HR Analytics 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which HR analytics maturity level is characterized by using data to answer 'why did it happen?'
- Descriptive analytics
- Diagnostic analytics (Correct answer)
- Predictive analytics
- Prescriptive analytics
Correct answer: Diagnostic analytics
Diagnostic analytics investigates the causes behind observed outcomes, moving beyond simply reporting what happened.
Question 2: When HR software reports a 'turnover rate' of 15%, which calculation method was most likely used?
- (Separations / Average headcount) x 100 (Correct answer)
- (New hires / Total employees) x 100
- (Terminations / Total job openings) x 100
- (Active employees / Total hires) x 100
Correct answer: (Separations / Average headcount) x 100
The standard turnover rate formula divides the number of separations by the average headcount during the period, multiplied by 100.
Question 3: What is 'people analytics' governance primarily concerned with?
- Choosing the right HR software vendor
- Ensuring ethical use, data privacy, and accountability in HR data practices (Correct answer)
- Maximizing the number of HR metrics tracked
- Automating all HR reporting processes
Correct answer: Ensuring ethical use, data privacy, and accountability in HR data practices
People analytics governance establishes policies for responsible data collection, usage, access, and decision-making to protect employees and the organization.
Question 4: An HR team wants to understand whether gender pay gaps exist in their organization after controlling for job level and department. Which analysis is most appropriate?
- Simple mean salary comparison by gender
- Multiple regression with gender, job level, and department as variables (Correct answer)
- Employee engagement survey segmented by gender
- Headcount analysis by department and gender
Correct answer: Multiple regression with gender, job level, and department as variables
Multiple regression isolates the effect of gender on pay after accounting for legitimate factors like job level and department, revealing unexplained gaps.
Question 5: Which of the following is an example of 'network analysis' being applied in HR analytics?
- Mapping how information flows between employees to identify key connectors (Correct answer)
- Tracking employee internet usage on company devices
- Analyzing job posting networks across platforms
- Measuring bandwidth usage in remote work setups
Correct answer: Mapping how information flows between employees to identify key connectors
Organizational network analysis maps relationships and communication patterns between employees to identify collaboration hubs, silos, and key influencers.
Question 6: An HR dashboard shows headcount increasing while revenue per employee is declining. What does this most likely indicate?
- The company is growing efficiently
- Hiring is outpacing productivity or revenue growth (Correct answer)
- Benefits costs are rising faster than salaries
- The performance management system is too lenient
Correct answer: Hiring is outpacing productivity or revenue growth
Declining revenue per employee alongside headcount growth suggests the workforce is expanding faster than the business output it generates.
Question 7: In HR software, what is the purpose of 'role-based access control' (RBAC) for analytics dashboards?
- To allow all employees to view company-wide HR metrics
- To restrict data visibility to users based on their job role and need to know (Correct answer)
- To automate dashboard refresh schedules by department
- To assign analytics tasks to specific HR team members
Correct answer: To restrict data visibility to users based on their job role and need to know
RBAC ensures that sensitive workforce data is only accessible to individuals whose role requires it, protecting employee privacy and data integrity.
Which HR analytics maturity level is characterized by using data to answer 'why did it happen?'