SPHR Employee Relations and Engagement 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An employee files a formal grievance alleging that their supervisor consistently assigns undesirable shifts in retaliation for a prior complaint. What is the FIRST step HR should take?
- Discipline the supervisor immediately
- Acknowledge the grievance and initiate a formal investigation (Correct answer)
- Advise the employee to resolve it informally
- Transfer the employee to another department
Correct answer: Acknowledge the grievance and initiate a formal investigation
Formal grievances must be acknowledged and investigated promptly to ensure due process and legal compliance.
Question 2: Which engagement driver has the STRONGEST correlation with voluntary employee turnover according to research?
- Base compensation level
- Quality of relationship with direct manager (Correct answer)
- Company brand recognition
- Physical workspace quality
Correct answer: Quality of relationship with direct manager
Research consistently shows that the manager-employee relationship is the top predictor of voluntary turnover.
Question 3: A company wants to measure the effectiveness of its employee engagement initiatives over time. Which metric is MOST useful for this purpose?
- Revenue per employee
- Year-over-year engagement survey score trends (Correct answer)
- Number of HR policies updated
- Total compensation expense ratio
Correct answer: Year-over-year engagement survey score trends
Tracking engagement survey scores over time reveals whether initiatives are improving workforce sentiment.
Question 4: Under the NLRA, which of the following employee activities is protected concerted activity?
- An employee badmouthing the company on personal social media without mentioning working conditions
- Two employees discussing their wages to determine if pay is equitable (Correct answer)
- An employee refusing to follow a lawful direct supervisor instruction
- An employee sharing confidential customer data with coworkers
Correct answer: Two employees discussing their wages to determine if pay is equitable
The NLRA protects employees who discuss wages with coworkers as concerted activity for mutual aid.
Question 5: When implementing a progressive discipline policy, which element is MOST critical to ensure legal defensibility?
- Applying discipline only to employees with less than one year of tenure
- Consistent, documented application of the policy across similar infractions (Correct answer)
- Escalating to termination after the first offense in all cases
- Keeping disciplinary records confidential from the employee
Correct answer: Consistent, documented application of the policy across similar infractions
Consistent, documented application prevents claims of disparate treatment and demonstrates fair process.
Question 6: A senior HR professional is designing a stay interview program. What is the PRIMARY goal of stay interviews?
- To identify candidates for internal promotion
- To understand what motivates current employees to remain and address potential flight risks proactively (Correct answer)
- To gather performance improvement feedback before annual reviews
- To comply with EEOC data collection requirements
Correct answer: To understand what motivates current employees to remain and address potential flight risks proactively
Stay interviews uncover retention drivers and concerns before an employee decides to leave.
Question 7: An organization's employee net promoter score (eNPS) drops significantly quarter over quarter. What is the MOST appropriate initial HR response?
- Increase base salaries company-wide by 10%
- Conduct qualitative follow-up to identify root causes behind the score decline (Correct answer)
- Immediately terminate underperforming managers
- Reduce the frequency of engagement surveys
Correct answer: Conduct qualitative follow-up to identify root causes behind the score decline
A score drop signals a problem but not its cause; qualitative analysis is needed before prescribing solutions.
SPHR Employee Relations and Engagement 2
An employee files a formal grievance alleging that their supervisor consistently assigns undesirable shifts in retaliation for a prior complaint.
What is the FIRST step HR should take?