Deck 15: Managing Employee Separations: Turnover, Communication, and Employee Engagement

Question 1

Which industry has the highest turnover rate in Canada?

A) Auto
B) Communications
C) Financial
D) Construction
E) Health

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Diana has 5 employees in her marketing department. Their years of age are as follows: Don is 19, Sarah is 22, Muhammad is 31, Miko is 38, and Paulo is 41. Which employee is more likely to stay with Diana's company based on age?

A) Sarah
B) Don
C) Miko
D) Paulo
E) Muhammad

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Umair resigns from his current employer to pursue further education. What kind of turnover is this an example of?

A) Informal
B) Voluntary
C) Formal
D) Involuntary
E) Dysfunctional

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Antoinette reviews the report of an employee who continually produces less than his fellow workers. Antoinette informs the employer that he will be let go. What kind of turnover is this an example of?

A) Informal
B) Voluntary
C) Formal
D) Involuntary
E) Functional

Question 5

Ahmed is the accountant in a pharmaceutical distribution company. Ahmed is completing the separation forms for an employee who has left the company. Which turnover cost is Ahmed part of?

A) Separation
B) Vacancy
C) Replacement
D) Training
E) Overhead

Question 6

What is involuntary termination of an employee's employment with the firm called?

A) Misconduct
B) Sufficient cause
C) Dismissal
D) Insubordination
E) Just cause

Question 7

Amin runs a café and a competitor opened across the street from his location. An employee left Amin to work for the competitor. Amin was not too unhappy since the employee was his weakest worker with a poor attitude. What kind of turnover is this an example of?

A) Informal
B) Dysfunctional
C) Formal
D) Functional
E) Involuntary

Question 8

Joseph runs a personal planning and insurance company. An employee has left right in the middle of RRSP season. Joseph is worried about the potential customers he may not be able to place investments for now that he is short a person. Which cost of turnover is Joseph concerned about?

A) Separation
B) Vacancy
C) Replacement
D) Training
E) Overhead

Question 9

Harold postpones a meeting with a customer so that he can be available to interview candidates to replace an employee who just left. Harold is worried that the customer may give their business to his competitor but this hire is too important for him to miss. Which cost of turnover is Harold concerned with?

A) Separation
B) Vacancy
C) Replacement
D) Training
E) Overhead

Question 10

Colin's company manufactures cable wire. A recently hired employee informs Colin he is leaving. Colin sighs and thinks about costs associated with his veteran employee Moira who will have to start over again to show a new employee how to run the cable process. Which turnover cost is Colin thinking about?

A) Separation
B) Vacancy
C) Replacement
D) Training
E) Overhead

Question 11

What did a study of Canadians reveal as the number one reason for an employee to leave their last employer?

A) Downsizing or restructuring
B) Company's financial instability
C) Company relocation
D) Poor relationship with managers
E) Seeking a better fit for their skills

Question 12

What is the number one reason for voluntary turnover?

A) Poor relationship with managers
B) Employee disliked work-life balance
C) Employee sought better compensation or benefits
D) Ineffective leadership
E) Employee sought new challenges

Question 13

Adrian runs a plastics manufacturing company. He is quite disappointed as two of his best production workers have left to join a larger plastics manufacturer that is expanding. Other workers from his company also applied to the larger company but did not have the level of skills required and Adrian can notice an unhappy and sour atmosphere developing amongst the remaining workers. What kind of turnover is this an example of?

A) Informal
B) Dysfunctional
C) Formal
D) Functional
E) Involuntary

Question 14

A study of over 34,000 workers in the Canadian labour force was conducted. What did the study find as employee gains tenure in a company?

A) Employees sought more challenges with other companies.
B) Separation is significantly reduced.
C) Demands for promotions increases.
D) More pressure is placed on companies to invest in employee training.
E) Turnover increased.

Question 15

According to employees, what is the number one reason for voluntary turnover?

A) A lack of work-life balance
B) A lack of trust in senior leaders
C) An unhealthy or undesirable culture
D) Insufficient pay or unfair pay practices
E) A lack of honesty, integrity, ethics

Question 16

In any given year, what percentage of employees leaves the company within the hospitality industry?

A) 15%
B) 25%
C) 20%
D) 5%
E) 10%

Question 17

What is the cost of turnover?

A) 50 to 70 percent of salary
B) 70 to 100 percent of salary
C) 10 to 20 percent of salary
D) 5 to 10 percent of salary
E) 150 to 250 percent of salary

Question 18

What are the four components associated with the cost of turnover?

A) Separation, vacancy, replacement, and training
B) Vacancy, legal, separation, and training
C) Replacement, separation, legal, and administrative
D) Administration, overhead, operating, and human resources
E) Overhead, operating, human resources, and communication

Question 19

In employee separation, what is the formal term for the situation where an individual's employment with an organization is terminated?

