In our first webinar from February 17^th, 2023, we provided an in-depth look into Kodo People’s philosophy, methodology, and advantages. Our co-founders Antonio M. Espín (Chief Research Officer) and Francisco Reyes Pereira (Chief Executive Officer) introduced themselves and the origins of Kodo People, as well as the theory behind Behavioral Economics Assessments, and how we use Economic Games to assess soft skills in the Talent Acquisition and Management worlds.

The (lovely) audience was very active and several points were raised by them and discussed with the speakers. While discussing how assessment results could vary based on real-world events like the pandemic, we debated the current changes in the labor market, among other topics. 

           How do these game-based assessments mirror real behavioral traits, which HR departments have been chasing for decades? It’s a simple fact of human nature that we want to paint ourselves in the best light, but this can make it difficult for HR departments to make informed correct decisions. Antonio addressed these questions, as well as highlighted how Kodo People can accurately measure attributes like risk aversion, time preferences, and self-awareness (making them vital for hiring decisions). Antonio pointed out that our assessments are much more reliable and less biased than the self-reported questionnaires.

Though Kodo People’s assessments are a powerful research-based alternative to the traditional questionnaire assessments, there are of course common limitations like the participation problem, self-selection, and feeling “observed”. Coming back to the above point, an attendant astutely pointed out that someone in a desperate situation like unemployment or homelessness may react differently on this test than they normally would. Antonio laid out all these constraints but highlighted as well the plethora of advantages Behavioral Economics Assessments offer (e.g., control, fair comparability, and taxonomy). The most important advantage is that these assessments measure true behavior due to the use of real monetary incentives, as is done in top scientific research. In fact, Antonio showed that in any renowned scholarly journal, nearly all the papers studying cooperation (as an example of a key soft skill) in the last two decades use Economic Games rather than self-reports.

We at Kodo People have data to back up our claims, which Antonio illustrated with research from a few of our recent clients. Gathering data and working with the HR department at Nokia Communications in Wroclaw, we were able to identify the team members’ behavioral characteristics most valued by their HR leaders and compare them with the actual predictors of team productivity. Further questions we answered were on the soft skills associated with individual productivity in remote/hybrid/on-site work thanks to recent research we did with our friends from Prodoscore, and on the versatility of our assessments. 

Through this webinar, we were able to provide the theoretical background of our work, as well as the real-world application that has already been invaluable to companies. Kodo People provides a SaaS that is adaptable and easy to use. You can watch Francisco give a report demonstration in the webinar that shows how intuitive our results are for companies and how they simplify hiring decisions. 

If you want to know more, check out our webinar video here: