PHR Practice Questions (2026) — Free Sample Questions with Answers

Answer: 12.9 %

1. Average headcount = (232 + 248) ÷ 2 = 480 ÷ 2 = 240.
2. Voluntary separations = 42 total − 11 involuntary = 31.
3. Voluntary turnover rate = 31 ÷ 240 = 0.12917.
4. 0.12917 × 100 = 12.917%, which rounds to 12.9%.
5. Common errors: using all 42 separations gives 17.5%; dividing by the ending headcount (31 ÷ 248) gives 12.5%.

Turnover rate = separations in the period ÷ average headcount × 100; count only the separation type the question asks for.

Answer: A, B

Remove the manager from evaluating and deciding this bid: Correct. Recusal removes the conflict from the decision while allowing the bid process to continue fairly (1.3).

Record the disclosure and have it reviewed under the conflict-of-interest policy: Correct. Documenting the disclosure and routing it to the designated reviewer (e.g., compliance or ethics officer) creates the record the policy requires.

Disqualify the brother's company from the bidding process: A related-party vendor is not automatically barred; with the manager recused, the vendor can usually compete on the merits.

Begin disciplinary action against the manager for the conflict: She did what the policy expects by disclosing it. Disciplining her would discourage future disclosures.

Let the manager continue because she disclosed the relationship: Disclosure alone does not remove the conflict; she would still be judging her brother's bid.

For a disclosed conflict of interest: document it, review it under policy, and recuse the person from the related decision.

Answer: D

Setting minimum performance standards that every employee must meet: That describes performance standards in performance management, not comparison with other organizations.

Measuring the cost of each HR program against the annual budget: Budget variance analysis looks inward at spending; it does not compare with other organizations.

Testing a new policy in one department before rolling it out company-wide: That is a pilot program. A pilot may follow benchmarking but is a different practice.

Comparing the organization's practices or metrics with those of high-performing organizations: Correct. Benchmarking compares processes, policies or results with leading or peer organizations to find improvement opportunities (1.1).

Benchmarking = comparing your practices and results with leading or peer organizations.

Answer: A, B

A copy of the consumer report: Correct. The pre-adverse action notice must include a copy of the report so the applicant can review it and dispute errors.

A copy of A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act: Correct. The CFPB summary of rights must accompany the report in the pre-adverse action notice.

A statement that the screening company made the hiring decision: The reverse is true. The final adverse action notice must state that the consumer reporting agency did not make the decision.

A notice that the applicant has 30 days to appeal to the EEOC: The FCRA has no EEOC appeal step. The final notice tells the applicant of the right to dispute with the agency and to a free report within 60 days.

A new authorization form for a second, independent background check: Authorization is obtained before the report is ordered, on a stand-alone form. A second check is not part of the adverse action process.

FCRA adverse action is two-step: a pre-adverse action notice with the report and the summary of rights, a reasonable waiting period, then a final adverse action notice.

Answer: C

Set separate cutoff scores for men and women so pass rates are equal: Adjusting scores or using different cutoffs on the basis of sex or race (score norming) is expressly prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1991.

Keep the test unchanged, because identical administration to every applicant is a complete defense: Uniform administration is not a defense to disparate impact. The employer must show job relatedness and business necessity.

Review whether the test is validated as job related and look for less-discriminatory alternatives: Correct. Once adverse impact appears, the employer must be able to show the test is job related and consistent with business necessity (normally through a validation study), and it remains liable if an equally valid, less-discriminatory alternative exists and it refuses to adopt it.

Adopt a hiring quota so that women are hired at the same rate as men: Quotas are not a required or appropriate remedy and can themselves create disparate treatment liability.

Adverse impact shifts the burden to the employer to prove job relatedness and business necessity; validation and a search for less-discriminatory alternatives come first, and score norming is never allowed.

