SHRM Practice Questions

The goal is ambiguous

2 HR staff members who are planning a worksite wellness initiative stat that one of their goals is to have healthier employees in their workforce. What is wrong with this goal?

Provide coaching that allows the employees to see the shared end goal of the project

2 employees who perform well individually have been placed on a project team together. However, in a team setting, they have very different work styles and attitudes and often clash angrily. How can an HR staff member help resolve this issue?

provide a training for the manager that illustrates all of the steps of scheduling leave in the system

A Manager in a non-HR dept is having difficulty scheduling leave for his team members in a new online scheduling system. How can an HR professional provide support in this situation?

Immigration laws and work visas for new employees at the site

A company based in the US is opening a new facility in IReland. What will be a concern of HR professionals as the facility gets ready to launch?

Pay each employee the exact same salary and ensure that each performs the same percentage of various business tasks

A small business owner has hired 4 staff members. The business owner considers herself a fair and ethical person. However, she has hired 1 relative, her best friend from college, and 1 person from a job posting site who was previously unknown to her. All 3 employees are highly qualified, care about the business, have exceptional work ethic, and will be cross-trained in the same functions. What is one way that the business owner can mitigate potential bias in her treatment of the employees?

Training costs

An HR team is developing a budget for a hiring campaign. The associated costs include marketing materials; a venue rental for a hiring fair; and the time, labor, and salaries of the staff who will work at the fair. What types of cost are these?

An anonymous and confidential HR hotline

An employee sees a close colleague change numbers in an accounting spreadsheet to reflect incorrect values .The employee feels uncomfortable reporting the colleague, due to their friendship and close working relationship. However, the employee feels very concerned about the situation. What is one feasible resource that could help this employee in a situation like this?

Actively listen to the feelings of the retirees, show empathy, and try to communicate with logic and objectivity

An organization eliminates its pension package for retirees, which causes a group of retirees to arrive in the HR dept. The group is angry and yelling at the HR employees. One woman even bursts into tears at the thought of receiving less money in retirement. What is the best way for HR employees o respond to this outburst?

Pregnant female employees Male employees Managers of both sexes All of the above

An organization is trying to improve its parental leave policy. Who in the organization could be considered key stakeholders for this initiative?

Actively recruit underrepresented employees by highlighting diversity as a priority in job postings and favoring it during hiring

An organization notices that its workforce is 78% females who are Caucasian. How can the organization make its workforce more diverse?

Corporate Culture

An organization's overall attitude towards dress code, working remotely, social retreats for employees, and designated break times can best be described as which of the following?

Observational

Ash is conducting a workflow analysis in a patient clinic to identify sources of waste. Each day for 2 weeks, she sits in different areas of the clinic and examines the daily activities of each staff member. She records each tasks that the staff member completes, the amount of time it takes to complete the task, any obstacles that arise during the task, and anything that Ash feels makes the task easier for the staff member she is observing. What is this type of data collection called?

A panel of interviewers from all parts of the company should interview all of the candidates and make a selection together based on merit

Barb, Cass, Deb, and Enid have all worked in the same HR team for 2 years as generalists. Their supervisor currently left the organization to pursue another opportunity. All 4 employees are viable candidates for this position, and all have submitted applications. However, Barb worked with the director of the group in another organization and has a close friendship with her. What is the fairest way to conduct interviews and selection for the supervisor position?

Speak to her superior and offer to develop a new online handbook that can be easily updated

Cass is the new HR director at a small organization. She is reviewing her company's employee handbook when she realizes that large pieces of info have not been updated in 4 years. As she reviews further, she realizes much of the handbook is obsolete. What should Cass do?

HRIS

Creating candidate profiles, updating job postings, removing filled positions, and flagging resumes can all be accomplished by what tool?

Schedule a couple 10-minute intervals during her workday where she actively and positively engages with her coworkers

During a performance review, Jordan's manager shares some concerns that Jordan does not seem to have friends at work, show interest in others, or get along well with her team members. Jordan knows that she is a shy person but would like to use this opportuity for personal improvement. How can she proactively address this opportunity?

Helping each member feel accountable

During a project meeting, Mary creates a table that includes a detailed description of every task needed for the project, a deliverable date for each tasks, and the owner of each task. Each member is able to access and update the table with status updates. What is Mary helping her team do?

