Compensation Final

In 1959, benefits were approximately _____ percent of payroll and in 2010, the percent was _____.

25, 30

A type of general health care plan in which health services are provided for a fixed fee at a specific site is:

3/4

_____ curve expresses the relationship between years since last degree, performance, and salary.

A maturity

_____ is the most frequent method of benefit communication.

An employee benefit handbook

_____ is not an example of an approach to customer-driven health care.

Cafeteria plans

Which of the following is not a defined contribution plan?

Cash-back

_____ is/are not a method of determining employee benefit preferences.

Competitor pay surveys

_____ is/are the primary reason why businesses adopt flexible benefit programs.

Cost savings

Which of the following would an employer be least likely to use if they sought to reduce benefit costs?

Defined benefit plans

Which of the following is not a major benefits planning and design issue?

Diversity compliance

_____ mandates 12 weeks of leave for all workers at companies that employ 50 or more people.

FMLA 1993

____ relieve an employer's liability when a pre-employment injury combines with a work-related injury to produce a disability greater than that caused by the latter alone.

Second-injury funds

_____ is/are one of the most preferred benefits.

Stock plans

___plans are more favorable to long-term than to short-term employees

Traditional defined benefit

_____ is (are) a relatively uncommon form of board of directors' pay.

Tying pay to stock performance

Customer satisfaction indices are increasingly popular because of

a greater emphasis on quality

A study of the factors affecting MBA students' job choice showed _____ was ranked as least important

employee benefits

A primary benefits objective of most employers is to:

increase employee understanding of plan objectives

A recent survey shows employees ranking employee benefits __________ in explaining job satisfaction

second

The biggest trend in supervisory pay is _____.

. increased use of variable pay

The majority of defined benefit plans calculate average earnings over the last _____ years of service for a prospective retiree

3 to 5

) Today, top executive pay is more than _____ times the pay of the average worker.

364

For an employee to gain lifetime coverage under Social Security, they must have worked for ____ quarters during which they were covered by the Act.

40

) Which of the following is not an indicator of whether sales quotas are reasonable?

Are company profit levels acceptable?

Which of the following is not one of the clauses relating to benefits employers can provide executives?

Average value of benefits for low-paid employees must be at least 90 percent of those for highly paid employees

Which of the following is not a part of the cost-centered approach for deciding to provide a benefit?

Basing benefits on historical costs

Which of the following is not a benefit administration issue?

Benefit adequacy

A comparison of employee benefits for private and state and local government reveals that:

Both wages and benefits are higher in the state and local governements

_____ allows employees who have resigned or were laid off to continue to purchase health insurance under their employer's plan.

COBRA 1984

Which of the following is not a reason for the move to contingent workers?

Employees who accept the idea of bounded careers may view contingent status as part of a fast-track developmental sequence

Which of the following types of workers are generally not covered by workers' compensation?

Farm workers

The major reasons motivating U.S. corporations to provide domestic partner benefits include all of the following except:

Federal legislation mandating these provisions

Which of the following is not a reason for the recent decline in the use of stock options in executive pay

Financial Accounting Standard number 313 raises the cost of using stock options

Which of the following acts has caused HR and information technology staff considerable difficulty regarding compliance and privacy?

HIPPA

Which of the following is an example of a popular perk offered to executives

Loans at low or no interest

Across five studies ranking preference for benefits,_________ had the lowest average rating.

Long-term disability

Which of the following is not a disadvantage of flexible benefit programs?

New benefits are more difficult to introduce.

Which of the following is the most popular executive perk offered by most companies (91 percent)?

Physical examination

Which of the following benefits is a federally administers program

Social Security

Which of the following benefits is not tied to earnings?

Vehicle Loans

The first question to ask in determining how much retirement income an employer should provide is:

What level of retirement compensation should be provided?

