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Situational Judgement Questionnaire

We Work as a Team

You have recently started a new role within Homebase. It is a very busy time as your team are working on a new project, and there is a lot to learn. In particular, you are finding it challenging to learn the new systems, whilst keeping up with the day-to-day tasks. You have found that you are getting behind with your work and are concerned you could be making mistakes. What do you do?

A. You approach your manager and explain the different areas that you are struggling with and where you need further training. He is very supportive and has a lot of experience of the new systems.

B. You decide to wait until the project is finished and then ask your team members for help. You know everyone is busy at the moment and it will be easier for them to help you when they have more time.

C. You identify one particular team member who is very experienced in their role and seems the most approachable person within the team. You ask if they would spend a bit of time talking you through the new systems.

D. You decide to approach your new team members for help. You ask each of them to spend a bit of time supporting you so you can benefit from their combined knowledge and different strengths.

Most Effective: *

Least Effective: *

Your manager has asked you to run a workshop on a topic that you have particular expertise in. You are aware that there will be people from different teams attending. These team members all have varying levels of prior knowledge on the topic and have different requirements on what they need to learn from the workshop. You want to ensure that the workshop is useful for everyone. How do you approach this?

A. You send a group email to all participants asking them to share their prior knowledge levels of the topic and their key goals for the session. This will help you to be well prepared for the workshop.

B. You email the group and ask if anyone has any specific needs and interests that you should be aware of, or anything in particular that they would like you to cover. You make it clear that you are available to answer any questions they may have.

C. You contact all the attendees individually, in advance of the workshop, to identify their particular learning needs and what they are looking to get out of the session. This way you can ensure that your content meets everyone’s needs.

D. You prepare the content and go ahead with the workshop, but schedule in time for a Q&A discussion afterwards. You also provide your contact details so team members can follow up with you after the workshop if they have any additional queries.

Most Effective: *

Least Effective: *

You have been asked to lead the team for a week while your manager is on holiday. You notice that one of your team members, Hitesh, appears very demotivated. He is turning up late for meetings, is slow to respond to emails and has missed a couple of important deadlines. How do you address this situation?

A. Ask one of your team members, who you know is particularly close to Hitesh, whether they have noticed a change in his behaviour. Suggest that they speak to Hitesh and find out the cause of the problem.

B. Speak to Hitesh and explain that you have noticed these issues. Ask him what you can do to help, listen to his concerns, and offer to find ways to overcome any challenges together.

C. Choose to leave the issue for your manager to resolve when she returns. She is much more experienced than you at addressing these types of challenges and will have a lot more background knowledge on Hitesh’s performance to date.

D. Decide to raise the issue with your manager when she comes back. In the meantime, ask one of your more experienced team members to keep an eye on Hitesh’s progress and ensure he is on track with all his key tasks.

Most Effective: *

Least Effective: *

You are working as part of a project team, with a number of your team members. Each team member has been given responsibility for overseeing a particular task. Once these are complete, you will all come back together as a team and review the results. You notice that one of your team members is struggling with her task and appears to have encountered a problem. She is worried that the delay will mean that she won’t be able to meet the group’s deadline. What do you do?

A. You offer to work on the task with your team member to see if you can help her to overcome the problem. You are sure that if you work on it together then you will still be able to meet the deadline.

B. You are very busy with your own work, so you allow your team member to continue working on her task independently. You don’t want to interfere and you know she will approach you for support if she needs it.

C. You suggest to your team member that you all get together as a team and decide how best to approach the problem together. The team has a great range of expertise so you are confident you will be able to solve it together.

D. You empathise with your team member’s situation and ask her how you can best help her. You reassure her that together you can complete the task and that you here to support her.

Most Effective: *

Least Effective: *

Making Change Happen

You have spent the day working on implementing some price changes on several key product lines. You have now submitted these changes to the data admin team, who will approve and process them. Once the price changes have been authorised, they will be placed on all stock items to go live tomorrow morning. It is just after 5pm when you receive a panicked phone call from a manager in another department, advising you that these price changes are all incorrect. What do you do?

A. Email your manager to advise them of the situation. Explain that, as it’s after 5pm, it is too late to action the changes tonight. However, offer to make the changes tomorrow morning, as the first task of your day.

