I’m interested, but it will negatively affect the organization’s atmosphere

Many managers and organizational leaders understand the necessity of assessing the integrity of employment candidates and/or conducting periodic tests. But that doesn’t mean they’re always enthusiastic about the idea.

In many cases we hear the same chorus, worded just a bit differently each time: “I understand why it’s necessary and want to have polygraph exams in the organization, but it doesn’t really fit in with our environment…”, “the employees won’t simply accept this, and the tests will hurt the overall atmosphere…”, “conducting these types of polygraph tests will make recruiting good candidates, which are already hard to find, much more difficult…”, or “it’s very irregular to have that test in our country/organization/field/industry…”.

We’re not going to tell you that reasoning is wrong. No one likes the idea of being subjected to a polygraph exam. Polygraph exams have a complicated image, and are usually linked to criminal investigations and spy movies, not to an organization’s vibrant and productive work environment.

However, employees that are exposed to polygraph tests quickly realize that there is a lot of needless negative hype surrounding it. The test is conducted in a pleasant, friendly atmosphere – not in dark investigation rooms – and private matters aren’t discussed. A polygraph test is merely an attempt to discover information about the candidate or employee that would help the organization maintain its guidelines. This is all done in a pleasant, productive and non-threatening environment.

Employees who identify with the organization understand the need for integrity tests. In most cases, the fact that the organization is investing effort and money in assessing the candidates creates a feeling of belonging to a serious organization, and to a select team.

From our experience, every organization that adopts the polygraph exam as a diagnostic and screening tool experiences a certain adaption period. This can be accompanied by a sense of embitterment on the part of the employees, who aren’t big fans of change, and can feel hurt that they aren’t implicitly trusted. However, after this short time has passed, the atmosphere changes and the organization goes back to functioning properly and pleasantly. Furthermore, this new process naturally causes an improvement in the team, and in the quality of its members. The quality of work rises, the team bonds, and employment stability increases as the amount of deviation from protocol decreases. Additionally, the quality level of applicants increases, following the natural initial screening process of candidates who don’t even apply in order to avoid the polygraph test.

We would be happy to refer any organization that is contemplating using this tool to similar organizations that have already experienced the process, and now realize its utter importance.

Gazit’s team is experienced in guiding new clients through the implementation of polygraph tests within the organization, and would be happy to assist and advise throughout this complex yet highly necessary process.