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Incline Village is a quasi-municipality located in serene Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Because of its prime location for tourists and seasonal residents, the municipality experiences fluctuations in their employee base serving the ever-changing needs of the community.
During the peak seasons of summer and winter, Incline Village will onboard 500 seasonal employees. Although they had a solid hiring and selection process, they struggled to find candidates that were both a company culture and role fit.
They also discovered that although many candidates would interview well, they turned out to be a poor fit for the company once hired. These hiring and selection challenges prompted the Incline Village HR team to search for hiring tools to make more informed and objective hiring decisions.
The Right Employee Was Critical for Success
Incline Village had never used a hiring assessment, but part of what drove them to add this tool was that they recognized they were in a competitive labor market and they needed a way to quickly and objectively assess job fit while also providing tools to help their managers be successful when conducting interviews.
Their goal was to create positive experiences for both the residents/visitors to Lake Tahoe and for employee-to-employee interactions. They believed this started with hiring the right people and then placing those people in the right roles.
“Employees are so valuable to us as the key touch point both externally and internally,” says Lisa Hoopes, Human Resources Analyst with Incline Village. “We needed to utilize a hiring tool, but we were not sure where to start.”
The starting point for Incline Village was having the HR team take the ZERORISK assessment. Then, each team member reviewed their scores individually before everyone came together to review their scores together.
“The team was a bit cynical about taking an assessment, but after comparing the results, everyone was convinced that it really did reflect who they were as individuals and how they interact together in our work environment,” Lisa adds.
Buy-In Was Crucial to Begin the Transformation Process
After going through the first round of internal use, the HR team decided to utilize the ZERORISK Hiring System to make informed hiring decisions for their full-time or year-round hires.
The buy-in was there from the HR team, as they could see the success and validate from their experience that the tool worked. Next, they needed to convince managers throughout their district to use the system to make hiring decisions for the critical part-time or seasonal roles.
Again, there was some cynical thinking from managers who “thought it was a personality test,” according to Lisa. However, once the managers reviewed the system, had the opportunity to ask questions, and were able to compare a group of candidates to find the right fit for specific roles, they were able to see the value of the tool.
“This became a good jumping-off point for buy-in and confidence using the tool,” Lisa says.
Buy-in and confidence fueled district-wide implementation. As Incline Village started their journey of full implementation, the team also saw an opportunity to drive toward identifying cultural fit.
“We saw that the hiring tool did not just live in a box that works in one area. It can work in multiple areas, including complementing our need to identify employees who fit the culture,” Lisa says.
Next Steps for Incline Village on Their Journey
Because of the great success they have experienced using the Hiring System for hiring, selection, and interviewing, Incline Village plans to start using the tool to support employee development and retention.
“We are excited and energized because the opportunity to improve our HR approach keeps growing and moving,” Lisa says. “We can look at other things to implement and the additional ZERORISK tools will continue to complement what our company is doing.”