B. Apologise to the manager who calls you but explain that, as it’s the end of the day, you have already shut down your laptop. Ask if they have capacity to pick up these changes tonight or whether they can suggest an alternative.

C. You immediately call your team member in the data admin team to explain the situation and offer to stay late to make the required changes before you go home. They can then send the updated pricing changes across to the stores first thing tomorrow morning.

D. Send an email out to all the stores asking them to ignore the new pricing tickets, explaining that there has been an error. Advise the store managers that you will make the correct pricing changes when you are back in tomorrow morning.

Most Effective: *

Least Effective: *

You have been working in your current role for a while now. As you have become more experienced, you are starting to notice that some of the processes used within the department feel unnecessarily complex. You think that there are some great opportunities to make more use of technology in the department and to automate a lot of the processes which are currently done manually. This would speed things up a lot and free up your team members’ time to focus on other things. What do you do?

A. You take time to think through the processes and identify where technology could be used to increase efficiency. You then ask your manager for a meeting to outline your ideas, emphasising the benefits that these changes will bring.

B. You choose not to put forward your new ideas and stick to following the established processes. These methods have been used by the business for years so you are sure that they must be effective.

C. You speak with some of your team members who have worked in the department for the longest. You ask them what they think of your suggestions and whether they would work, as they have more experience than you.

D. You decide to monitor the situation for a while, keeping a record of how long the existing processes are taking and how much time you think could be saved by using a digital approach. This will give you a better idea of whether improvements are needed.

Most Effective: *

Least Effective: *

Your manager has asked you to go and help out in the Merchandising team for a few weeks to provide support during a busy period. This role involves taking supplier calls and responding to email queries. You are finding that the role is extremely busy and there is a lot to learn. Over the past week, you have found that you are struggling to keep up. What do you do?

A. You take a step back and evaluate your workload and the priority tasks for each day. You act quickly to complete the straightforward tasks, leaving yourself more time to consider the complex tasks and whether there is a more efficient way of tackling these.

B. You decide to start working faster, to get through as many customer queries as you can. You also choose to stay on late after work, to catch up with your tasks and make sure you don’t fall behind, as you really want to impress your manager.

C. You ask your manager for a meeting to discuss your concerns. Explain that you feel your workload has become unmanageable and ask whether she has any suggestions on how you can be more effective in your new role.

D. You accept that there is a lot of work to do and that you are not going to get through it all, no matter how hard you work. You decide to carry on working in the way you are, recognising that there is a limit to what you can complete in a day.

Most Effective: *

Least Effective: *

There have been a number of significant changes across the business recently. Specifically, Homebase has been embracing new digital systems to simplify processes, and to speed up or replace overly manual tasks. This requires you to learn a number of new systems and encourage your team members to make use of them. How do you approach this situation?

A. You are a little bit daunted by the change of approach. You decide to schedule a meeting with your manager to share your concerns with her, asking what support there might be to ensure you manage this transition effectively.

B. You are excited by the change and choose to embrace the new digital ways of working. You take a proactive approach to finding out as much about the new systems and their benefits as possible.

C. You are keen to learn as much as possible about the new ways of working. You download any manuals available on the new systems and ensure that you attend all available training sessions to learn more.

D. You decide to carry on with your job as normal. You are happy to attend the training sessions on the new systems when they are scheduled and will support your new team members if they need help.

Most Effective: *

Least Effective: *

Customer Focused

You have been asked to help out in store over the peak summer period. Today, you are working in the gardening section. You notice that an elderly couple appear to be struggling with choosing a new lawn mower. They have been looking at the different products for a long time and seem confused with the different options. You are not sure whether to offer to help them, however you don’t have much technical knowledge of the products in this section.

A. Go over and start talking to the customers to find out more about their requirements. You can then offer them some advice on the best product for their needs.

B. Politely ask the customers if you can be of any assistance. Explain that you have limited knowledge of the products but would be happy to help if you can.

C. Ask another member of staff who works on this section to offer the customers some assistance. They have a strong knowledge of the different products and can offer the customers better advice.

D. Leave the customers to continue browsing the lawnmowers. However, ensure you remain close by, in case they need to ask for your assistance.