A) Fired
B) Parting
C) Severance
D) Turnover
E) Quit

Question 20

According to managers, what is the number one reason for employees engaging in voluntary turnover?

A) Lack of feedback or recognition
B) Insufficient pay or unfair pay practices
C) A desire to pursue personal gains
D) An excessive workload
E) A job opportunity

Question 21

According to Statistics Canada in 2011, what was the average life expectancy for women?

A) 90 years
B) 85 years
C) 83 years
D) 80 years
E) 78 years

Question 22

Some companies are managing the labour shortage created by retiring employees by which of the following?

A) Offering "retirees on call" programs
B) Offering bonuses to employees about to retire to stay on past normal retirement age
C) Contracting out work performed by retiring employees
D) Hiring younger workers who are able to work harder and longer hours than the older employees they are replacing
E) Making greater use of information technology to automate functions performed by retiring employees

Question 23

According to the Ontario Employment Standards Act, how many weeks of notice must an employee, who has worked more than two years for an employer, provide the employer before quitting?

A) 3 weeks
B) 4 weeks
C) 2 weeks
D) 0 weeks
E) 1 week

Question 24

What is "Willful disregard or disobedience of the boss's authority or legitimate orders and criticizing the boss in public" called?

A) Reprimanding
B) Insubordination
C) Wrongful conduct
D) Employer sabotage
E) Dismissal

Question 25

According to the Ontario Employment Standards Act, how many weeks of notice must an employee, who has worked less than two years for an employer, provide the employer before quitting?

A) 3 weeks
B) 4 weeks
C) 2 weeks
D) 0 weeks
E) 1 week

Question 26

The temporary withdrawal of employment for workers based on economic or business reasons is called

A) voluntary time off.
B) a layoff.
C) a ring of defence.
D) a downsizing.
E) partial termination.

Question 27

In the early 1900s, what was the average life expectancy for women?

A) 50 years
B) 45 years
C) 55 years
D) 40 years
E) 60 years

Question 28

When discussing separation, what is the term for employees that hold positions of implicit trust?

A) Curator
B) Fiduciary
C) Guardian
D) Trustee
E) Depositary

Question 29

What is the average age of retirement in the public sector?

A) 65
B) 72
C) 62
D) 60
E) 66

Question 30

What are damages that are reserved for malicious or outrageous cases in which an employer engages in harsh and vindictive treatment of an employee, of if the employee suffered undue distress from not being given adequate notice of termination called?

A) Bad-faith damages
B) Insubordination damages
C) Termination damages
D) Punitive damages
E) Dismissal damages

Question 31

What are the laws that require an employer to notify employees in the event that they decide to terminate employees through layoffs, without just cause?

A) Dismissal legislation
B) Involuntary turnover legislation
C) Termination legislation
D) Downsizing legislation
E) Reasonable notice legislation

Question 32

Anthony owns an education company that provides services to colleges, universities, and publishers. One of his workers, Beatrice, would like to retire but is unsure of how to assess her financial situation or what she would do in retirement. Anthony hires a retirement consultant to speak with Beatrice about transitioning into retirement. What separation term describes this example?

A) Pre-retirement strategies
B) Retirement education
C) Pre-retirement counseling
D) Voluntary retirement planning
E) Involuntary retirement scheduling

Question 33

Patrick owns a public accounting practice. He makes a plan with his oldest accountant to reduce her hours each year for the next three years until she retires. What separation term describes this example?

A) Retiree on call
B) Phased retirement
C) Pre-retirement schedule
D) Voluntary retirement
E) Involuntary retirement

Question 34

When an employee sues and employer feeling the notice period is unacceptable, the courts will rule on a notice period. What lengths of time have these notice periods rarely exceeded?

A) 12 months
B) 24 months
C) 18 months
D) 20 months
E) 10 months

Question 35

What is the average age of retirement in the private sector?

A) 65
B) 72
C) 62
D) 60
E) 66

Question 36

What is the first foundation of an effective disciplinary process?

A) Effective supervision of employees
B) Using technology to monitor employee behaviour
C) A high-performance culture in the organization
D) A clear system of progressive sanctions of employee behaviour
E) Rules and regulations

Question 37

What is the "vendetta effect"?

A) Improper documentation of wrongful dismissal claims
B) An increase in wrongful dismissal claims as negative treatment becomes extreme
C) Wrongful dismissal claims coming from unionized employees
D) Wrongful dismissal claims coming from senior management
E) Frequent wrongful dismissal claims

Question 38

If there is no employment contract and just cause is not present, then a termination without reasonable notice is considered unfair and is known as which of the following?

