We've all encountered people who we suspected must have failed an intelligence test to get the job, but not really believed it was done as crudely as that.
Now the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), never before rated as an intellectual powerhouse, is breaking new and dangerous ground in the dodgy field of IQ testing by using tests to decide who keeps their jobs. This provoked a walkout by thousands of staff today.
Bad enough that hundreds face redundancy as the bloated quango is slimmed down to more reasonable proportions, but the suspicion that it was being done on the basis of IQ tests was the final straw, it seems. Is being stupid really a sacking offence all of a sudden?
Of course we all fondly believe we are of above average intelligence (like the children in Lake Wobegon) but wouldn't want to put it to the test.
The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) called today's strike to protest against the use of IQ tests as a redundancy tool.
Management at the LSC insisted that no one was being sacked but the organisation was being restructured and many middle and senior posts would no longer exist. The spokeswoman said: "No one has been dismissed ... but there is a number who have not been appointed to the new posts."
Is it possible that some had such a low IQ they didn't realise they were sacked but were just somehow, well, jobless?
This weasily management-speak extends to the tests which include "situation scenario testing".
The union protested that the tests were going ahead even though 600 staff were willing to take redundancy - almost twice as many as the council wanted to cut.
And what about all those LSC claims to promote retraining and reskilling? Well, there is the instant incentive to brush up your job-seeking skills, armed with a certificate saying you are too dim to work for the LSC.......