Most Effective: *

Least Effective: *

You are working in the Buying team. You receive an email from the Customer Services team advising you that there has been an issue with a tin of paint that a customer has returned. The customer has advised that the paint has dried out in the tin, making it unusable. You are not sure whether this is just a problem with the single pot of paint or whether there could be a wider issue affecting a whole batch.

It is your responsibility to decide what action to take and advise the relevant departments. What do you do?

A. You ask the supplier to investigate the problem. You wait to hear back from the supplier before asking the store to remove the paint, so they don’t waste any time or revenue if the issue is purely with a single pot of paint.

B. You thank the Customer Service team for the update but decide to treat it as a one-off issue and wait to see if any other customers are affected before acting. You don’t want to create a problem for the store unnecessarily.

C. You contact the store manager and discuss the issue with him. You talk through the different courses of action but ultimately let him make the final decision on whether to remove the paint from sale.

D. You contact the paint supplier and ask them to investigate the issue. You then remove the rest of the batch while the issue is investigated to avoid any other customers having the same problem.

Most Effective: *

Least Effective: *

You have recently taken on a new role within Homebase, providing support to team managers across the Store Support Centre and Retail business. Homebase have recently opened a number of new stores and, as a result, there a lot of new stakeholders that you need to get to know and build relationships with quickly. How do you approach this challenge?

A. You decide to take a proactive approach and set up meetings with all the managers you will be supporting. This will enable you to identify their individual requirements and explore how you can work most effectively together.

B. You send an email to all the managers involved to advise them that you are their new point of contact. Ask them to provide you with details of their requirements and encourage them to contact you if they have any questions.

C. You send all the managers an email and invite them to attend a drop-in Q&A session. This will enable you to introduce yourself to everyone, understand their requirements and answer any questions they may have.

D. You decide to leave the managers to approach you when they have a particular need. Your predecessor has already sent an email with your contact details, so they know where you are should they require any support.

Most Effective: *

Least Effective: *

Within your role in the Store Support Centre, part of your job requires you to respond promptly and effectively to queries from stakeholders across the business. In particular, your team have a specific target to respond to any queries within 24 hours. When you check the system, you notice that the team have been failing to meet this timescale on approximately 25% of occasions.

You have all been particularly busy with the implementation a new internal system and you know your team members are already working very hard. How do you respond?

A. You decide to leave the issue for the moment and focus on finalising the new system. This has been a big priority for your team and it is important to get it finished, before moving on to other commitments.

B. You email your team members with the data from the system, putting forward your suggestions on how you could respond faster to queries. You are open-minded to hearing their perspectives too, as you are keen to improve the service your team provides.

C. You schedule a meeting with your team members and suggest that you work together to simplify the process for responding to queries. You are keen to ensure you deliver an excellent service and support your team members across the business.

D. You raise the issue with your manager and ask for their advice on how you should address it. You respect your manager’s experience and are confident she will be able to guide you on where to prioritise your time.

Most Effective: *

Least Effective: *

At the end of the assessment

Thank you very much for taking the time to complete this questionnaire. Your responses have now been sent to our recruitment team who will be in touch to advise of the next steps in this process.

Equal Opportunities

We are committed to the fair treatment of its staff, potential staff, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, responsibilities for dependants, age, physical/mental disability or offending background.

The information you give on this form will help us comply with our policy of ensuring equality in our services to you. We recognise that some people may regard some of this information as personal and we have, therefore, included an option in most questions for ‘prefer not to say’.

All information that we collect around equality and diversity will be treated confidentially in accordance with the Data Protection Act and will be stored on the appropriate HR database. Access to this information will be restricted to staff involved in the processing and monitoring of this data. It will be used to provide statistical information only. In completing the form below, you consent to us using your data for this purpose.

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Do you consider yourself to have a disability as defined in the Disability Discrimination Act (1995)?

If you have a medical condition, the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) requires employers to make reasonable adjustments to the job content or working environment. To achieve this, we need to know whether you are covered. Definition of Disability: “A physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities in a non-work environment.”

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Pregnancy and Maternity: Maternity is defined in the Equality Act as the 26 weeks after giving birth

There are 6 million carers in the United Kingdom and nearly one in eight workers are carers. With an ageing population and an expected increase of 60% of carers in the next 30 years, we would like to monitor the number of people with caring responsibilities.

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