Frequently Asked Questions

The name comes from the word "Fermion", which is a type of sub-atomic particle. Christopher, the founder and director of Fermion, wanted to bring science and evidence-based practise into human resources. By choosing this name, he hoped to challenge traditional methods and provide Fermion's clients with innovative evidence-based solutions, as opposed to the latest gimmick or fad, tailored to meet their needs. "Fermion" is symbolic of the scientist-practitioner evidence-based approach to human resources  

We have long-term clients based in Wollongong, Sydney, and throughout Australia. Being Wollongong-based does not limit Fermion’s capacity to work with our clients, as we are able to offer our services virtually anywhere. Knowledge and expertise have no geographical boundaries, but operating costs do. Why should you, as a client, pay for someone else’s high capital city operating costs?

There is a common theme, both anecdotally and from surveys, that a significant challenge for many businesses and organisations is recruiting good staff and then keeping them motivated and productive. 

It is self-evident that the people you recruit and retain will have a significant impact on the success of your enterprise. Good staff are more productive than average or mediocre staff and a poor hiring decision will cost a lot of money; with the losses being a function of the role and how long it takes to solve the issue. Equally, hiring a good person and losing them prematurely is also costly.

But, irrespective of survey data and statistics, you only need to ask yourself whether it is a problem for you and your business.

Are any of these questions relevant to you?

• Have you made one too many poor recruitment decisions?

• Have you lost good employees prematurely? 

• Do you have ongoing staff problems?

• Have you spent a lot of money on consultants only to keep having the same problems?  

• How much time and money have you spent on training to “fix” people? 

Any of these problems have significant costs attached to them. It costs a lot of money, and time, to successfully recruit someone, train them up to the point where they are productive, motivated, and engaged.

Fermion has the experience and expertise to help your organisation select the right people and then equip you with the tools and strategies to keep them engaged, productive and loyal. Our psychometric testing will reduce the risk of bad hires and save you time and money in recruitment costs. Our “Recruitment to Retention” program will help you identify the best candidates and keep them motivated and productive.

Whether you need to add psychometric testing to your existing recruitment process, or you would like to go the next step and implement our "Recruitment to Retention" program, Fermion can help you.

Much of the “people & culture” space or human resources area in Australia is essentially a franchise model whereby a “consultant”, who can have no formal qualifications or any particular experience, pays up and does some course and then they are an accredited something; for example, MBTI or the DISC. They then buy all their products, profiles and tools from that company and spruik their model as if that is all of human behaviour explained and covered.  

This is an unregulated market that has no accountability or check and balances, and it would be interesting to know how many people actually fail the accreditation process; it’s in the company’s interest to have as many “consultants” on their books as possible.  

These types of consultants have profiles and biographies that say things such as: 

“At X we have seen and learned things that are literally invisible to people working every day. That makes us significantly different from other consultants, who typically begin by working within that hidden system. We have translated our gift of observation into practical systems designed to achieve levels of performance our clients never dared to dream of.”

"What I do is re-program the subconscious mind that floods endorphins to the brain and that triggers proteins to the brain. In turn, that gets the greatest performance out of anyone in being whatever they want to achieve.” 

Or my favourite:

“By following established evidenced based protocols and committing to practices that foster a growth mindset, passion, purpose, dialling in strengths, getting clear on values, we can start to unlock our true potential. Focusing on essentials such as sleep, nutrition, exercise, gratitude, mindfulness, and human connections, as well as understanding the scientific fundamentals of the flow state: flow triggers, flow cycles, flow blockers, and building grit, we can harness our biology to achieve what once seemed insurmountable. The beauty of this approach is that it doesn't rely on sheer grind and effort; even someone like me can reap the benefits, which means anyone can!” 

If it was only that easy!

In contrast, the term "psychologist" is a legally protected term and you can only use it if you have completed 6 years of training and supervision, which is what it takes to become a psychologist in Australia. Thus, using an Organisational Psychologist means you are working with someone who is highly trained in human behaviour, not only in the workplace, but in other settings. 

Psychologists have to be registered with APHRA and part of that is the requirement to undergo ongoing professional development. It also means you, the consumer or client, can lodge a complaint to APHRA if you believe we are behaving in an unethical manner. 

Thus, using an Organisational Psychologist gives you peace of mind knowing that we at Fermion are highly trained and competent, but we are also accountable for our work.