The general health care plan that uses a direct contractual relationship between employers, health-care providers and third-party payers is:

a PPO

The _____ theory argues that executives make decisions that maximize their rewards.

agency

A type of general health care plan in which health services are provided for a fixed fee at a specific site is:

an HMO

The type of health insurance requiring covered employees to use designated doctors and facilities is __________.

an HMO

In a _____ plan an employer agrees to provide a specific level of retirement pension, which is expressed as either a fixed dollar or a percentage-of-earnings amount that may vary (increase) with years of seniority in the company.

defined benefit

Popular stereotypes of salespeople characterize them as being heavily motivated by _____.

financial compensation

Research shows that the best predictor of executive pay, by far, is _____.

firm size

The biggest trend in cost-containment is:

outsourcing.

Employer advantages of defined contribution plans versus defined benefit plans include all of the following except:

pre-retirement contributions are smaller

Gross margin on sales or price per unit would be the appropriate measurement if the goal is _____.

profit improvement

All of the following are examples of methods to motivate employees to change their demand for health care except:

promotion of preventative health plans

The most important and most difficult part of sales compensation is _____.

setting sales quotas

Executives, supervisors and sales staff often receive special compensation treatment because _____.

these jobs face conflicting demands

Roughly _____ of all employees have access to paid life insurance.

three-fourths

If the business goal is to increase sales growth, an organization might use a _____.

volume measure

The rising costs of Social Security have been covered by:

increases in the maximum earnings base and the tax rate at which it is taxed

The typical employee can recall _____ percent of the benefits they receive.

less than 15

The _____ component of executive compensation has grown the most since the 1970s.

long-term incentives

A _____ is an employer-provided subsidized basic medical plan with buy-up options.

managed competition

All of the following are benefits under Social Security except:

medical expenses for work-related injuries

Surveys show that the most highly valued benefit is

medical insurance

Employers prefer contributory benefits financing for all except which of the following?

more favorable tax treatment

The proportion of outside-to-inside the company members of the board of directors in two-thirds of companies is _____.

more outsiders than insiders

The most prevalent practice these days, in place of short term sick leave:

paid time off

The time of benefit provided by the largest percent of both large and small firms is

paid time off

Various studies have found that only two specific benefits curtailed employee turnover: _____ and _____.

pensions; medical coverage

If improved account retention became a major focus of attention, the performance measure stressed would be

percentage account erosion

A _____ is a cash or stock award earned through achieving specific goals and is taxed as ordinary income

performance share/unit plan

A _____ is a cash or stock award determined by an increase in stock price at a fixed future date.

phantom stock plan

All of the following are cost containment practices except:

physical exams of all new hires.

Nonqualified stock options involve _____.

purchase of stock at a stipulated price, not conforming with Internal Revenue Code

A recent survey shows that the majority of employers are responding to increased benefit costs by______

requiring employees to pay higher deductibles and copays

) The _____ theory argues that executive pay rises to maintain the same relationship to the salaries of lower-level employees

social comparison

In the _____ benefit package, a package is designed with the average employee in mind.

standard

Equity is the major compensation challenge for _____.

supervisors

The most widely used benefit survey is conducted by:

the U. S. Chamber of Commerce.

A customer-driven health care plan that offers employees a choice of medical plans that include systems of varying cost is the:

tiered networks.

An employer seeking to use pensions to reduce turnover is likely to prefer

vesting 20 percent after 2 years and 20 each year thereafter.

The first issue in setting up a benefits package is

who should be protected or benefited.

All of the following except _____ would be considered a special compensation group.

workers covered by the ADA

Which of the following is not a likely component of the compensation package for scientists and engineers?

. Large incentives based upon personal performance

Annual bonuses often play a major role in executive compensation and are primarily designed to _____.

. motivate better short-term performance

Steve has a small company with 12 employees. One of his employees, Larry, has been laid off because his work has been outsourced. Larry had health coverage through Steve's company and he wants to continue that coverage after being laid off. According to C.O.B.R.A. how long can Larry continue his coverage through Steve's Company?

0 months

Alternatives to financing benefit plans include all of the following except:

401K

Today, _____ percent of the workforce is covered under the pension plan coverage by their employers.

