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Question 1

An HR professional researches data about future workforce trends to contribute to strategic planning. This describes which HR competency?

Critical Evaluation
Relationship Management
Consultation
Business Acumen

Answer 1

Critical Evaluation

Rationale: Gathering data to inform strategic planning is an example of the Critical Evaluation competency.

Question 2

A nonprofit organization is looking for a person who may assume a number of positions in the organization. What is the candidate selection philosophy that applies to this situation?

Trained vs. trainable candidates
Conformity vs. fresh perspective
Mobility vs. nonmobility
Immediate job requirements vs. organizational careers

Answer 2

Immediate job requirements vs. organizational careers

An organizational careers philosophy involves looking for people who believe in lifelong learning and are interested in building a career with an organization.

Question 3

What is the meaning of the term “disparate treatment”?

Protected classes are intentionally treated differently from other employees.

Unwelcome verbal, written, or physical conduct creates a hostile or intimidating work environment.

A practice appears neutral but discriminates against a protected group, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

An employer takes adverse action against an employee for a legitimate objection to discrimination.

Answer 3

Protected classes are intentionally treated differently from other employees.

Disparate treatment means that protected classes are intentionally treated differently from other employees. Disparate or adverse impact, in contrast, is when rules applied to all employees have a different and more inhibiting effect on a protected class than on the majority.

Question 4

What type of pay increase may be implemented to move employees higher in the pay range that is assigned to their job?

Step increase
Promotion increase
Across-the-board increase
Merit increase

Answer 4

Merit increases

Merit increases allow employees to advance in their pay ranges mostly on the basis of their job performance.

Question 5

A candidate is asked the following question: “Think of a time when you were a member of a group where two of the members did not work well together. What did you do to get them to do so?” This question is designed to primarily measure what attribute?

Communication
Leadership
Decision making and problem solving
Supervision

Answer 5

Leadership

Questions focusing on group management and diplomacy are designed to measure leadership capabilities

Question 6

In determining independent contractor status, which of the following factors is related to whether the business has the right to control how workers perform their tasks through employer instruction?

Financial control

Relationship of the parties

Behavioral control

Training control

Answer 6

Behavioral control

Independent contractors are generally not subject to business rules about how, when, and where to work and are not typically trained to perform services in a particular manner.

Question 7

In determining independent contractor status, which of the following is not related to the relationship of the parties?

Services provided to other employers
Implication of a long-term relationship
Benefits
Written contracts

Answer 7

Services provided to other employers

With regard to the relationship of the parties, independent contractors are typically bound by written contracts and will finance their own benefits, and the duration of employment will be for a specific project or time period. Services provided to other employers fall under financial control factors.

Question 8

Which of the following statements about requests for reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the ADA Amendments Act is true?

These laws point to the need for employers to focus on documentation to evaluate whether an employee has a disability.

Mitigating measures are important considerations in whether an individual has a disability that necessitates accommodation.

These laws point to the need for employers to focus more on their responsibilities for accommodating employees.

These laws apply to all private and state and local government employers with 25 or more employees.

Answer 8

These laws point to the need for employers to focus more on their responsibilities for accommodating employees.

Qualified people with disabilities who are able to work with a reasonable accommodation should not be discriminated against. Employers with 15 or more employees who are notified of an employee’s disability are obligated to provide reasonable accommodation unless the accommodation would place an undue hardship on the employer. Compliance with the regulations is not about determining if a disability exists.

Question 9

Which of the following training methods would be BEST to teach a utility worker about safety procedures for downed electrical wires?

Case study
Role play
Simulation
Lecture

Answer 9

Simulation

A simulation would be ideal, since it replicates the actual work environment and provides a safe forum for learning new skills. Simulations are useful when trainees have adequate time to participate and when it is important for trainees to see the link between their decisions and the results.

Question 10

An instructional designer is gathering data to identify gaps between current and desired performance. Which of the five training phases is the designer completing?

Analysis of needs

Design

Development

Evaluation

Answer 10

Evaluation

The designer is identifying job tasks and the gaps between current and desired performance. This occurs in the needs analysis phase, at the beginning of the ADDIE process.

Question 11

A trainer is explaining to learners how to enhance communication with their supervisors. The trainer is BEST satisfying what adult learning characteristic?

Adults need to know why a collaborative learning environment will benefit them.

Adults need learning to build on past experiences.

Adults need to see how they can immediately transfer the learning back to the job.

Adults need to know why they need to learn something.

Answer 11

Adults need to see how they can immediately transfer the learning back to the job.

RATIONALE
Adult learners want to focus on “real world” issues, and they want to be able to immediately apply what they have learned.

Question 12

The spread of pay ranges within an organization depends on which of the following?

Pay increase policies
Promotion policies
Administrative policies
All of the above

Answer 12

All of the above

The pay range spread (between the maximum and the minimum) will vary with an organization’s administrative, promotion, and pay increase policies.

Question 13

Workers are paid for showing up for work even if there is no work available. Which type of time-based differential pay does this describe?

Premium pay

On-call pay

Reporting pay

Shift pay

Answer 13

Reporting pay

With reporting pay, employees are paid for reporting to work as scheduled even if upon arrival no work is available.

Question 14

An evaluator selects two of four statements from a combination of positive and negative statements, selecting words that describe the performance of the employee. Which performance evaluation method does this exemplify?

Checklist

Ranking

Forced choice

Graphic scale

Answer 14

Forced choice

In the forced choice method, check marks are placed by two of four statements from a combination of positive and negative statements describing what the employee is most like and least like.

Question 15

Which of the following metrics is used to calculate the cost of locating, recruiting, and hiring talent?

Cost per hire

Revenue per labor dollar

Yield ratio

HR-to-employee ratio

Answer 15

Cost per hire

Cost per hire is a metric commonly used to measure the effort exerted (defined in financial terms) to staff an open position in an organization.

