6 Ways TRAITS Helped Transform This Municipality’s HR Strategy

Over Krista Bondy’s 17-year human resources career, she’s used plenty of recruitment assessment tools, like Myers Briggs, DiSC, Colors, and The Birkman Method. While each tool offered value, she found something special about TRAITS—the world-class psychometric assessment tool for hiring, managing, and growing a team.

“What sets TRAITS apart is the dialogue that comes into it—and the way it categorizes a person’s key characteristics to help identify areas of concern,” Bondy shares.

As the HR manager at the Rural Municipality of Wilton, Bondy decided to get a TRAITS assessment herself before implementing it into the organization. She was looking for a tool that would help her team hire the right people—for the right roles. When she reviewed her results, she was shocked. “It told my story better than I could,” she shares, incredulously.

Since then, Bondy has recommended the tool to many in the industry—not only for recruitment but for strategic planning, growth, and attrition. TRAITS doesn’t just identify who a person is—it also uncovers their fit within a specific role, making it more valuable than any tool Bondy had ever used.

1. It Increased Employee Retention

Employee turnover is expensive. In Canada, it costs companies an average of $30,674 per employee annually, according to a survey by The Harris Poll. This expense is related to the lost productivity and time spent rehiring and training someone new.

For Bondy, employee turnover costs her organization anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 to replace an employee within the first year of employment. Thankfully, since incorporating TRAITS into her team’s recruitment process, turnover at Wilton has reduced significantly; before using the tool, the organization experienced a 36% turnover rate. Now, that number has dropped to under 5%.

TRAITS has helped Wilton reduce turnover by ensuring employees are onboarded successfully and integrated well into the team. Even for seasonal roles, employees are now choosing to return each year—further solidifying the tool’s impact.

2. It Streamlined the Recruitment Process

Before TRAITS, Wilton’s recruitment process was time-consuming. “We’d start by creating a list of candidates to interview based on resumes alone. But resumes don’t tell you how a person will actually perform on the job,” Bondy explains.

Now, the process is much more efficient. Candidates are first shortlisted based on their resumes, then asked to complete the TRAITS survey. This information gives Bondy’s team deeper insights into each applicant’s potential fit for the role, significantly narrowing down the list.

Now, the hiring process has gone from two interviews to one, saving time and resources. Since many people are skilled at conducting great interviews but don’t succeed on the actual job, TRAITS has helped Bondy’s team know exactly what to look for.

3. It Facilitated Employee Success

TRAITS has not only helped Wilton hire better candidates—it’s also helped facilitate the ongoing success of employees. By identifying personality traits and key motivators, Bondy has been able to assign tasks and projects that align with each individual’s strengths.

She reveals that when her team goes against the survey results, the results always win. “Recently, we hired someone for a key position,” she recalls. “This person had the best technical resources we’d seen in years, but the survey showed they did well leading small teams and project-specific tasks. We put them in a bigger lead role and risked losing an entire department, as this wasn’t a strong alignment for the individual.”

4. It Boosted Employee Performance and Morale

Bondy measures employee performance in terms of productivity, adaptability, and longevity. TRAITS has been a critical tool in helping her understand how employees think, act, and interact with their teams.

“Just because someone can do a job doesn’t mean they’ll be happy doing it,” she shares. “TRAITS helps us match people with roles where they’ll thrive, boosting morale and performance.”

5. It Improved Organizational Change and Team Dynamics

TRAITS has been invaluable during periods of organizational change. By considering how each person fits into the team structure as a whole, the organization has experienced smoother transitions with fewer growing pains.

Additionally, the tool has encouraged more transparent communication within leadership teams—leading to a more collaborative work environment and improved team dynamics.

6. It Boosted ROI by Creating Long-Term Success

For Bondy, the greatest return on investment from TRAITS has been the ability to build stronger teams and improve employee retention. “We now have confidence in the longevity of our teams,” she says.

Without TRAITS, Bondy believes they’d be back to relying on resumes, reference checks, and interviews to assess fit. “Key data would be missing without this tool,” she shares.