SHRM Society for Human Resource Management 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which SHRM functional area addresses the design of policies related to employee leaves, schedules, and workplace flexibility?
- Total Rewards
- Employee & Labor Relations
- Workforce Management (Correct answer)
- Learning & Development
Correct answer: Workforce Management
Workforce Management covers policies around scheduling, leaves of absence, and workplace flexibility arrangements.
Question 2: A manager consistently gives higher performance ratings to employees who share the same alma mater. This illustrates which appraisal bias?
- Recency bias
- Affinity bias (Correct answer)
- Halo effect
- Central tendency bias
Correct answer: Affinity bias
Affinity bias occurs when a rater favors employees who share a personal characteristic or background with themselves.
Question 3: Under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), how many weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave are eligible employees entitled to per year?
- 6 weeks
- 8 weeks
- 12 weeks (Correct answer)
- 16 weeks
Correct answer: 12 weeks
FMLA entitles eligible employees to up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave per 12-month period for qualifying reasons.
Question 4: An organization implements a pay-for-performance system. Which unintended consequence should HR anticipate?
- Reduced employee turnover across all levels
- Employees focusing only on measurable goals at the expense of other duties (Correct answer)
- Automatic improvement in team collaboration
- Elimination of pay equity concerns
Correct answer: Employees focusing only on measurable goals at the expense of other duties
Pay-for-performance can cause employees to over-focus on measured metrics while neglecting unmeasured but important responsibilities.
Question 5: Which HR practice is most directly associated with improving employee psychological safety in the workplace?
- Mandatory overtime policies
- Encouraging open feedback without fear of reprisal (Correct answer)
- Strict disciplinary procedures
- Reducing team autonomy
Correct answer: Encouraging open feedback without fear of reprisal
Psychological safety is built when employees feel they can speak up, share ideas, and give feedback without fear of negative consequences.
Question 6: The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP) require employers to demonstrate which of the following when a selection practice causes adverse impact?
- That the practice is cost-effective
- Job-relatedness and business necessity (Correct answer)
- Approval from the NLRB
- Union consent
Correct answer: Job-relatedness and business necessity
UGESP requires employers to validate that selection practices with adverse impact are job-related and consistent with business necessity.
Question 7: Which succession planning approach identifies high-potential employees through structured assessment and developmental assignments rather than only current performance?
- Replacement planning
- Talent pool approach (Correct answer)
- Forced ranking
- Job rotation
Correct answer: Talent pool approach
The talent pool approach builds a pipeline of high-potential employees using assessment centers and developmental assignments rather than just current-role performance.
SHRM Society for Human Resource Management 3
Which SHRM functional area addresses the design of policies related to employee leaves, schedules, and workplace flexibility?