Because of the varied and specific
nature of behavioural science, it is
a perspective and evidence base
that warrants attention in distinct
areas of HR. Our programme
into the behavioural science of
learning and development has
most recently included research
into how L&D practitioners are
starting to integrate neuroscience
insights into their work. Following
on from this, we will start its wider
application into employment issues
by focusing on two areas.
Firstly, we will look at the behavioural
science of pay and reward. A central
question here is: what behaviour and
performance do different forms of
financial and non-financial reward
encourage, and how does this vary
between work contexts? Different
regimes will generate different
expectations and incentivise different
types of behaviour, and HR should
be wise to this.
We will look at a wide range of
reward and recognition schemes,
such as fixed versus variable pay,
individual versus team bonuses,
pay by commission, non-financial
rewards and share plans; not to
mention the level of remuneration,
in particular excessive pay and
bonuses.
Secondly, we will look at the
behavioural science of selection
and recruitment. The main
challenge is to make best use
of the strengths in our decisionmaking,
to compensate for our
weaknesses with appropriately
designed techniques and tools,
such as psychometrics, and
to make sure we rely on these
tools as we should! There is
anecdotal evidence that, where
psychometrics are used in
recruitment, the results are often
ignored once the recruiting
manager meets the candidate in an
interview.
Related to this, we will also look at
the experience of employees in the
recruitment process. On the one
hand, the experience employers
give candidates in recruitment is
a powerful demonstration of the
employer brand and thus influences
how attractive an organisation is to
potential candidates. On the other
hand, candidates experiencing too
much stress will not perform at
their best. This can get in the way
of an accurate assessment of their
likely performance in the job.
Our web hub-page cipd.co.uk/
behaviouralscience contains
more outputs from this research