49

The differential between supervisors' base pay and their highest paid subordinate is typically _____ percent

5- 30

Approximately ____ percent of employers who offer child care also offer elder care.

50

Data from WellPoint shows that __ percent of its customers' accounts for over 60 percent of its medical costs.

7

Approximately ____ percent of social security benefits go to retirees and their dependents

70

In which of the following situations would engineering jobs most likely be treated as a special compensation group?

Computer engineers employed at a software firm

_____ was designed to reduce an employer's ability to deny coverage to an employee based upon a preexisting condition.

HIPPA

Which of the following is not an example of a method to control health care costs by changing the structure of health care delivery systems?

In-house medical teams

At the time it is granted, which of the following has no tax implications for the executive?

Incentive stock options

Which of the following benefits has been found to increase productivity in organizations?

No benefit has been found to increase productivity

An account set up to cover part of a high health care deductible is a

PCA

_____ represent a variation on health-care delivery in which there is a direct contractual relationship between and among employers, health-care providers, and third-party payers.

PPOs

The __________ act requires individuals to maintain minimal essential health insurance coverage or pay a penalty unless exempted for religious beliefs or financial hardship.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Which of the following is not a benefit that is required by statutory law?

Pension and retirement benefits

Which of the following benefits are not mandated by state or federal legislation?

Pensions

____ is a hybrid health plan combining featured of HMO and ____.

Point-of-, preferred provider organization

Jennifer is hurt at work while driving a forklift. Her employer claims that she was driving too fast and therefore she is responsible for her own injury and is not eligible for workers' compensation. What will be the outcome of the employer's challenge to her workers' compensation claim?

She will like receive workers' compensation benefits

Which of the following is a major factor that influences the design of sales compensation packages?

The nature of people who enter the sales profession

____ had been described as a major cost of doing business.

Workers' compensation

The most common approach to motivating executives to make decisions that are in the best interests of stockholders is

a long-term incentive plan using stock options

A useful tool for determining the true worth of an entire executive compensation package is _____.

a tally sheet

All of the following are advantages of flexible benefits except

administrative expenses increase

All of the following are advantages of flexible benefits except:

administrative expenses increase.

Anyone hired through a temporary-help agency, on an on-call basis, or as an independent contractor is a _____.

contingent worker

The best way for companies to decide whether or not the company can afford a benefit is on a _____ basis

cost-centered

Tiered networks, managed competition and health savings accounts are all examples of choices for _____________

customer-driven health care

A major approach to increasing employee awareness of health care choices and cost

customer-driven health care.

All of the following are ways to control unemployment taxes except:

dismiss employees "for just cause" rather than layoffs

In recent years, some firms have tried to deal with the plateau effect and also accommodate the different career motivations of mature scientists and engineers through a(n) _____.

dual-career ladder

Advantages of employer sponsored life and health insurance include all of the following except:

employees can choose coverage levels

All of the following are advantages of managing benefits via the internet or intranet except

employees have fewer interactions with HR staff.

Experts attribute the decline in dollar cost of workers compensation cost after 2005 to:

employer safety programs

Unemployment insurance is usually financed by:

employer taxes paid to both federal and state funds

All of the following except _____ are factors affecting employer choices of components of a benefits package

equity

Contingent workers receive ___ benefits than regular workers; contingent workers' benefits cost employers ___ than regular workers.

fewer, less

A type of benefit plan that allocates a set dollar amount to employees and allows them to select benefits is called _____ plan

flexible benefit

All of the following factors are reasons for the growth of benefits except

foreign competition.

The total cost of employee benefits in the U. S. is _____ dollars.

four trillion

An employer experiencing high turnover and seeking to reduce pension cost is likely to prefer:

full vesting after three years

When selling the product requires a long training time and also considerable time to develop an effective sales presentation, the compensation system should _____.

have a large base-pay component

In a maturing market, compensation should emphasize _____.

high base salary and performance-based pay based upon customer satisfaction