Q&A Hero

Q: The primary immediate benefit of turnover for employers is hiring inducements.

Q: Material and equipment costs are likely to be the most prevalent in replacement and training costs.

Q: Economic costs associated with voluntary turnover include accrued paid time off and temporary coverage.

Q: Postexit surveys should ask be mailed quite some time after the employee's last day of work so the individual has sufficient time to reflect on his or her experiences.

Q: The interviewee in an exit interview should be told that the comments that he/she makes will be confidential and that only aggregate results will be used by the organization.

Q: Exit interviews should be conducted by exiting employee's immediate supervisor whenever possible.

Q: Because it is typically very easy to collect and analyze job satisfaction data meaningfully, most organizations make this a cornerstone of their retention strategy.

Q: Research suggests that there are differences between the reasons for turnover that employees provide in exit interviews and the reasons employees provide in anonymous surveys.

Q: Data are seldom available regarding when or where employee turnover is occurring in most organizations.

Q: Of the three types of employee turnover, discharges are the most prevalent.

Q: Downsizing turnover is a reflection of a staffing level mismatch in which the organization actually is, or is projected to be, overstaffed.

Q: Discharge turnover is primarily due to extremely poor person/organization matches.

Q: Availability of promotions or transfers may lessen or eliminate any intentions to quit, even though the employee is very dissatisfied with the current job.

Q: Desirability of movement is a weak predictor of voluntary employee turnover.

Q: Employees who have a high intention to quit necessarily end up quitting their jobs.

Q: An employee's overall intention to quit depends on the desirability of leaving, ease of leaving, and alternatives available to the employee.

Q: An employee's perceived desirability of movement can depend on reasons that have little or nothing to do with the job.

Q: Avoidable turnover is that which could have been prevented by actions like a pay raise or a new job assignment.

Q: There are several positive, functional outcomes of employee turnover.

Q: In ______________ a neutral person conducts formal hearing and issues a decision that is binding on the parties. A. mediation B. arbitration C. fact finding D. peer review

Q: In ______________ a neutral person investigates a complaint and develops findings that may be the basis for resolving an employee complaint. A. mediation B. arbitration C. fact finding D. peer review

Q: Recent court decisions suggest that _______ is essential for most organizations. A. affirmative action B. employee termination insurance C. training in employment discrimination D. none of these

Q: Which of the following must report to the EEOC annually? A. all employers B. private employers with over 100 employees (50 for federal contractors) C. private employers with over 1000 employees (500 for federal contractors) D. only organizations with federal contracts

Q: What is the primary difference between mediation and arbitration? A. Arbitration is generally more time consuming than mediation B. Arbitrators only consult with both sides, whereas mediators issue a binding decision C. Mediation typically involves at least four parties D. Mediators only consult with both sides, whereas arbitrators issue a binding decision

Q: What proportion of disputes that begin the EEOC mediation process are eventually resolved through mediation? A. fewer than 10% B. more than 10%, but fewer than half C. more than half D. the EEOC has no mediation procedure

Q: Records should be created for which of the following purposes? A. legal compliance B. use in staffing decisions C. justification of staffing decisions D. all of these are correct

Q: One of the key customers of the staffing system is __________. A. the CEO B. job applicants C. society D. the industry in which the company operates

Q: Number of positions filled and job performance are examples of __________ staffing metrics. A. cost B. timeliness C. outcomes D. reactions

Q: Advertising expenses and cost per applicant are examples of __________ staffing metrics. A. cost B. timeliness C. outcomes D. reactions

Q: Staffing metrics are increasingly used because ______. A. they demonstrate substantial returns in their own right B. they are readily communicated across the organization C. they are mandated by the Full Data Reporting in Employment Act D. they are seen as a method to move staffing into the accounting function

Q: Increasingly, organizations are emphasizing __________ as a key indicator of staffing effectiveness because vacancies can mean loss of revenue. A. yield ratios B. employee satisfaction surveys C. staffing-to-employee ratios D. time to fill

Q: The four common types of staffing metrics evaluate ______. A. performance, process, quantity, and quality B. rectification, justification, elaboration, and relation C. cost, timeliness, outcomes, and reactions D. speed, diligence, dedication, and perseverance

Q: Comparative staffing process data can be obtained from the __________. A. Society for Human Resource Management B. HR Data Sources Corporation C. Department of Labor D. None of these

Q: In a ________ analysis, data from a long period of time is collected both before and after a staffing policy or procedure is implemented. A. longitudinal B. split-sample C. LISREL D. factor

Q: In a ________ analysis, the target employee population is split in half, and the new HR program is initiated with only one of these halves. A. longitudinal B. split-sample C. LISREL D. factor

Q: Which of the following best fits the description of a staffing flowchart? A. it shows the distance from staffing to strategic operational concerns B. it depicts the actual flow of staffing activities from vacancy to hire C. it provides evidence of how staffing measures increase performance directly D. it is a physical model of staffing using flows to show movement

Q: Which of the following statements is(are) not an important step in staffing process evaluations? A. Mapping out the intended process. B. Identifying deviations from the intended process. C. The norm is for organizations to conduct validation studies. D. Correction actions should be planned to eliminate deviations.

