PHR Employee Engagement Practice Questions
Employee Engagement makes up 9 of every 50 questions on a Tigertest PHR practice test. Here are 10 of the 36 questions on it, each with the answer and the reason.
Updated by the Tigertest team. Based on the HRCI PHR Exam Content Outline (2024). Original questions; 50 per test, weighted like the real 115-question exam. 70% is Tigertest's readiness line; HRCI reports a scaled score. Not affiliated with HRCI.
1. HR meets with valued employees to ask what keeps them in their jobs and what might make them leave. This is:
- A.A 360-degree review
- B.A stay interview
- C.An exit interview
- D.A skip-level review
Answer: B. Stay interviews ask current employees about retention while there is still time to act. Exit interviews happen after the decision to leave.
2. An engagement survey shows low scores in one department. What should HR do next?
- A.Ask managers who gave the low scores
- B.Keep the results with HR only
- C.Repeat the survey next month
- D.Share results and plan actions
Answer: D. Surveys build trust only when results are shared and acted on. Hunting for individual responses breaks the promise of confidentiality.
3. To explore the reasons behind survey scores in more depth, HR holds small group discussions with employees. These are:
- A.Focus groups
- B.Assessment centers
- C.Delphi panels
- D.Quality circles
Answer: A. Focus groups gather qualitative detail from a small group. The Delphi technique gathers expert forecasts anonymously over several rounds.
4. Under Herzberg's two-factor theory, pay and working conditions are:
- A.Self-actualization needs
- B.Valence factors
- C.Hygiene factors
- D.Motivators
Answer: C. Hygiene factors prevent dissatisfaction when adequate but do not motivate on their own. Motivators include achievement, recognition and the work itself.
5. Vroom's expectancy theory says motivation depends on expectancy, instrumentality and:
- A.Hygiene
- B.Esteem
- C.Valence
- D.Equity
Answer: C. Valence is how much the person values the reward. Motivation drops if any link is weak: effort to performance, performance to reward, or the value of the reward.
6. An employee lowers her effort after learning a peer with the same output earns more. Which theory explains this best?
- A.Adams's equity theory
- B.McGregor's Theory X
- C.Skinner's reinforcement theory
- D.Maslow's hierarchy of needs
Answer: A. Equity theory says people compare their input-to-outcome ratio with others and act to restore balance when they feel under-rewarded.
7. A manager believes employees dislike work and need close control. In McGregor's terms, the manager holds:
- A.Hygiene assumptions
- B.Theory Y assumptions
- C.Theory Z assumptions
- D.Theory X assumptions
Answer: D. Theory X assumes people avoid work and need control. Theory Y assumes people seek responsibility and can direct themselves.
8. A company forms voluntary groups led by employees who share a background or interest, with an executive sponsor. These are:
- A.Safety committees
- B.Employee resource groups
- C.Labor-management committees
- D.Quality circles
Answer: B. Employee resource groups support networking, development and inclusion. They must not deal with management over terms and conditions, or they may become labor organizations under the NLRA.
9. A supervisor rates an employee highly on every factor because of excellent sales results alone. This rating error is:
- A.Leniency error
- B.Halo effect
- C.Horn effect
- D.Central tendency error
Answer: B. The halo effect lets one strong trait raise all ratings. The horn effect is the reverse, where one weakness lowers every rating.
10. A manager gives almost every employee an average rating to avoid conflict. This error is:
- A.Recency error
- B.Contrast error
- C.Strictness error
- D.Central tendency error
Answer: D. Central tendency clusters ratings in the middle of the scale, hiding real differences in performance.
Practice all 36 employee engagement questions, and the rest of the 200-question bank, in the free PHR training sets. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
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