CPM Workforce Analytics & FTE Planning 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A company's voluntary turnover rate is 18% against an industry benchmark of 10%. Which workforce analytics action should a people manager take first?
- Immediately freeze all hiring to cut costs
- Segment turnover data by department, tenure, and role to identify root causes (Correct answer)
- Launch a company-wide engagement survey without further analysis
- Increase salaries across the board by 10%
Correct answer: Segment turnover data by department, tenure, and role to identify root causes
Segmenting turnover data reveals where and why attrition is highest, enabling targeted interventions rather than broad, expensive reactions.
Question 2: What does a 'regrettable turnover' metric specifically measure?
- Total headcount reduction from all separations
- Departures of employees the organization wanted to retain (Correct answer)
- Turnover caused by involuntary terminations only
- The cost of replacing all employees who left
Correct answer: Departures of employees the organization wanted to retain
Regrettable turnover tracks the loss of high-performing or hard-to-replace employees, which has greater strategic impact than overall turnover.
Question 3: When building an FTE plan, how should a manager account for 'productive capacity' versus total hours paid?
- Assume all paid hours are fully productive for planning purposes
- Subtract non-productive time such as PTO, training, and meetings from total paid hours (Correct answer)
- Add overtime hours to increase the FTE count
- Use only contractual hours without deductions
Correct answer: Subtract non-productive time such as PTO, training, and meetings from total paid hours
Productive capacity adjusts for time employees are paid but not directly productive, giving a more accurate picture of available work output.
Question 4: A manager uses a scatter plot showing tenure (x-axis) versus performance score (y-axis). What insight would a downward trend in this chart most likely suggest?
- Longer-tenured employees are underperforming relative to newer hires (Correct answer)
- New hires consistently score lower than veterans
- Performance scoring has no relationship to tenure
- The performance rating system is biased toward new employees
Correct answer: Longer-tenured employees are underperforming relative to newer hires
A downward trend indicates that as tenure increases, performance scores decline, which may signal issues like disengagement, role stagnation, or outdated skills.
Question 5: Which of the following best describes 'span of control' in workforce planning?
- The geographic distance a manager's team covers
- The number of direct reports a single manager oversees (Correct answer)
- The range of skills a manager must demonstrate
- The budget a manager controls per headcount
Correct answer: The number of direct reports a single manager oversees
Span of control refers to the number of subordinates directly managed by one person, influencing organizational design and management capacity.
Question 6: A people manager is given data showing that time-to-fill for engineering roles averages 90 days while the company target is 45 days. Which FTE planning adjustment is most appropriate?
- Reduce the engineering FTE plan to avoid open positions
- Begin recruiting earlier relative to the anticipated need date to offset the longer lead time (Correct answer)
- Eliminate the 45-day target and accept 90 days as standard
- Transfer engineers from other departments immediately
Correct answer: Begin recruiting earlier relative to the anticipated need date to offset the longer lead time
When time-to-fill exceeds targets, planning should start earlier so roles are filled by the time they are operationally needed.
Question 7: What is the primary purpose of a workforce heat map in people analytics?
- To display employee geographic locations on a global map
- To visually highlight concentration of risk, gaps, or strengths across workforce dimensions (Correct answer)
- To track real-time employee attendance
- To compare individual salaries within a department
Correct answer: To visually highlight concentration of risk, gaps, or strengths across workforce dimensions
A workforce heat map uses color coding to surface patterns—such as skill gaps, high attrition zones, or performance clusters—across departments or roles.
CPM Workforce Analytics & FTE Planning 2
A company's voluntary turnover rate is 18% against an industry benchmark of 10%.
Which workforce analytics action should a people manager take first?