People - Employee Engagement & Retention
Which statement best explains how absenteeism is related to employee engagement? A) Absenteeism rates can be an indirect indicator of employee engagement, as employees are not attending work. B) Unscheduled absenteeism rates are a reflection of a paid-time-off program & not an indicator of employee dissatisfaction. C) Absenteeism rates are not indicative of employee engagement levels, as absences occur for many reasons. D) Absenteeism rates are not indicative of engagement levels due to the unreliability of a correlation between absence & engagement.
A) Absenteeism rates can be an indirect indicator of employee engagement, as employees are not attending work. Absenteeism rates, particularly for unscheduled absenteeism, can be an indicator of potential engagement problems. This can reflect employees' desire to not be in the workplace.
Which appraisal method describes examples of desirable & undesirable behavior? A) Behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS) B) Category rating methods C) Comparative methods D) Management by objectives (MBO)
A) Behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS) BARS describes examples of desirable & undesirable behavior to overcome the problems associated with category rating.
Which is the best results-based comparative analysis for a company that has implemented an engagement strategy & action plan for reducing accidents on the job? A) Compare the workers' compensation incident rate before & after implementing the engagement action plan. B) Compare the revenue per employee rate before & after implementing the engagement action plan. C) Compare the monthly turnover rate before & after implementing the engagement action plan. D) Compare the employee absenteeism rate before & after implementing the engagement action plan.
A) Compare the workers' compensation incident rate before & after implementing the engagement action plan. The specific metric needed to identify a reduction of accidents on the job would be the workers' compensation incident rate.
Which is an example of a manager's behavior that drives employee engagement? A) Considering the consistency of a candidate's preferences with the org's practices before offering employment B) Cultivating & encouraging a "work hard" atmosphere to impart a sense of accomplishment to employees C) Determining that innovation is key for success for the org & fostering innovative performance for all roles D) Allowing employees to focus their work solely in the areas of their strengths to ensure high productivity & effectiveness
A) Considering the consistency of a candidate's preferences with the org's practices before offering employment A driver of employee engagement is hiring the right person for the right job to ensure that the applicant is a fit for the role & the culture of the org. Engagement requires finding the right motivations & environments that work for different people; some people would not be satisfied by working only in their areas of strength, & some employees may become disengaged if a "work hard" culture creates continuous stress. Innovation is not an important factor in every org & in every job role.
An org implements an onboarding program to reduce voluntary turnover rates that are significantly higher than benchmarked averages. Which is the best metric HR should use to assess the strategic success of the new onboarding program? A) Info on the performance of new hires B) Focus group results about satisfaction with orientation C) Questionnaire results on job satisfaction D) Information gathered from exit interviews
A) Info on the performance of new hires The performance of new employees is an appropriate strategic metric to measure onboarding success. For example, info on new hires who are not performing up to expectations & whether they have been dealt with appropriately can improve time to productivity & engagement.
HR at a professional services org needs to assess employee interest in a possible new benefit quickly. Which is the best vehicle HR should use? A) Online survey B) 3rd-party-administered paper-based survey C) Focus groups D) Individual interviews
A) Online survey The online survey can be conducted quickly & a response threshold set. The other methods are too time-consuming.
Leaders of a manufacturing company are updating the strategic business plan. HR is consulting with the branch managers on how to accomplish the plan's goals. What is the most essential driver of the performance management process that HR should have managers focus on during individual performance planning? A) Organizational strategy & business objectives B) 360-degree feedback results C) Global internal & external factors D) Manager's feedback
A) Organizational strategy & business objectives Everything flows from the org's strategy & business objectives. Employee performance plans must be tied to these strategies & goals, or the employees & the org will be moving in different directions.
To maximize senior leadership support of action to be taken on the results of a recent climate survey, which is the most important message for the HR manager to deliver? A) Compare the org's scores to those of other org's to identify if a problem really exists. B) Recommend not engaging in surveys going forward, as how to engage employees is typically known within org's. C) Advise leadership to acknowledge strengths & weaknesses in practices & identify priority areas to focus on. D) Share only info that the leadership is committed to addressing.
