Employee engagement on the PHR, the 2024 area

Many employees at a food processing plant have limited English proficiency. What step BEST ensures valid engagement survey results there?

1. Have bilingual supervisors read and record answers
   Supervisors recording answers ends confidentiality, so employees will not answer honestly.
2. Leave employees with limited English out of results
   Excluding these employees silences a large part of the plant and biases the results.
3. Survey everyone in the English version only
   An English-only survey leads limited-English employees to misread or skip items, which distorts the results.
4. Offer professionally translated versions
   Professionally translated surveys let employees understand each item and answer candidly, which keeps the results valid and inclusive.

During a group reduction in force, a company offers 58-year-old employees severance in exchange for releasing ADEA claims. What does the OWBPA require for a valid release?

1. 45 days to consider and 7 days to revoke
   In a group program, the OWBPA requires 45 days to consider the release and 7 days to revoke after signing.
2. 45 days to consider and no revocation period
   A 7-day revocation period is required in every OWBPA waiver, so 'no revocation period' is invalid.
3. 21 days to consider and 7 days to revoke
   21 days to consider applies to individual separations; a group RIF requires 45.
4. 60 days to consider, matching WARN notice
   60 days is WARN's notice period; the OWBPA's group consideration period is 45 days.

HR conducts an employee survey, reports the results back to each work group, and facilitates sessions in which each group plans its own improvements. Which OD intervention is this?

1. Sensitivity training
   Sensitivity training uses unstructured group sessions to build self-awareness, not survey results.
2. Survey feedback
   Collecting survey data, feeding it back to work groups and having them plan improvements is the survey-feedback intervention.
3. Job redesign
   Job redesign changes the content and structure of jobs, which this process does not do.
4. Process consultation
   Process consultation has a consultant help a group see and improve how it works, such as communication and decision-making, not survey results.

During a review, a manager finds that an employee's reports are accurate but often late because the employee struggles to prioritize competing tasks. What is the MOST appropriate developmental next step?

1. Place the employee on a performance improvement plan
   A formal PIP is premature for a skill gap that has not yet been coached.
2. Enroll the employee in a report-writing course
   The reports are accurate, so a writing course targets the wrong skill.
3. Set a prioritization goal and provide coaching
   The gap is prioritizing, not report quality, so a specific goal plus coaching addresses the actual cause.
4. Lower the rating and revisit the issue next year
   Lowering the rating and waiting a year gives the employee no help to improve.

In an annual review, a supervisor rates an employee mainly on strong work in the past month and overlooks missed deadlines earlier in the year. Which rating error is this?

1. Halo effect
   The halo effect lets one strong trait color every rating; here recent timing, not one trait, drives the error.
2. Primacy effect
   The primacy effect gives too much weight to early impressions, the opposite of what happened.
3. Contrast error
   Contrast error rates someone against other employees rather than against the standard.
4. Recency effect
   Letting the last few weeks outweigh the rest of the year is the recency effect.

Exit interview data show top performers leave mainly for advancement opportunities elsewhere, while their pay is at market. Which retention action BEST targets this cause?

1. Expand internal mobility and promotion paths
   Exit data say people leave for advancement, so internal mobility and promotion paths address the stated cause.
2. Raise all top performers' salaries above market
   Pay is already at market and is not the cited reason, so raises miss the cause.
3. Introduce an unlimited PTO policy
   Unlimited PTO does nothing for the lack of advancement.
4. Add on-site recreational amenities
   Recreational amenities do not create the growth opportunities people are leaving to find.

A high-performing project manager has started doing only the minimum required, skipping optional meetings and volunteering for nothing, and says 'it's just a paycheck.' What should the supervisor do FIRST?

1. Issue a written warning for lack of initiative
   A warning for 'lack of initiative' punishes before the cause is known and may deepen disengagement.
2. Hold a one-on-one to learn what has changed
   A sudden drop in a strong performer's effort calls for a conversation to find the cause before choosing a fix.
3. Offer a retention bonus to restore effort
   A retention bonus assumes the problem is money before anyone has asked.
4. Reassign the employee's key projects to others
   Taking away key projects without understanding why may push a good employee out.

Exit surveys show employees are satisfied with pay and benefits but leave because the work feels repetitive and offers no responsibility. Under Herzberg's two-factor theory, what should HR recommend?

1. Improve break rooms and working conditions
   Working conditions are a hygiene factor too and do not answer complaints about repetitive work.
2. Raise pay further to increase overall satisfaction
   Pay is a hygiene factor that only prevents dissatisfaction, and employees already say they are satisfied with it.
3. Enrich jobs with responsibility and autonomy
   Herzberg calls responsibility and autonomy motivators, so enriching jobs addresses repetitive, low-responsibility work.
4. Add more paid time off to reduce burnout
   More time off does not add the responsibility or variety that employees say is missing.

A graphic designer has missed deadlines for months, and her manager wants to transfer her to another team to avoid a difficult conversation. What should HR advise FIRST?

1. Approve the transfer to preserve team morale
   Transferring her without addressing performance just moves the problem to another team.
2. Transfer her and tell the new manager nothing
   Hiding the issue from the new manager sets up another failure and is unfair to the receiving team.
3. Terminate her; a transfer rewards poor work
   Firing her before any performance conversation skips due process and invites a claim.
4. Address the performance issue directly with her
   The manager should give direct feedback and set expectations first; avoiding the conversation leaves the problem unaddressed.

Leadership wants to track how employees are responding to a six-month reorganization while it unfolds. Which feedback method is BEST?