Question 16

An HR professional develops new partnerships with employees and front-line managers. The goal is to provide HR services aligned to organizational strategies. This describes which of the following HR Behavioral Competencies?

Critical Evaluation

Ethical Practice

Business Acumen

Relationship Management

Answer 16

Relationship Management

Partnering with employees and front-line managers is a behavior representative of Relationship Management. The Relationship Management competency implies the ability to manage interactions to provide service and to support the organization.

Question 17

It is estimated that the cost of benefits generally adds what percentage to an employee’s salary?

5%

15%

25%

35%

Answer 17

35%

Benefits are a large part of a company’s total employment cost. It is estimated that the cost of benefits generally adds 35% to an employee’s salary. For example, an employee making $30,000 actually receives a salary and benefits package worth approximately $40,500.

Question 18

All of the following are developmental uses of evaluations EXCEPT

promotion.
identification of strengths and areas for growth.
career planning.
coaching/mentoring.

Answer 18

Promotion

Promotion is an administrative use of evaluations. The evaluation is used to document an employee’s readiness for promotion.

Question 19

The tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a job are known as

KSAs.
essential functions.
nonessential functions.
working conditions.

Answer 19

Essential functions

Essential functions are the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of the job.

Question 20

Which of the following statements about an employee handbook is true?

All policies mentioned in the handbook should include references to federal and state laws that correlate to each policy.

Handbooks should include details about all company policies, the procedures for following those policies, and the forms needed to complete each process.

An employer should avoid any statements that could be construed as prohibiting concerted activity protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

Employees should be involved in handbook development to promote organizational diversity and inclusion.

Answer 20

An employer should avoid any statements that could be construed as prohibiting concerted activity protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

An employee handbook is written with employees as the intended audience. In drafting or revising handbooks and workplace policies, employers should critically assess compliance with the NLRA.

Question 21

What level of evaluation measures student comprehension?

Reaction

Learning

Behavior

Results

Answer 21

Learning

Level 2 evaluations measure comprehension. Sometimes tests are given both before and after training (pre- and post-tests) so the scores can be compared as a measure of learning.

Question 22

Before a firm can identify action plans, it must first

identify approaches to be implemented to reach each goal.

determine goals.

define the mission and vision.

all of the above.

Answer 22

All of the above

Before identifying action plans, an organization must define its mission and vision, determine goals, and identify approaches to be implemented to reach each goal. After identifying action plans, the organization must continually monitor and update the plan.

Question 23

Development of a sound budget is a performance goal related to which of the following?

Effective use of resources

Work behaviors

Results

Output quality

Answer 23

Effective use of resources

Development of a sound budget ties back to effective use of resources. Performance goals communicate the expected level of performance as well as how performance will be measured in each area of the job description.

Question 24

Which task is considered to be the core of the job specification analysis process?

Analyzing data

Determining essential functions

Obtaining job information

Documenting conclusions

Answer 24

Analyzing data

Analyzing data is the core of the process. This is where the job’s main purposes are revealed and essential functions are distinguished from nonessential ones.

Question 25

Which of the following is NOT a statutory benefit?

Medicare
Workers’ compensation
Unemployment insurance
Vacation

Answer 25

Vacation

An employer is not legally mandated to provide vacation but does so to attract and retain good employees and remain competitive in the labor market.

Question 26

A candidate wears an expensive suit to the interview, which impresses the interviewer. This is an example of what type of interview bias?

Cultural noise

Central tendency

Halo effect

First impression

Answer 26

First impressions

RATIONALE

First impressions involve forming a snap judgment (positive or negative) and letting that first impression cloud the interview

Question 27

According to FLSA regulations, overtime must be paid

only on time worked, not time compensated.

to outside sales employees if they attend job-related training programs after work hours.

unless the employer has a written policy that no overtime work will be permitted or that overtime work will not be paid for unless authorized in advance.

to computer employees who earn at least $455 per week or $27.63 per hour.

Answer 27

Only on time worked, not time compensated

The FLSA requires that overtime be paid to nonexempt employees only on time worked, not time compensated; therefore, sick pay, holiday pay, or similar compensation is not subject to overtime. Some organizations, however, do voluntarily treat such time as time worked for the purpose of determining overtime pay.

Question 28

All of the following employees are eligible for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) health-care continuation coverage EXCEPT

an employee who is fired as a result of gross misconduct.

someone who becomes a part-time employee after working full-time and loses health-care coverage.

employees who lose their jobs during a workplace downsizing.

spouses in the event of a divorce, a legal separation, or the death of their partner.

Answer 28

an employee who is fired as a result of gross misconduct.

COBRA generally requires employers to allow individuals who otherwise would lose their group medical insurance coverage due to a COBRA-qualifying event to elect to continue their coverage for 18 to 36 months (sometimes longer), provided the individuals elect the continuation coverage in a timely manner and pay the full cost of the coverage plus an administrative fee.

Question 29

Which of the following would typically take place during a midyear review?

Establish individual goals and action steps.

Reassess and adjust (if necessary) annual goals.

Discuss department/division goals.

Discuss expectations of quality and quantity of work, interpersonal skills, reliability, and other performance factors typically reviewed.

Answer 29

Reassess and adjust (if necessary) annual goals.

A midyear review is an opportunity to reassess and adjust annual goals. Discussion of work expectations, department goals, or establishing individual goals typically takes place during a new employee’s first month of employment.

Question 30

An HR professional provides training about rater biases to interviewers. This is an example of which HR competency?

Business Acumen
Critical Evaluation
Ethical Practice
Consultation

Answer 30

Ethical practice

Interpreting and ensuring ethical actions and decisions is an example of the Ethical Practice competency.