C) Advise leadership to acknowledge strengths & weaknesses in practices & identify priority areas to focus on. Employers that acknowledge findings, whether good or bad & short-term or long-term, find that trust increases due to transparency.
A new HR director is reviewing retention rates & is concerned that the employee engagement plan that was implemented a year ago is ineffective. Which indicator should the director look to when beginning to assess if the employee engagement plan is working? A) Turnover rate during the past 12 months B) Current turnover rate compared to previous years C) Total costs associated with employee turnover D) Turnover rate compared to the industry average
B) Current turnover rate compared to previous years When evaluating the effectiveness of a new employee engagement plan, the most valuable indicator to look at is how the turnover rate has changed since the plan was implemented. If the rate has improved, it might indicate that the plan is effective.
Which appraisal method would be most effective to reinforce trust in an org? A) Ranking method B) Management by objectives (MBO) C) Comparative method D) Forced distribution method
B) Management by objectives (MBO) With the MBO method, employees help set objectives with their supervisors based on concrete outcomes. This method minimizes perceptions of a lack of fairness since success or failure is transparent.
In a learning culture, how should an HR director respond to a manager who wants to discipline an employee for failing to secure a new account using an unproven sales methodology? A) Issue a written warning to the employee, as it was up to the employee to deliver the new account. B) Use the failure as a growth opportunity to reinforce employee learning, & acknowledge that failure is not wrong. C) Implement a recognition program to reinforce successful sales. D) Restrict the employee's ability to use the methodology moving forward.
B) Use the failure as a growth opportunity to reinforce employee learning, & acknowledge that failure is not wrong. In a learning org, learning is built into work processes & methodologies, so trying a new approach or method would not necessarily be viewed as a negative.
An org conducts a confidential survey of employees to assess workplace satisfaction. Responses are received from 75% of employees, &, after analyzing comments, management requires mandatory retraining of all supervisors. What important step has the org omitted? A) Ensuring ease of response B) Prejudging results C) Sharing feedback with stakeholders D) Responding to feedback
C) Sharing feedback with stakeholders Although it is admirable that the org has acted on the survey results, the org should have reported key results from the survey to employees. Given the high response rate, the survey must have been designed to facilitate response. Since the survey focus was general, there is no indication that management had predetermined the need for supervisory training.
Employee turnover is on the rise, & management is looking for cost-effective ways to stop this trend by improving employee engagement. Which manager action can make an immediate improvement without affecting the budget? A) Launch an internal public relations campaign. B) Ask employees to refer friends for openings. C) Show gratitude to employees by thanking them. D) Threaten to give poor references to anyone who quits.
C) Show gratitude to employees by thanking them. Showing employees gratitude facilitates employee engagement.
A department manager is interested in knowing how his employees are doing with their work activities & how he can best support each employee on his team, particularly with issues within the manager's control. Which approach does this best describe? A) Informal mentoring B) 360-degree assessment C) Stay interview D) Job shadowing
C) Stay interview Employers often conduct stay interviews as a retention tool to keep good employees from jumping ship. Unlike exit interviews, which amount to autopsies of why an employee is leaving, stay interviews are conducted during employment to help employers ascertain why good employees stay & what might make them leave. It's important to listen & gather ideas from an employee about how a manager & the org can retain him or her.
In the final round of hiring, an employer invites candidates to spend half a day working alongside an employee & an hour with HR reviewing total rewards & company policies. The employees who work with the candidates are chosen cuz of their tenure with the company & their strong performance ratings. The employees may or may not be performing the job that is being filled. This practice has not increased retention levels. What might be wrong? A) The plan should be implemented earlier in the hiring process. B) Candidates are receiving too much info at this stage. C) The job preview may not be realistic. D) It gives candidates false hopes for career advancement.
C) The job preview may not be realistic. The job preview experience may not be representative of what a new hire would be doing in the 1st months of employment, since candidates are not necessarily experiencing a typical workday in the position they might be entering. Candidates at this stage should be fully informed about the employer's offerings, culture, & policies. It would be a poor use of resources to implement the process with an entire group of candidates invited for an interview. There is no indication that the info given to candidates about career paths & opportunities is incorrect.