Q: For _______, it is better to keep staffing functions within the organization, rather than outsourcing. A. small organizations B. organizations with continual hiring needs C. firm-specific human capital D. general human capital

Q: Which of the following functions are most likely to be outsourced? A. recruiting creative talent for an advertising agency B. screening registered nurses for a long-term care facility C. recruiting and selecting individuals for teams D. providing employee orientation

Q: Which of the following factors is most likely to be a reason not to outsource HR activities? A. vendors have little expertise B. vendors are less flexible to meet changing needs C. vendors have few resources to offer D. vendors meet resistance within HR and line management

Q: The contracting out of work to a vendor or third party administrator is called _____________. A. outsourcing B. temping C. contracting D. boundary spanning

Q: An ASP or SaaS provider offers which of the following services? A. techniques to prevent managers from accessing HR data B. hardware and software for running HR systems C. paper-based forms and data for the organization D. all of these

Q: Human resources information systems have been used for which of the following functions? A. EEO data analysis and reports B. employee succession planning C. databases of job titles and responsibilities D. all of these

Q: Research suggests that organizational decision making is seen as most fair when it is based on ______. A. social influence B. clearly communicated decision criteria C. processes tailored to each unique individual D. all of these

Q: Which of the following statements regarding the use of evaluation of policies and procedures? A. evaluations need to occur when there is evidence that formerly successful methods aren't working anymore, or when new techniques for achieving goals arise B. evaluations tend to be too time consuming, and have few benefits C. evaluations should only focus on how current methods are working, rather than being prompted by the latest fads D. strategic policy evaluation involves so many intangibles that manager opinion is probably the only really useful way to go

Q: Staffing members must coordinate their activities with ___________. A. benefits staff B. compensation staff C. training and development staff D. all of these are true

Q: As organization size increases, the likelihood that there will be a highly centralized HR department __________. A. increases B. decreases C. stays about the same D. none of these

Q: An ideal arbitrator is a neutral individual and the arbitrator's findings should be finalized as a written award letter.

Q: Organizations that wish to protect themselves from discrimination claims can require employees to sign an enforceable waiver that requires them to use the organization's internal ADR rather than the courts.

Q: Employers are usually more interested in mediation with the EEOC for discrimination disputes than are employees.

Q: The EEOC requires that all employers submit hard copy, paper documents of all their EEO-1 reports.

Q: It is highly desirable to periodically conduct audits or reviews of an organization's degree of compliance with laws and regulations pertaining to staffing.

Q: The Civil Rights Act and Affirmative Action Programs Regulations require that private employers with more than 100 employees (50 for federal contractors) are required to file an annual report with the EEOC.

Q: Records may be used to audit staffing practices and conduct staffing research.

Q: Records are not necessary for legal compliance.

Q: There are few tools to facilitate the electronic processing of employee satisfaction surveys, so paper and pencil measures are usually preferable.

Q: Two of the key customers of the staffing system are managers and job applicants.

Q: The formula for the staffing cost ratio is total staffing cost ratio = total staffing costs/total number recruited.

Q: Benchmark data on staffing policies are typically applicable across nearly every organization and should be used as a primary guide for selecting which practices to implement.

Q: In recent years, a number of organizations have worked to develop standardized benchmarks for judging the effectiveness of staffing processes across organizations.

Q: It is typically not possible to use techniques like split-samples analysis or longitudinal analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of established processes.

Q: Experienced managers who have used staffing system metrics often find that new staffing systems may not represent a significant improvement.

Q: Most of the processes involved in staffing are too subjective or difficult to quantify.

Q: Once a staffing process has been mapped out, the next step is to check for deviations from the system.

Q: Standardization will probably decrease applicants' perceptions of procedural fairness of a staffing system.

Q: Standardized staffing systems are more likely to generate legal challenges by job applicants.

Q: The evaluation of staffing systems should focus on the operation of the staffing process, the results and costs of the process, and the satisfaction of the customers of the staffing system.

Q: Factors that are driving organizations to consider outsourcing HR activities include cost reduction, the cost of technology acquisition, need for improved service quality, and expertise of vendors.

Q: A professional employer organization (PEO) is like a temporary help agency, but provides a wider range of HR services and has a longer-term relationship with clients.

Q: HR representatives report that one of the key advantages of outsourcing is access to superior information from specialists.

Q: Surveys suggest that staffing is one of the first areas that organizations will outsource.

Q: A growing trend in HRIS is the centralization of these functions within the HR department to prevent managers from accessing the system.

Q: SaaS vendors provide both the hardware, software, and day-to-day management of HRIS.

Q: Although HRIS have increased data availability for human resources functions, they has done little to fundamentally affect the way staffing activities are evaluated.

Q: Most organizations with a sufficient number of employees to warrant a dedicated HR department have integrated the function with human resources information systems (HRISs).

Q: Perceived justice is related to concrete outcomes like employee desire to pursue a job, increased intentions to accept a job, and decreased intention to turnover.

Q: Decreasing numbers of staffing jobs are found in staffing firms.

Q: Developing effective policies and procedures requires clearly delineating the overarching HR strategy.

Q: Lack of staffing policies and procedures may lead to practices that may foster negative applicant reactions and problems with legal compliance.

Q: Experts note that effective HR is usually conducted independent of strategic concerns, because it allows HR managers to stick to what they know best in terms of policy and legal compliance.