BUSN-303 Exam #3
How much does the average American spend annually to commute to work?
Answer: $2,600
Which level of union membership is typically necessary for employer recognition?
Answer: 10 percent
The percentage method normally taxes a bonus at
Answer: 25%
When a company has a bi-weekly pay period, how many checks per year will employees receive?
Answer: 26
A part-time employee is someone who works less than ______ hours per week.
Answer: 30
In American firms, benefits typically account for what percent of total compensation?
Answer: 30%
What percent of studies have found that individual performance increases when pay is tied to performance?
Answer: 95%
Which of the following is a non-financial reward based on an employee's relationship to the employer?
Answer: Challenging work
What is true in a "tight" labor market?
Answer: Demand for qualified workers exceeds their supply.
Which of the following is part of compensation strategy?
Answer: External competitiveness
Changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) reflect changes in employees' costs of living.
Answer: FALSE
Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 offers paid Family Leave to employees in companies of over 50 employees.
Answer: FALSE
For employers, the tax treatment of benefits makes them less appealing than wages.
Answer: FALSE
If an employee quits a job voluntarily, he or she can still qualify for unemployment benefits.
Answer: FALSE
Private Companies are required by federal law to pay holiday pay.
Answer: FALSE
Rewards beyond pay do not play a role in your ability to attract and retain employees.
Answer: FALSE
What is the approach called when employees are offered a package of benefits that includes basic and optional items?
Answer: Flexible benefits
Your company is one of many in the local tech industry that wants to grow by hiring the top talent in the market. As an HR partner in charge of the recruiting efforts, what should you do first?
Answer: Gain knowledge of pay and benefit programs in your industry. Extra: This will provide you with a starting point for how competitive your pay package must be.
Strategy includes all but which of the following questions?
Answer: How many employees do we need?
______ : the education, training, knowledge, abilities, and skills required to perform work- is a major influence on pay structures.
Answer: Human Capital
What has the IRS published to simplify the independent contractor classification?
Answer: IRS 20 Factor Test
To make meaningful pay comparisons, you should choose relevant competitors. To do that, you should consider all of the following, except:
Answer: Internet-based salary sites
What does the rise in social media and self-organizing groups mean for HR departments?
Answer: More rapid responses are required.
What should be the first step after exhausting the possibility of informal resolution of a conduct or disciplinary matter?
Answer: Notify the employee of a formal disciplinary process.
All but which one of the following are components of executive pay plans?
Answer: Overtime compensation
To develop a ranking of jobs in terms of their relative worth, a small business with fewer than about ten different jobs should use which one of the following processes?
Answer: Ranking
Which of the following is not one of Maslow's "Deficiency needs"?
Answer: Self Actualization
An employer's pay level is limited by its ability to compete in product/service markets.
Answer: TRUE
An example of a defined-contribution pension plan is a 401(k) plan.
Answer: TRUE
Internal alignment describes pay relationships among different jobs within a single organization.
Answer: TRUE
Job-based pay structures assume each job has an intrinsic worth to a firm, regardless of who occupies that job.
Answer: TRUE
Pay levels that lead the competition are most likely to be found in jobs that are most directly related to an organization's success.
Answer: TRUE
Relational databases store data in separate files that can be linked by common elements, such as name, social security number, job location, mailing address, or birthdate, among others.
Answer: TRUE
The Family and Medical Leave Act covers all private-sector employers with 50 or more employees.
Answer: TRUE
Vesting occurs when employees can claim their employers' contributions to their pension plans.
Answer: TRUE
Pay improves performance, as long as the employer makes clear to employees how their performance can result in payouts.
Answer: TRUE. Extra: Research suggests that pay programs are effective for routine tasks but not for nonroutine tasks, particularly those requiring creativity.
Organization-specific factors that help shape pay structures inside an organization include all of the following, except:
Answer: Technology
Which law specifies the federal minimum wage?
Answer: The Fair Labor Standards Act
Monetary compensation includes all but one of the following:
Answer: Unemployment insurance
How do variable pay programs differ from other pay programs?
Answer: Variable pay programs provide incentives for meeting individual, group, or organizational performance goals. Extra: Using a variable pay program provides bonuses and other incentives for more than simply individual performance improvement.
What can transform a dream job into a living nightmare?
Answer: a bad manager
What is a Cafeteria Plan?
Answer: a program allowing contributions of gross income to designated accounts before taxes
Which one of the following benefits is not legally required?
Answer: a retirement savings plan
What do aptitude tests measure?
Answer: ability to do the job
What is a Flexible Spending Account?
Answer: account with pre-tax earnings are help to pay for medical or dependent care expenses.
When an employee is summoned for jury duty, the employer must
Answer: allow the employee to come back to work following the jury duty .
The best way to understand exactly what forms of compensation and benefits your organization offers, to whom, and at what cost is through
Answer: an internal audit, sorted by employee groups
What is an example of a short-term executive incentive?
Answer: annual bonus
While filling out the quarterly survey, Harriet and her coworkers joke, "We get surveyed, but nothing changes!" What is the likely outcome
Answer: apathy
Why do employees who have PTO generally feel more empowered?
Answer: because don't have to justify each day off
How can you set yourself apart as an influential HR partner?
