Behavioral profiles have long been used to screen job candidates, motivate staff and help ensure workplace compatibility. Now, as the sour economy forces managers to do more with fewer workers, profiles are serving another purpose: identifying which of those remaining on the payroll are able to take on multiple tasks.

Behavioral profiles, first marketed to employers as screening tools to be used in the hiring process, are gaining new popularity in today’s parched business climate. As managers find themselves forced to decrease staff size, some services and functions, once viewed as indispensable, are being abandoned simply because there are not enough employees around to tend to them.

The obvious solution?

Assign extra responsibilities to the remaining staff.

A stumbling block, however, has been being certain the additional responsibilities assigned are given to the right person. Now, behavioral profiles are close to obliterating this problem altogether.

By simply checking off several words from a list of many more, employees can provide their bosses with enough information to determine who’s apt to successfully double as a cross-seller and who needs to steer clear of computers. Behavioral profiles can uncover potential strengths and weaknesses that employees may not have previously seen in themselves; they also give managers tailored ways to maximize virtually any worker’s performance.

Knowing the expendabilities of an existing staff breathes new life into companies still reeling from the after effects of a slashed payroll, as it lowers the risk of financial losses resulting from the wrong person assuming the wrong new responsibility.

Adding to the mix of who is fit to fill which job is employee complacency. Typically, workers worried about their own future will be overly accommodating, in the hope of achieving job security, protecting themselves against additional layoffs. The problem is they may too readily agree to accept responsibilities that are poorly suited to them and their abilities.

Consider the case of Don, a station manager for a well known broadcasting company in the Northeast. With just a handful of workers still remaining to fill the gaps left by a recent round of layoffs, he decided to assign dual roles to everyone. He started with his broadcast technician, a thorough, conscientious person who seemed happy interfacing with co-workers and always made complex issues easy to understand. Don had no concerns about coaxing this dependable worker into spending a portion of his day calling prospects, generating new leads for advertising sales.

Things went fairly well at first but within a short time, Don’s broadcast-technician-turned-salesperson grew frustrated and demoralized by his lack of sales success. Having done nothing to increase revenue for the station, he begged Don to let him go back full time to his regular job.

What went wrong? Don overlooked the fact that though his technician felt relaxed around co-workers he was secretly uneasy making phone calls to strangers – especially with the objective of selling them something. Still, convinced his idea of using one person for two jobs was a good one, Don took the time to profile his entire staff. Doing so quickly paid off. Once the results were in, he knew precisely how to place employees and gave his technician another new responsibility. But this time it was behind the scenes, in research - an area far more fitting for him.

The upside of a struggling economy is that it presents managers with the opportunity to be more innovative and creative when looking to obtain the best return on their employee investments. And using every tool available to make this happen is what more and more employers are now choosing to do.

The Omnia Group is an NAB Member Partner. For additional information contact The Omnia Group at 1-800-525-7117 and ask for Sean Neumayer (ext. 1242), or click here to learn more. Ask for the NAB special when contacting Omnia.