Deck 14: Retention Management

Question 1

Employees who have a high intention to quit necessarily end up quitting their jobs.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The rate of turnover across different industries is very great, with some industries having more than triple the turnover rate found in other industries.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Turnover rates illustrate the same information an organization would be able to get from looking at the distribution of employee tenure.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Discharge turnover is primarily due to extremely poor person/organization matches.

Question 5

Data are seldom available regarding when or where employee turnover is occurring in most organizations.

Question 6

The purpose of a retention strategy is to maintain a workforce with the KSAOs and motivation to perform key work tasks.

Question 7

One simple and informative technique to understand turnover in an organization is breaking out rates across various employee and organizational characteristics.

Question 8

Downsizing turnover is a reflection of a staffing level mismatch in which the organization actually is, or is projected to be, overstaffed.

Question 9

Avoidable turnover is that which could have been prevented by actions like a pay raise or a new job assignment.

Question 10

An employee's overall intention to quit depends on the desirability of leaving, ease of leaving, and alternatives available to the employee.

Question 11

The interviewee in an exit interview should be told that the comments that he/she makes will be confidential and that only aggregate results will be used by the organization.

Question 12

Because it is typically very easy to collect and analyze job satisfaction data meaningfully, most organizations make this a cornerstone of their retention strategy.

Question 13

Availability of promotions or transfers may lessen or eliminate any intentions to quit, even though the employee is very dissatisfied with the current job.

Question 14

Research suggests that there are differences between the reasons for turnover that employees provide in exit interviews and the reasons employees provide in anonymous surveys.

Question 15

Desirability of movement is a weak predictor of voluntary employee turnover.

Question 16

There are several positive, functional outcomes of employee turnover.

Question 17

Postexit surveys should ask be mailed quite some time after the employee's last day of work so the individual has sufficient time to reflect on his or her experiences.

Question 18

An employee's perceived desirability of movement can depend on reasons that have little or nothing to do with the job.

Question 19

Exit interviews should be conducted by exiting employee's immediate supervisor whenever possible.

Question 20

Of the three types of employee turnover, discharges are the most prevalent.

Question 21

Downsizing costs are concentrated in separation costs for permanent reductions in force.

Question 22

Providing employees increased autonomy and a requiring them to learn a variety of skills increases stress significantly, which leads to greater turnover rates.

Question 23

Material and equipment costs are likely to be the most prevalent in replacement and training costs.

Question 24

One potential benefit of employee discharges is the development of improved performance management and disciplinary skills.

Question 25

Many turnover costs are hidden in the time demands placed on the many employees who must handle the separation, replacement, and training activities.

Question 26

Of the factors that influence an employee's desirability of leaving, job satisfaction is the one that cannot be influenced to a significant degree by organizations.

Question 27

Economic costs associated with voluntary turnover include accrued paid time off and temporary coverage.

Question 28

Unfortunately, it is not possible to use statistical tools like regression analysis to evaluate the factors associated with turnover.

Question 29

Turnover cost estimates are very precise and accurate in most cases.

Question 30

In general, most employees report that the opportunity for higher compensation is a more powerful predictor of turnover than conflict with supervisors.

Question 31

A recent comprehensive examination of retention initiative effectiveness found that the most effective organizational strategy for retaining employees is the provision of concierge services.

Question 32

Employees may not like a supervisor who speaks in a derogatory way towards them, but evidence suggests they seldom actually turn over as a result of these feelings.

Question 33

One guideline for increasing job satisfaction and retention is to ensure that fairness and justice exist in the workplace.

Question 34

Increased investment in training as a practice by itself is usually associated with decreases in turnover rates.

Question 35

Compared to discharge turnover, voluntary turnover is usually more costly.

Question 36

Some employees who do not take advantage of work-life balance options resent their coworkers who are more likely to use work-life programs.

Question 37

The primary immediate benefit of turnover for employers is hiring inducements.

Question 38

Employee perceptions of injustice are often rooted in misunderstanding or ignorance of company policies that could be resolved with increased communication.

Question 39

To have the power to attract and retain employees, rewards must be unique and unlikely to be offered by competitors.

Question 40

Research has shown that the best performers are least likely to quit when an organization either rewards performance with higher compensation or widely communicates its compensation practices; doing both adds little to these independent effects.

Question 41

Because employees quit companies, not jobs, internal staffing systems are usually seen as a poor substitute for a job at another company.As such, they do little to reduce intentions to leave.

Question 42

An employee's intention to leave an organization is influenced by ________.

A) perceived desirability of movement
B) perceived ease of movement
C) alternatives available to the employee
D) all of the above

Question 43

In progressive discipline, termination is seen as a viable early option to avoid having to work through a potentially fruitless cycle of improving a low-ability worker.

Question 44

Research shows that downsizing has negative impacts on employee morale and health, workgroup creativity and communication, and workforce quality.

Question 45

Performance management systems enable organizations to ensure that an initial person/job match yields an effectively performing employee.

Question 46

One recommendation for an effective performance appraisal or management system is that appraisal criteria should be job-related, specific, and communicated in advance to the employee.

Question 47

Employee termination is the final step in progressive discipline, and ideally it would never be necessary.

Question 48

Poor task performance is the result of insufficient ability, knowledge, skills, or motivation.

Question 49

Some of the issues that govern the separation process from a legal perspective include employment discrimination laws, affirmative action, contract principles, and severance agreements.