Share that new equipment will be delivered at the end of the month and that he will follow up with each employee on the assignment Share his personal career story, beginning from choosing a major in college Share what makes the organization different from others in the same field Share that employees can choose to work remotely one day per week and that the last Friday of each month is used to celebrate an employee's personal heritage

During new hire orientation, Joe wants to illustrate the company culture to new employees. What are some things he could share with them to show the organization's culture?

A milestone

Each fiscal quarter within a fiscal year is an example of which of the following?

Source who conducted the research and the sample size of respondents

Eli sees a pie chart that shows about 2/3 of HR professionals hate their jobs, and only 1/3 find it satisfactory. What should he do before sharing this info with anyone?

Risk identification

Fiona is mapping out a process for a new initiative. She compiles the full timeline and processes of customer solutions, then brainstorms with her team about potential failures, obstacles, or setbacks that could occur at each stage. In what practice is Fiona engaging?

Set up an appointment with Marcus to find out the context around the charge

Genevieve is interviewing a new candidate, Marcus, with whom she is very impressed. He has the perfect educational background, professional experience, and cultural fit for a position she is trying to fill. She has not met any comparable candidates during the hiring campaign for this position. However, when she runs a background check, she finds that he was arrested for a DUI approximately 8 years ago but was not charged. Besides this event, his background check returns clear. What is the best course of action for Genevieve to take in this situation?

Some kind of barrier exists within the workplace or work environment that makes underrepresented groups feel uncomfortable or unhappy

If an organization has a higher turnover rate among employee groups that are already underrepresented, of what is this likely indicative?

Reimbursed payments

In a healthcare organization, which of the following might constitute as a KPI (key performance indicator) during an established fiscal period?

Conduct a needs assessment into the needs of the organization and interests of the employees

It is a new fiscal year, and an HR dept. is unsure of which initiatives to implement during the upcoming year. What is the 1st step they can take to target some ideas?

Jenny was not a good fit with her new responsibilities

Jenny is an introverted individual who works best alone and behind the scenes. She is hired by a small firm to do data analysis and scientific report writing, 2 tasks she loves and excels at. She enjoys her 1st week very much and receives a great deal of praise from her colleagues and manager. However, a staffing change causes the firm to give her additional responsibilities, including organizing large team building and training events. Jenny struggles with these responsibilities and after her 30 day probationary period, the firm lets her go. What is the probably reason for Jenny's termination?

A case study in the NY times that features a fortune500 company that did this successfully

Jer wants to implement an HR initiative that allows dept leads to swap employees for specified periods of time in order to facilitate cross-training. What sources could Jer share with leadership to support his case for trying this?

24 hours for emergencies and up to 3 days for other inquiries, per her current company's protocol

Jo is a new employee at an organization. She is skilled in customer service and looks forward to managing the HR needs of her organization. At her previous organization, Jo was expected to answer all inquiries within 24 hours. She was taught that this was the industry standard. Her current organization uses the 24-hour rule for emergencies and allows up to 3 business days to respond to non-urgent inquiries. What practice should Jo follow and why?

Active listening

Karen is an employee in an organization's finance dept who has been feeling burned out at work. She sets up a meeting with Rita, an HR employee, to discuss this issue. When Karen arrives, Rita notices that Karen looks tired and defeated. As Karen shares her issues, Rita shows empathy and observes Karen's body language. When Karen is finished speaking, Rita shares her perception of Karen's concerns and asks if she is understanding correctly. What is Rita practicing in her conversation with Karen?

Larry should have cross-trained his 3 employees to fill in for each other should emergencies come up

Larry manages 3 HR employees. Jane is in charge of compensation and benefit tasks, Ira is in charge of risk management tasks, and Samir is in charge of recruitment and hiring. Samir has an illness that takes him out of the office for 6 weeks, and during this time, all recruitment and hiring processes freeze. This majorly impacts 2 other departments that were waiting on new employees to begin. How could this situation have been prevented?

Facility employees often work outdoors, which could be a confounding variable

Lars is collecting data relating to employee productivity. He notices that facility employees are more likely to take sick days in December. While the rest of the organization have sick days scattered through the year. Lars hypothesizes that facility employees call out sick to have extra holiday time. What is the issue with this reasoning?

Job tasks, including the amount of time spent sitting each day Number of direct reports for the position An exact salary number Company-Sponsored worksite wellness program, 401k matching up to 5%, and an annual sponsored mindfulness retreat

Lisa is an HR generalist that is posting a job online. She is proud of her company's benefits system mand wants to highlight some of them in the posting. What types of benefits could she include in the job posting?

