profile updated Mar 6, 2008, 11:22 PM
This multinational testing and assessment company was founded by psychologists Roger Holdsworth and Peter Saville in the United Kingdom, where it is still headquartered.
The two men built SHL into a powerful evangelist of objective testing by employers for personality, cultural fit, competency for the position, and adaptability of job candidates.
Today, it's occupational personality questionnaires are among the most widely used personality assessment tools in the world.
Over the years the company also developed performance management tools including 360 assessments and succession planning assessments. So numerous are the company's candidate and performance assessment tools that it offers a product search tool on its site.
In addition, SHL offers a full range of consulting and training services. The company will custom-design tools for clients as well as provide intensive training for HR professionals on how to use the assessment tools and interpret the results.
Ironically for a company so intensely focused on personaltiy fit, SHL was wracked with internal fighting shortly after the turn of the 21st century. A bitter management fight ousted Holdsworth and Saville from the board. The company was delisted from the London exchange and later taken private by management.
SHL has now regained its equilibrium. It's grown globally and has a presence in some 40 countries with Europe its biggest market. The company is moving aggressively into Web-based, on-demand testing.
News & Updates 
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New SHL Assessment Predicts Candidates’ Likelihood of Absenteeism, Proneness to Accidents (prweb)
SHL, a provider of talent assessments unveiled the final version of its Dependability and Safety Instrument tool, which identifies employees more likely to be unreliable and unsafe in the workplace. The new version identifies five risk levels – from low risk to very high risk – while taking less than 7 minutes for a candidate to complete.
Using a risk rating scale, the Dependability Index can effectively predict a candidate’s focus on customer service, accident rates and attendance rates. This level of screening is particularly suited for the hospitality, retail, call center and telecom sectors, as well as potentially hazardous or high risk professions in the construction, engineering, health care and security sectors.
Mar 30, 2009, 12:37 PM -
SHL Warns Against Reckless Redundancy Strategy (PRWeb)
SHL, a provider of talent assessments, issued a word of warning to HR professionals that redundancy strategies – such as “last in, first out” – can be highly irresponsible. SHL recommends that companies determine who should be retained in as clear, objective and efficient a way as possible to reduce risk and ensure more effective talent management. Jan 27, 2009, 4:24 PM -
SHL Study Finds Managers Uninspiring With Men More Affected Than Women (PRWeb)
New research from SHL, a provider of talent assessment solutions, says only a quarter of workers report their manager motivational all or some of the time.
While that may not be much of a surprise, the SHL research finds men more likely to be de-motivated by poor senior management (38 percent) and poor line management (29 percent) than women. On the other hand 17 percent of women are more affected by criticism and poor relationships with colleagues (19 percent) than their male counterparts. Age also can have an impact on motivation, with young employees (aged 18 to 34) more likely to be de-motivated by uninteresting work (37 percent) than those over age 35 (26 percent). Young workers also are more motivated by company culture and their work environment than older colleagues.
The complete report is not on the SHL website.
Jan 14, 2009, 11:07 AM
Products & Services
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Personality
Series of personality and behavioral assessment tools to help determine candidate fit. This are the company's famous occupational personality questionnaires (OPQ). -
Skills
A variety of products fall under this heading including basic competency, simulation and skills testing. -
Performance Management
360 assessment tools for mid- and upper-level management as well as tools to assess a company's culture and measure staff motivation.