A CEO prides herself on cutting costs that do not have measurable benefits or a perceived value to the org's financial success. She is now threatening to cut funding to employee engagement initiatives. Which is the best way for HR to demonstrate return on investment of employee engagement budgets? A) Ask the CEO to demonstrate how eliminating employee engagement will boost profits. B) Agree to stop all employee engagement efforts & measure what happens. C) Tie the investments made in employee engagement back to the profitability of the company. D) Tie the investments made in employee engagement to laying the groundwork for profitability.
C) Tie the investments made in employee engagement back to the profitability of the company. If the CEO's complaint is that employee engagement provides no benefits, HR must be prepared to defend the budget by demonstrating the return on employee engagement dollars. There is no specific calculation for measuring engagement, but engaged employees can result in increases in income associated with increased productivity & decreased expenses. Looking at employee absence rates, workers' compensation rates, & voluntary turnover rates (& the associated costs with training new employees to replace departing employees) can also help demonstrate ROI for employee engagement efforts.
A HR VP is concerned that the employee engagement plan, enacted a year ago, is ineffective. What is the most useful thing to consider when attempting to determine if the strategy has been successful? A) Analyzing the positions with higher-than-average turnover for the year B) Determining the total cost to the org of turnover for the year C) Comparing the turnover rate for the year to industry averages D) Comparing the turnover rate for the year to the previous year
D) Comparing the turnover rate for the year to the previous year In order to determine if the new employee engagement strategy is effective, the HR VP should look for any associated change in the turnover rate from a period of time b4 the strategy was enacted. The strategy could be having a positive effect but the org may still have below-industry-average turnover rates. Simply analyzing the total cost of turnover or looking at which positions turned over wouldn't indicate whether the strategy is effective, although analyzing the positions that turned over may assist in focusing the strategy to perform better with relation to problem areas of the org.
A manager asks the HR manager to help with retaining a high-potential employee. Which of the following recommendations would best address this request? A) Identify training opportunities the employee is interested in & provide those. B) Recommend a spot bonus for a particular project to reinforce behavior. C) Review previous exit interview data to determine what has led to turnover in the past. D) Conduct a stay interview with the employee to identify job satisfiers & dissatisfiers that can be addressed.
D) Conduct a stay interview with the employee to identify job satisfiers & dissatisfiers that can be addressed. Stay interviews allow a manager to identify what drives engagement & retention with an employee. They are often conducted with high-potential employees. Stay interviews are different from exit interviews, which gather data following a departure. Stay interviews are considered a leading indicator of engagement & satisfaction, while exit interviews are considered a lagging indicator.
What must HR do to overcome the biggest challenge in implementing an effective workplace flexibility strategy? A) Confirm that employees have the technology to work remotely. B) Confirm that the leadership style is predominantly task-oriented, minimizing the focus on relationship building with employees. C) Confirm that senior leadership supports alternative work arrangements for all employees & departments. D) Confirm that the immediate supervisor understands the requirements of the work role & its duties.
D) Confirm that the immediate supervisor understands the requirements of the work role & its duties. 1 of the biggest challenges to implementing successful alternative work programs is ensuring that the immediate supervisor is on board. While overall culture is also important, the supervisor must be trained & supported to manage remote employees.
Which of the following recommendations should the HR manager be sure to make to managers to help ensure a successful remote working arrangement? A) Make remote work available to employees with the longest tenure, as they are typically more independent. B) Ensure that employees who work remotely use the same days & times to simplify the schedule & minimize disruption. C) Ensure that managers are consistent in making remote working options available to all employees. D) Determine the kind of work & the work style of employees who would likely be successful.
D) Determine the kind of work & the work style of employees who would likely be successful. To ensure a successful remote working arrangement, the specific work role should be reviewed for the appropriateness of working off site, & the individual employee's performance & work style should be evaluated to ensure that remote working can be successful.
Leaders of a new high tech org are seeking HR's expertise in retaining their highly skilled workforce, especially as the org expands. When should HR start the employee retention strategies & practices? A) After review & signed acknowledgment of receipt of the employee handbook B) During the interview process through a realistic job preview C) Once candidates' background & reference checks are complete D) During the org's branding & recruitment efforts
D) During the org's branding & recruitment efforts Retention strategies & practices start with the org's branding & recruitment efforts & continue on through the employment experience.