The vendor's anticipated role during the wellness fair

Lou is meeting for the first time with a potential vendor to assist with her organization's annual wellness fair. What types of expectations should Lou discuss in person with the vendor?

Employee motivation is often influenced by factors that are outside of the manager's locus of control

Lowry recently experienced the death of a loved one. While he was once a stellar employee, he now begins to come to work late and is slow to finish his tasks. He appears disinterested in his work and eventually begins using up his sick days. His manager tries to support him by providing grievance resources, offering new job responsibilities, and providing the option of working from home; However, he is not interested in any of these options. What lesson can Lowry's manager learn from this situation?

Mara and his manager work together to determine the SMART goals of the diversity training

Mara is an entry-lvl HR employee in an advertising agency. He is working on a project that focuses on diversity training offered in the workplace and is conducting preliminary research to review best practices. Mara's manager asks for a compilation of key findings. Mara sends a zip file full of every evidence-based journal article relating to diversity trainings in the workplace that he could find using google scholar. Mara's manager responds that he is unable to review so many articles and doesn't say anything else. What would be a better approach for this task, moving forward?

Assume nothing, and ask the team leader about the brevity of the message when possible

Maryam writes a message to her team leader to ask a question about a project. The team leader answers back with one sentence that seems terse to Maryam. What should Maryam do in this situation?

Networking

Meeting, learning from, and socializing with colleagues within and outside of one's organization is known as what?

Create backup plans for all of the contracts that may be affected, while calmly accepting that some changes may be unanticipated and out of his control

Michael leads an HR department at a federal agency. He is in the planning stage for the new fiscal year and is thrilled that he has created initiatives that are highly detailed, are comprehensive, and use the resources of contracts that his agency currently has in place. He is very attached to the outcomes of these initiatives. However, a presidential election is taking place in one month that will likely affect the contracts that are awarded to his agency. What can Michael do to protect his new fiscal year plans?

I, II, and IV

Mila is in the planning stages of an HR initiative that focuses on providing a catered healthy lunch to all employees each Monday. What is something she should focus on during th planning stage? I - Developing a SMART goal to determine why she wants to pursue this initiative and how she will know if it is successful II- Identifying Stakeholders and gathering their opinions on meal types and the value of this initiative III- Surveying employees who attended about how they enjoyed the food served IV- Creating a budget proposal

Online Survey

Mina is conducting a professional development satisfaction survey. She needs to survey 75% of her organization, which has over 3000 employees. What is the best way for her to collect detailed data from this many people?

Set up a meeting with Myra to discuss how she allocated resources and what went successfully , as well as what did not go successfully, and use this data to plan

Myra and Angela are 2 HR professionals who work in the same organization. Recently, Myra successfully implemented a sustainability initiative with the marketing department, where she heled them reduce the amount of paper they use. This led to saved paper, printing, and labor costs as well as reduced physical waste. Angela would like to try this initiative with the finance department, which is welcome to the idea. How can Angela begin to allocate resources for this project?

Pause work on the short-term disability claim till the next day to help the CFO, but communicate a status update to the employee it affects

Nate is an HR employee who works with his organization's operations dept. He is in the middle of resolving a STD claim for an employee who is not present in the office. As he is working, the CFO of his organization visits his desk and asks for assistance with an urgent task that affects all employee data. This task is expected to take a full workday to complete. What should Nate do?

I, III, and IV

Out of the following, which apply to one way to build credibility as an HR expert?: I- Pursue a Master's degree in HR from an accredited university II- Take online personality surveys, such as Myers-Briggs, to determine your strengths III- Earn nationally recognized certifications in the field IV- Attend workshops and share key takeaways with your organization

Gap Analysis

Quinn is an HR recruiter who has a quarterly goal of hiring 35% of all employees that reach the interview process. He normally meets this goal. However, one quarter found him at a rate of 10%. What tool can Quinn use to learn more about this poor performance?

Dan does not support a reliable communication channel

Ray and Nash report to team leader, Dan who is regularly out of the office. Dan takes up to a week to respond to their emails, and his phone usually goes straight to voicemail. Dan is always in the office on Tuesdays, when he checks in with Ray and Nash and answers any questions of theirs. What is a clear obstacle in this team dynamic?

emotional intelligence

Self-awareness, social awareness, relationship management, and self-management are components of what?

Evaluation

Soliciting feedback from stakeholders is an important part of which of the following process stages?

Transparency

The CEO of a company holds bi-weekly meetings with his entire organization to relay new information about company performance, trends, and personal opinions relating to the industry. What is this an example of?

