific type of activity. The results of work that are achieved by the employee in the process of fulfilling their duties, as well as quantitative and qualitative indicators of efficiency in each individual component of the activity are determined.
- Corporate competency
This category includes criteria of how each individual employee understands the tasks and goals set for the company, as well as what human qualities he has that may come in handy or, conversely, harm his work.