Answer: by understanding the effect of pay programs on your organization, current employees, and potential employees Extra: If you understand how these three areas are affected, you will set yourself apart as someone who knows how to truly deliver value.
What gave rise to the field of employee relations?
Answer: conflict between workers and employers
Which terms best describe current, productive working relationships between HR and employee representatives?
Answer: cooperative, strategic, and adaptive
Incentives are generally based on
Answer: employee performance and company performance
The concept of inclusion refers primarily to _____.
Answer: equal access
To offset business related expenses, some companies offer
Answer: expense accounts
You can only determine the compensation package you want when you take time to review _____.
Answer: expenses, finances, budget
What characterizes a psychologically unsafe workplace?
Answer: fear of being open and honest
Collaborative discussions aimed at resolving a conflict in Abigail's division have failed to yield an agreement. What is the next step?
Answer: formal negotiation
Under COBRA, companies are required to offer you the opportunity to continue _________ for a specified period of time.
Answer: group health care coverage
What will you get as a result of working as an intern?
Answer: higher salary offers
To justify you're worth the salary you're requesting, what should you do?
Answer: highlight past accomplishments and impact on past employers
The amount you obtain at retirement depends on ______
Answer: how well the investments you choose performed .
The employer is required to start withholding garnishment from an employee's check
Answer: immediately
Which of the following is NOT required to be kept as part employee record retention?
Answer: inquiries from prospective employees
What do skills tests measure?
Answer: job related competencies
Howard is in the middle of an escalating conflict between management and labor. Which sort of approach to facilitation should Howard avoid?
Answer: listing points of disagreement and penalizing uncooperativeness
Skill-based pay plans are most popular in _____.
Answer: manufacturing jobs
Which process for conflict resolution is typically least formal?
Answer: mediation
Workers' compensation is
Answer: no-fault insurance
To qualify for the Administrative Employee Exemption, the employee's primary duty must be
Answer: office or non-manual work directly related to the management .
Company-paid life insurance for each employee is typically payable
Answer: one year at a time
Hourly employees are not exempt from what?
Answer: overtime
As firms expand into overseas markets, they typically adopt one of three types of compensation plans. Which of the following is not one of them?
Answer: pay parity
What is usually a company's largest expense?
Answer: payroll
Performance reviews for pay purposes are part of a larger, more frequent process of _____.
Answer: performance management
Organizations often give employees direct access to information about their total rewards through _____.
Answer: personalized benefits statements
What is an example of an individual incentive plan?
Answer: piece-rates
You can save money on benefit deductions when they are made
Answer: pre-tax
Which factor is only indirectly impacted by pay?
Answer: products or services customers receive. Extra: There can be many factors relating to quality other than employee motivation or engagement, so this is an indirect effect.
Fringe benefits can include the following, EXCEPT:
Answer: promotion
Health care cost-containment strategies include all of the following, except: _____.
Answer: providing first-dollar coverage
What is the most important characteristic of any type of performance rating?
Answer: relevance
The most common uses of technology in the administration of compensation and benefits include all of the following, except:
Answer: scheduling interviews among job candidates
Employers typically consider all of the following in deciding whether to lead, lag, or match the pay rates of competitors, except:
Answer: secondary markets
What does a PPO include?
Answer: services offered through a network of healthcare providers
The more you learn, the more you earn" is a basic principle of _________ pay systems
Answer: skill- or competency-based
What benefits begin on your first day of employment?
Answer: social security and workers comp
Your new tech company is small yet growing in a competitive market. Where should you set your base payline to attract the best employees?
Answer: somewhat above the 50th percentile of the other companies in your industry. Extra: If you do this, potential employees have no particular reason to approach you rather than approach another company.
What should incentive plans be?
Answer: specific, simple, attainable
After you receive a written offer what can an employer change?
Answer: terms of your employment
What is the "going rate" of pay for a job typically defined as?
Answer: the 50th percentile of base pay
Who is responsible for deciding when an employee will receive their final paycheck?
Answer: the State they live and work in
Which country's laws apply to disputes between employers and employees?
Answer: the country in which the work takes place
In a defined-benefit pension plan, who assumes the risk?
Answer: the employer
Who is responsible for payroll tax errors in an outsourcing relationship?
Answer: the employer
What should you negotiate in addition to salary and benefits?
Answer: the entire job offer
What do commissions and bonuses have the biggest impact on?
Answer: the motivation to perform well
What is true about exempt employees?
Answer: they not paid overtime
Which of the following is not a key objective in communicating benefits?
Answer: to help them spend their money wisely
you have been tasked with creating a pay strategy. When you complete the task, where should you look for the most important input on your pay design?
Answer: to your company's key stakeholders. Extra: The input of key stakeholders, including senior management, must be incorporated into your pay design because they have final approval.
How many more checks will you receive if paid bi-weekly vs. semi monthly?
Answer: two
Which of the following is an example of pay for time not worked?
Answer: vacations
When would you set pay at an entry amount for routine jobs?
Answer: when there is little performance variation between the tasks employees perform. Extra: From the entry amount, you can add automatic pay increases over a set time schedule.
How often can you negotiate an early performance review?
Answer: when you're hired
The use of video in benefits communication is most effective _____.
Answer: with complex topics
What are Defined Contribution Plans?
Answer: you and your employer both contribute funds for your retirement