Question 50

Legal experts usually advise organizations to avoid documenting performance problems because the "paper trail" is likely to just lead to problems in court.

Question 51

No-layoff policies cannot be implemented effectively by organizations.

Question 52

Performance management systems are used primarily to detect individuals whose performance is unsatisfactory and should be terminated.

Question 53

Discharge turnover targets groups of employees and is also known as reduction in force.(RIF).

Question 54

The desirability of leaving an organization is often an outgrowth of ________.

A) poor person/organization match
B) favorable labor market conditions
C) general, transferable KSAOs
D) none of the above

Question 55

Evidence suggests that personality dispositions have little or no impact on employee tendencies to turnover.

Question 56

Data shows dramatic decreases in organizational stock price following a downsizing, especially if the downsizing organization restructures assets during downsizing.

Question 57

Turnover due to organizational downsizing is classified as ________.

A) voluntary
B) involuntary
C) supplemental
D) it depends on the circumstances of the downsizing

Question 58

The types of employee turnover include ________.

A) voluntary
B) discharge
C) downsizing
D) all of the above

Question 59

Because of employment-at-will, there are few legal considerations when it comes to terminating the employment relationship.

Question 60

Discharge turnover is usually due to ________.

A) a site or plant closing
B) permanent layoff
C) poor employee performance
D) none of the above

Question 61

The first strategy for improving employee retention is to ________.

A) redesign employee jobs
B) increase pay
C) improve job satisfaction
D) none of the above

Question 62

Economic separation costs associated with voluntary turnover include ________.

A) hiring inducements
B) rehiring costs
C) manager's time
D) more than one of the above

Question 63

Which of the following is a potential benefit associated with downsizing?

A) focus on core businesses, eliminating peripheral ones
B) spreading risk by outsourcing activities to other organizations
C) lower payroll and benefit costs
D) all of the above

Question 64

Which of the following factors leading to turnover cannot usually be addressed by the organization?

A) Poor social environment at work
B) Low levels of job satisfaction
C) Employee shocks
D) All of these can be addressed by organizational policy

Question 65

Which of the following is a common tool to assess employee reasons for leaving?

A) Position analysis
B) Job rotation
C) Exit interview
D) Discharge notification

Question 66

Replacement costs associated with voluntary turnover include ________.

A) HR staff induction costs
B) mentoring
C) severance pay
D) contagion

Question 67

Which of the following is an attribute of a high value employee that an organization would want to prevent from leaving?

A) low training investment
B) strong KSAOs
C) retirement
D) low seniority

Question 68

Which of the following is a potential benefit associated with voluntary employee turnover?

A) lowered replacement costs
B) savings from not replacing an employee
C) vacancy creates an open job that must be staffed
D) all of the above

Question 69

Exit interviews can be used to explain ________ to departing employees.

A) rehiring rights
B) benefits
C) confidentiality agreements
D) all of the above

Question 70

Which of the following makes involuntary turnover potentially more costly than a similar level of voluntary turnover?

A) Accrued paid time off
B) Possibility of a lawsuit
C) Staffing costs for a new hire
D) Formal training

Question 71

Ease of leaving is greater when ________.

A) employees are highly embedded
B) employees possess ample employer-specific KSAOs
C) when labor markets are loose
D) all of the above

Question 72

Organizations can use compensation to reduce turnover by ________.

A) providing deferred compensation
B) giving specific rewards for seniority
C) increasing pay levels to surpass the market
D) all of the above

Question 73

Which of the following is a suggestion for conducting an appropriate exit interview?

A) The interviewer should be the employee's immediate supervisor.
B) there should be an unstructured interview format.
C) the interviewer should prepare for each interview by reviewing the interview format and the interviewee's personnel file.
D) none of the above

Question 74

Guidelines for increasing job satisfaction and retention include ________.

A) establish a lag pay policy for all employees
B) link rewards to retention behaviors
C) keeping core operations information secret
D) none of the above

Question 75

Which of the following is an example of using predictive analytics for understanding turnover and retention patterns?

A) Carefully developing narrative reports based on self-reported reasons for leaving
B) Using multiple regression analysis to identify factors like pay rates, supervisor leadership behavior, or job characteristics that are associated with turnover
C) Benchmarking retention strategies described in popular press reports of different organizations in the area
D) All of the above

Question 76

Economic costs associated with downsizing include ________.

A) threat to harmonious labor-management relations
B) decreased employee morale
C) higher unemployment insurance premiums
D) difficulty in attracting new employees

Question 77

Which of the following is an attribute of a low value employee that an organization would not want to prevent from leaving?

A) little intellectual capital
B) high seniority
C) high performance
D) all of the above

Question 78

Research most clearly suggests that when organizations wish to increase retention they need to ________.

A) provide team-building
B) convince employees that there are few alternatives
C) offer "bundles" of HR practices that complement one another
D) demonstrate executive commitment to outreach

Question 79

Which of the following statements related to predictive analytics for retention is true?

A) Breakouts of turnover rates across the organization are available through routine HRIS reports
B) Best practices suggest that external consultants have little expertise when it comes to analyzing retention rates
C) There is little reason to believe predictive analytic results will be different from self-reported retrospective reports regarding causes of turnover
D) All of the above

Question 80

Downsizing is typically a reflection of ________.

A) overstaffing
B) understaffing
C) an appropriate staffing level
D) none of the above