What is needed to have a fully effective performance management system? A) The system encourages users to input info in their own words so proper analysis can occur. B) Managers who implement the system are ordered to do so by senior leaders. C) The system prevents 1-off entries so data comparisons are more valid. D) Employees are educated about the system & know how to get value from it.
D) Employees are educated about the system & know how to get value from it. In order for a performance management system to be fully effective, employees must know how to use the system & how to get the most value from it. Managers who implement it must accept the system's value, not simply be marching on orders from senior leadership. The system can use different methods to gather & analyze data; there is not a single right way to complete that task.
Which is most likely to occur when an org's strategic plan is focused on creating an environment that promotes positive relations between employees & management & seeks to balance the needs of employees with those of the org? A) Employees feel trusted & secure & use benefits more frequently. B) Management will be able to tailor incentives to employee motivation. C) Management will have flexibility to apply policies on a case-by-case basis. D) Employees will feel a greater sense of loyalty & will be more productive.
D) Employees will feel a greater sense of loyalty & will be more productive. An org's strategic plan is advanced by creating an environment that promotes positive relations between employees & management, that seeks to balance the needs of employees with those of the org, & that is marked by greater employee engagement.
An HR manager receives complaints from other functions that an HR subordinate often ignores or delays replying to e-mails or phone messages. The individual performs other duties very well. How should the HR manager handle this situation most effectively? A) Ask the subordinate to lunch & mention the issue in a non-threatening way. B) Wait until the performance review to discuss this in the context of overall performance. C) Encourage other departments to send their requests to the manager directly. D) Immediately share the complaints & expectations, & then monitor performance.
D) Immediately share the complaints & expectations, & then monitor performance. The HR manager should immediately explain to the individual the disconnect between poor communication & the org's core values. The importance of the issue merits a prompt response rather than avoidance & a more formal discussion rather than a casual mention over lunch. 1 of the benefits of addressing the issue now is that it can be revisited during the regular performance review to assess the employee's improvement in this area.
A manager wants to implement a paid-time-off program for employees to volunteer in their local communities. What is the best way to respond to his request? A) Explain that this will cause resistance from employees who choose not to volunteer. B) Implement programs allowing employees to use work time to volunteer in local communities. C) Advise the manager to implement the idea in his own unit, using his discretion. D) Initiate a joint management-employee committee to develop a policy for this type of program.
D) Initiate a joint management-employee committee to develop a policy for this type of program. The concept is good. The more employees are integrated into their org & the local community, the greater the commitment to the org. However, the concept needs to be explored further & a clear policy developed by a group that represents various perspectives. Implementing the idea without this examination, consensus, & definition will lead to inconsistencies & complaints.
Which of the following drivers of employee engagement is consistent in workplaces globally? A) Quality of the relationship between employee & manager B) Confidence that career objectives can be met while advancing in the org C) Pay structures that consistently lead the market compared to those of competitors D) Job role that encompasses opportunities for professional & career growth
D) Job role that encompasses opportunities for professional & career growth Among the 4 key components of building engagement globally are opportunities for growth & development.
Which type of engagement can present risks to employees' well-being & to the sustainability of their engagement & performance? A) Behavioral B) State C) Trait D) Transactional
D) Transactional The boundaries between work & non-work life are increasingly blurred. The Internet & mobile technology allow employees to work around the clock & from any location. This has affected employees, with many having to cope with high demands & less time off. Issues like these enable & impel employees to work harder & longer.
Why should an org consider a high-performance culture & strategically invest in practices to keep high performers motivated & focused? A) High performers have different needs & expectations than the mainstream workforce. B) Succession planning & career development activities are made easier in this type of culture. C) It becomes problematic to find successors in critical roles & positions if an employee exits. D) Turnover can negatively impact organizational productivity, innovation, & relationships.
D) Turnover can negatively impact organizational productivity, innovation, & relationships. In a high-performing culture, talent is championed from the bottom up. High turnover of top talent would lead to losses in innovation, performance, communication, relationships, etc.