Answer: 0.69

1. Selection rate for men = 60 ÷ 150 = 0.40 (40%). This is the highest selection rate.
2. Selection rate for women = 22 ÷ 80 = 0.275 (27.5%).
3. Impact ratio = lower rate ÷ highest rate = 0.275 ÷ 0.40 = 0.6875.
4. Rounded to two decimal places, the impact ratio is 0.69.
5. Because 0.69 is below 0.80, the results indicate adverse impact against women under the four-fifths rule.

Divide each group's selection rate (hires ÷ applicants) by the highest group's rate; a ratio below 0.80 (four-fifths) is generally regarded as evidence of adverse impact.

Answer: End-of-session survey rating the course's relevance and the facilitator: Level 1: Reaction; Difference between pre-test and post-test scores on de-escalation techniques: Level 2: Learning; Scored skills test in the classroom at the end of the session, in which each trainee handles a scripted angry-caller simulation: Level 2: Learning; Supervisor call audits 60 days later showing representatives use the techniques: Level 3: Behavior; Quarterly escalated-complaint rate compared with the same quarter last year: Level 4: Results; Reduction in calls transferred to supervisors over the following six months: Level 4: Results

Kirkpatrick: Level 1 reaction, Level 2 learning (in training), Level 3 behavior (on the job), Level 4 results (business outcomes).

Answer: 980 dollars

1. A formula-based production bonus is nondiscretionary, so it must be included in the regular rate.
2. Straight-time pay for all hours: 46 × $18.00 = $828.00. Add the bonus: $828.00 + $92.00 = $920.00.
3. Regular rate = $920.00 ÷ 46 hours = $20.00 per hour.
4. The straight time for all 46 hours is already paid in the $920.00, so the overtime premium is half the regular rate for each overtime hour: 0.5 × $20.00 × 6 = $60.00.
5. Total gross pay = $920.00 + $60.00 = $980.00.

Nondiscretionary bonuses go into the regular rate: total straight-time compensation ÷ total hours, then pay an extra half of that rate for each hour over 40.

Answer: A

Both women earn less than every man, and no seniority or merit system explains it: Correct. The women ($70,300 and $66,600) are paid below all three men ($76,500–$81,400) in identical jobs. Chen has the most tenure and an Exceeds rating, yet is paid less than men hired years later. Without a bona fide seniority or merit system, this pattern is a classic Equal Pay Act and Title VII risk.

The grade 7 range spread of about 39% is too wide for a professional-level job: The spread is ($86,000 − $62,000) ÷ $62,000 ≈ 38.7%, which is normal for an exempt professional grade. A range design question is not a pay equity violation.

D. Patel is already paid above the range midpoint even though he was hired only in 2023: Paying above midpoint early is a placement issue to review, but on its own it is not a sex-based disparity. The concern is how the women compare with all of the men.

L. Nguyen's salary above midpoint does not fit his performance rating: Nguyen is rated Exceeds, so pay above midpoint is consistent with his rating. This is not a concern.

A pay equity review compares people doing substantially equal work and asks whether a legitimate factor (seniority, merit, production, or another factor other than sex) explains each gap. A consistent pattern by sex with no documented system behind it is the top finding.

Answer: (1) 45, (2) 7, (3) the job titles and ages of employees selected and not selected in the decisional unit

OWBPA group waivers: 45 days to consider, 7 days to revoke, and written disclosure of the decisional unit, eligibility factors, and job titles and ages of employees selected and not selected. Individual waivers: 21 days to consider and 7 days to revoke.

Answer: 13.6 %

1. Average headcount = (412 + 488) ÷ 2 = 900 ÷ 2 = 450.
2. Voluntary turnover counts only voluntary separations: 61. The 12 involuntary terminations are excluded.
3. Voluntary turnover rate = 61 ÷ 450 = 0.13556.
4. 0.13556 × 100 = 13.556%, which rounds to 13.6%.

Turnover rate = separations in the period ÷ average headcount × 100. Count only the separation type being asked about (here, voluntary).