1. Short, frequent pulse surveys
   Short, frequent pulse surveys track sentiment as the reorganization unfolds and allow course corrections.
2. Exit interviews with leavers
   Exit interviews hear only from people who leave, and only after the fact.
3. The annual engagement survey
   An annual survey is too infrequent to follow a six-month change in real time.
4. A one-time focus group at the end
   A single focus group at the end comes too late to adjust the reorganization while it is happening.

Exit interviews are conducted by each departing employee's own manager, and almost all cite 'better opportunity' as the reason for leaving. What change would MOST improve the accuracy of the data?

1. Ask managers to probe harder for the real reasons
   Pushing managers to probe harder keeps the same interviewer whose presence suppresses candor.
2. Have HR or a third party conduct the interviews
   Departing employees speak more candidly to HR or a neutral third party than to the manager they are leaving.
3. Add more multiple-choice reasons to the form
   More reasons on the form do not remove the reluctance to criticize one's own manager.
4. Require departing employees to sign their answers
   Requiring signatures makes people even less willing to give honest reasons.

To reduce boredom, a plant gives assemblers responsibility for planning their work, checking quality, and scheduling, which increases their autonomy. Which job design approach is this?

1. Job rotation
   Job rotation moves people between jobs; it does not add planning or quality control to one job.
2. Job sharing
   Job sharing splits one position between two people, which is unrelated to autonomy.
3. Job enrichment
   Adding planning, quality and scheduling duties gives assemblers more control over their work, which is vertical job enrichment.
4. Job enlargement
   Job enlargement adds more tasks at the same level, not more responsibility or autonomy.

In one company, managers recognize employees only at an annual awards dinner. Which change would MOST strengthen the link between employee behavior and recognition?

1. Let employees nominate themselves for annual awards
   Self-nomination changes who is picked, not how quickly recognition follows the behavior.
2. Add a second awards dinner in the middle of the year
   A second dinner halves the delay but still recognizes people months after the behavior.
3. Increase the cash value of the annual awards
   Bigger annual awards are still delayed and general, so the link to specific behavior stays weak.
4. Recognize specific behaviors soon after they occur
   Recognition reinforces behavior best when it is specific and comes soon after the behavior, not once a year.

HR is launching a vendor-run engagement survey platform. Employees worry their managers will see individual answers. What should HR do BEFORE launch?

1. Explain who sees the data and how it is protected
   Explaining access, confidentiality and reporting rules up front builds the trust needed for honest participation.
2. Make participation mandatory to get complete data
   Making the survey mandatory raises the fear of being identified and lowers candor.
3. Offer prize drawings to offset employees' concerns
   Prize drawings can lift turnout but do nothing about the confidentiality worry.
4. Launch quietly so the concerns do not spread further
   Launching quietly leaves the concern in place and undermines trust in the survey.

A manager is preparing feedback for an employee who keeps interrupting clients. Which statement is MOST effective?

1. In Tuesday's call you interrupted the client twice.
   Naming a specific, observable behavior in a specific situation tells the employee exactly what to change.
2. You need to work on your communication skills overall.
   'Communication skills overall' is too vague for the employee to act on.
3. Everyone notices that you interrupt people constantly.
   'Everyone notices' and 'constantly' overgeneralize and invite defensiveness.
4. Your attitude in client meetings is unprofessional.
   Calling the employee's attitude unprofessional judges the person instead of describing the behavior.

A company plans to start using 360-degree feedback results to set annual pay increases. What is the MAIN concern HR should raise?

1. It cannot measure behaviors such as teamwork
   360 feedback is well suited to behaviors such as teamwork, so this is not a real limitation.
2. Raters may be less candid when pay is at stake
   When 360 ratings set pay, raters tend to soften or game their input, which undermines the honest feedback that 360s depend on.
3. Feedback will be too infrequent to be useful
   How often feedback is collected is a design choice, not the main problem with tying it to pay.
4. It will rely too heavily on the manager's view
   A 360 adds peer, report and other views, so it relies less on the manager's view, not more.

A company with 1,200 employees lays off 120 of the 400 full-time employees at one plant within 30 days. The plant is not closing. Is a WARN mass layoff triggered, and why?

1. Yes; any layoff of 50 or more is a mass layoff
   Fifty jobs is only the floor; 50–499 layoffs also need to reach 33% of the site's workforce.
2. No; only layoffs of 500 or more at one site count
   The conclusion is right but the rule is wrong: 50–499 layoffs also count when they reach 33% of the site's workforce, so 500 is not the only trigger.
3. No; 120 is under 33% of the plant's workforce
   A mass layoff at one site needs 50–499 employees who are also at least 33% of the site's workforce, or 500+; 120 of 400 is 30%, so it is not triggered.
4. Yes; more than 100 employees are losing jobs
   There is no 100-job trigger for layoffs; the test combines a headcount floor with the 33% share of the site.

In a hybrid team, remote employees receive lower performance ratings and fewer stretch assignments than office-based peers with similar results. What should HR do FIRST?

1. Raise remote employees' ratings to match office peers
   Raising ratings across the board without analysis replaces one distortion with another.
2. Require remote employees to come to the office more often
   Ordering people back to the office assumes the cause and can conflict with the hybrid arrangement.
3. Give remote staff better video collaboration tools
   Better video tools do not address how managers rate and assign work.
4. Review rating and assignment data for proximity bias
   Comparing ratings and assignments for similar results tests whether proximity bias is driving the gap before acting.