Team-oriented culture

The VP of an organization has noticed that a particular employee, Ben has been working extremely hard and has made a positive impression on a large majority of the organization's leadership. The VP meets with ben and asks him about his work. Ben shares all of the accomplishments that his team has achieved in the last quarter. What is Ben displaying during his meeting?

Relationship building

There is a new employee in Janelle's department. On the new employee's first day, Janelle sets up a team lunch at a nearby restaurant and asks the new employee to attend. During lunch, Janelle asks the new employee about his past work experiences and personal interests. She also lets him know that she can help him with any questions he might have during his first week. What skill is Janelle practicing?

Illustrate the value that the initiative will bring to the executive, managerial, and employee levels of the organization

Thomas, an HR professional, is meeting with his direct manager, an entry-level employee in another department, and the VP of his organization to propose a system-wide HR initiative. What is the single mmost important thing Tomas can do during his proposal to promote buy-in?

All of the Above

Vera is an HR generalist that works for a medical devices company. She is in charge of recruiting and hiring engineers for the research and development team; however, she knows nothing about the product that the engineers will be building. Why could this be a major problem during the hiring process? (select all that apply) I- Vera may hire engineers that do not have the correct skillset II- Vera may provide incorrect details about job responsibilities III- Vera may provide compensation packages that are too high or too low for the job

It builds employee morale and fosters positive working environments

What are the known benefits of showing concern for fellow employees at work?

Google scholar and PubMed

What are two popular search tools to find peer-reviewed, evidence-based research?

The process inputs are tightly controlled and produce the same desired output each time the process takes place

What does it mean when a process has been validated?

Political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental trends that influence the organization

What factors does a PESTLE analysis take into consideration?

List aspects that are relevant to corporate culture on the job posting

What is 1 way to eliminate job applicants who may not be a good cultural fit for an organization?

An online employee handbook that is accessible to every employee and is updated online

What is a lean way of communicating HR programs, policies, and practices, including real-time updates?

Value stream map

What is a step-by-step diagram that shows the purpose of each stage called?

A human tendency to seek, favor, or influence data to match personal preferences or an established hypothesis

What is confirmation bias?

Provide progressive options like benefits for same-sex partners or paternity leave

What is one way an organization can provide benefits that cater to a diverse talent pool?

Model acceptable and ethical behavior themselves, as much as possible

What is the best way for HR leaders to communicate acceptable and ethical behaviors in the workplace?

Leadership Buy-in

What is the most crucial aspect of successfully implementing organizational change?

Comparing an organization's initiatives and outcomes against competition and/or industry standards

What is the practice of benchmarking?

To determine the foundation-level reason as to why an overarching issue is occurring

What is the purpose of a root cause analysis?

A cost

When performing a cost-benefit analysis of a proposed project, what is a project worker's salary an example of?

Data collection or study publication that occurred within the past 3 years

When reviewing data or published studies, what constitutes as "recent" data collection or study?

Select an overlapping interest that could have a feasible solution

When working with multiple stakeholders who have varied interests, what is the best way to propose and develop a new initiative?

The Break room

Where is a location that informal, yet effective, communication takes place at work?

In the job posting for his or her role

Where would an employee first encounter an organization's ethical standards and policies?

Opportunities and Threats

Which components of a SWOT matrix examine influences that are EXTERNAL to the organization

Strengths and Weaknesses

Which components of a SWOT matrix examine influences that are INTERNAL to the organization?

Focus Groups

Which of the following data collection methods require the services of a skilled facilitator?

Value Stream mapping

Which of the following is a tool from the Six Sigma approach?

Lean

Which reputable approach encourages producing the most value from the least resources?

Employer brand

Which term refers to an organization's identity - including mission, values, and culture - as it it communicated to current and prospective employees?

It allows them to work well with other employees, even when they are on project teams that they have not selected themselves

Why do all employees need to build a wide range of intrapersonal skills?

It can provide innovative insight that one can apply to their own organization

Why is networking outside of one's own organization a valuable professional experience?

Tell the stakeholder she doesn't know the answers to his questions, but will find out and follow up him within 24 hours

Xiao is conducting a stakeholder meeting to review how a flue shot campaign conducted by the HR dept is going. 1 of the stakeholders begins asking questions about the pharmacy that is providing the vaccines to the organization and Xiao is unable to answer his questions. What is the best course of action for Xiao to take in this situation?