A) Wrongful dismissal
B) A contract violation
C) "At will" termination
D) Quasi-legal
E) Invalid

Question 39

The process of reducing, usually dramatically, the number of people employed by the firm is referred to as which of the following?

A) Division of work
B) Reengineering
C) Downsizing
D) Job specialization
E) Mass layoffs

Question 40

What are damages that are reserved for extreme circumstances in which the employer was untruthful, misleading, or insensitive to the employee in the course of a dismissal called?

A) Bad-faith damages
B) Insubordination damages
C) Termination damages
D) Punitive damages
E) Dismissal damages

Question 41

Tim feels mistreated by his manager. He made an error in completing a customer profile and his manager angrily criticized his work in from of his fellow workers. Tim is concerned with which of the following components of organizational justice?

A) Allocation justice
B) Distributive justice
C) Interactional justice
D) Procedural justice
E) Pay equity justice

Question 42

Group termination laws require employers who are terminating a large group of employees to give them more notice than required upon termination of an individual employee.

Question 43

Helena feels that her employer's method for deciding on pay increases is not fair. Helena is concerned with which of the following components of organizational justice?

A) Allocation justice
B) Distributive justice
C) Interactional justice
D) Procedural justice
E) Pay equity justice

Question 44

With respect to employee relations, experts generally define organizational justice in terms of three components. What is one of these components?

A) Internal justice
B) Constructive justice
C) Top-down communication justice
D) Distributive justice
E) Fair treatment justice

Question 45

What is the emotional and intellectual involvement employees in their work, such as intensity, focus, and involvement in his or her job called?

A) Employee engagement
B) Employee loyalty
C) Employee tenure
D) Employee commitment
E) Employee fidelity

Question 46

The interview in which an employee is informed of the fact that he or she has been dismissed is called the

A) nonpunitive interview.
B) exit interview.
C) punitive interview.
D) termination interview.
E) "at will" interview.

Question 47

Firms are now providing pre-retirement counselling to employees who are about to retire, covering matters such as financial planning, relationship issues, and health issues.

Question 48

Over the last few decades large-scale labour mobility has stabilized and there is an increase in employee job tenure.

Question 49

A layoff refers to a situation when there is a permanent shortage of work for employees and management does not intend to recall the employees for work as it becomes available.

Question 50

The sixth step in the termination interview process, what should management do?

A) Identify the next step
B) Listen to the employee
C) Review all elements of the severance package
D) Describe the situation
E) Set up an outplacement counselling meeting

Question 51

What is the term to describe when the employer makes unilateral changes in the employment contract that are recognized as unacceptable according to the employee, even though the employee has not been formally terminated?

A) Bad-faith damages
B) Insubordination
C) Constructive dismissal
D) Punitive actions
E) Involuntary turnover

Question 52

A rule of thumb some organizations follow for reasonable notice is three to four weeks per year of service.

Question 53

The public services industry has the lowest turnover level on Canada.

Question 54

Kaitlyn is unhappy about her employer as her pay was reduced because she left work early for a family emergency. Her manager did not take into account that Kaitlyn returned to work to make up the lost hours. Kaitlyn is concerned with which of the following components of organizational justice?

A) Allocation justice
B) Distributive justice
C) Interactional justice
D) Procedural justice
E) Pay equity justice

Question 55

Older workers are more likely to experience turnover than younger workers.

Question 56

Questionnaires that regularly ask employees their opinions about the company, management, and work life are called which of the following?

A) Employee opinion surveys
B) Employee sampling surveys
C) Employee participation programs
D) Employee training programs
E) Employee development programs

Question 57

A system of progressive penalties usually involves warnings (verbal and written), suspensions (paid and/or unpaid), and discharge.

Question 58

Alternatives to layoffs include voluntary reduction in pay plans, voluntary time off, and the use of contingent employees.

Question 59

In the third step of the termination interview, the manager should

A) remember to describe the situation rather than attacking the employee personally.
B) smile and be friendly, but also be direct.
C) get to the point by informing the person of the decision.
D) get to the point, but reassure the employee this was not the manager's decision.
E) take at least 20 minutes for the interview.

Question 60

In the second step of the termination interview, the manager should

A) move slowly but positively through the interview.
B) get to the point by informing the person of the decision.
C) get to the point, but reassure the employee this was not the manager's decision.
D) smile and be friendly, but also be direct.
E) begin with small talk.

Question 61

Identify and briefly describe three foundations of a fair and just discipline process.

Question 62

Describe the six acts managers should communicate to employees that are regarded as insubordination.

Question 63

Identify and briefly describe the six steps to be followed in a termination interview.

Question 64

In some jurisdictions, employers are allowed to provide payment in lieu of reasonable notice, allowing them to terminate employees without cause relatively quickly.