Answer: C

Career growth opportunities, because it has the lowest favorable score of any dimension: Career growth is the lowest score, but it barely moved (49% to 47%), so it cannot explain the sharp 2026 rise in turnover that leadership asked HR to address.

Pay and benefits, because 22% of the employees who left named pay as their main reason: Pay was named by fewer leavers than supervisors (22% vs. 41%), its score was nearly flat, and its link to intent to stay is only moderate.

Supervisor feedback and recognition, supported by training for the newly promoted supervisors: Correct. This dimension fell 19 points, has a high link to intent to stay, matches the top exit-interview reason (41%), and lines up with the untrained supervisors promoted in March. It is the factor most tied to the new turnover.

Workload and staffing, because its score fell seven points and schedule complaints appear in exits: Workload did decline, but less than half as much as supervisor feedback, and its link to intent to stay is only moderate. It is a secondary issue.

Prioritize the survey dimension that both changed the most and drives retention most strongly, and confirm it with other data such as exit interviews. The lowest raw score is not automatically the priority.

Answer: 3.4 cases per 100 FTE

1. Use the OSHA incidence rate formula: (number of recordable cases × 200,000) ÷ total hours worked.
2. 200,000 represents 100 full-time employees working 40 hours a week for 50 weeks.
3. Multiply: 7 × 200,000 = 1,400,000.
4. Divide: 1,400,000 ÷ 412,000 = 3.398…
5. Round to one decimal place: 3.4 recordable cases per 100 full-time workers. The headcount of 205 is not used.

Incidence rate = (cases × 200,000) ÷ hours worked, giving cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers; use hours, not headcount.

Answer: B

Any cost beyond a de minimis amount justifies denying the request: The Supreme Court rejected the "more than de minimis" reading of undue hardship in Groff v. DeJoy (2023).

Denial requires substantial increased costs in relation to the business: Groff requires the employer to show the burden is substantial in the overall context of its business; occasional swaps or modest overtime are unlikely to meet that bar.

Coworker objections alone are enough to show an undue hardship to the business: Coworker resentment of the accommodation, or of religion itself, is not by itself an undue hardship; only effects on the conduct of the business count.

The employer must grant the request regardless of its actual cost: Title VII still permits denial when the employer proves undue hardship; accommodation is not unconditional.

After Groff v. DeJoy, religious accommodation can be denied only for substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of the business, and the employer should consider alternatives such as voluntary swaps.

Answer: B

Discipline is permitted because the NLRA protects only union members.: Section 7 rights belong to nonsupervisory employees whether or not a union exists. Non-union workplaces are fully covered.

Do not discipline; the chat is likely protected concerted activity.: Employees acting together to discuss and improve pay are engaged in protected concerted activity under NLRA Section 7, in union and non-union settings. Disciplining them would likely be an 8(a)(1) violation.

Discipline is permitted if the chat used a company-owned device.: The device used does not remove Section 7 protection for group discussion of wages; punishing the content of the discussion remains the problem.

Issue a written warning only, since pay talk breaches confidentiality.: A rule or warning that bars employees from discussing their own wages interferes with Section 7 rights; a lighter penalty is still unlawful.

Protected concerted activity covers two or more employees (or one acting on behalf of others) addressing terms and conditions of work, even with no union present.

Answer: C

Performance ratings cannot be used in HR analytics because they are subjective: Ratings have limits, but they are commonly analyzed; this does not address the cause-and-effect error.

The sample should be larger, so the results should be ignored entirely: Sample size may matter, but the core problem is assuming causation, and discarding the data is not the right response.

The data shows correlation; factors such as role or tenure may explain it: Correct. A relationship between two variables does not prove that one causes the other. Remote eligibility may be given to experienced, high performers, so the analysis must control for those factors (7.2).

Remote work policies cannot lawfully apply to every employee in a company: No federal law bars a company-wide remote policy; the issue is the analytical conclusion, not legality.

Correlation is not causation: check for confounding variables before turning analytics into policy.