Free HRCI SPHR Practice Exam with Questions & Answers

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

EBITDA = Revenue – Operating Expenses

To achieve $140M EBITDA on $500M revenue, expenses must not exceed $360M.

Calculation: $500M revenue – $360M expenses = $140M EBITDA

SPHR-level financial literacy includes calculating financial health metrics that support operational and strategic HR planning.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

Employees have a legal right to engage in concerted activity, including union organizing, under Section 7 of the NLRA. Disciplining or terminating them for such action is illegal.

SPHR candidates must understand protected concerted activity rights. Violating these can lead to unfair labor practice charges.

When strategy changes, HR’s role is to re-align people, structure, and resources to the new direction.

Staffing models (B) ensure that future skills and talent match business needs.

Resource prioritization (D) ensures time, people, and budgets are deployed toward strategic imperatives.

Extract from HRCI-aligned HR knowledge (Leadership and Strategy):

SPHR professionals are expected to “ensure workforce readiness and structure alignment when organizational strategy evolves.” This includes adjusting talent supply models and ensuring that HR operations focus resources on new performance outcomes.

While crisis management plans are designed and sponsored at senior levels, managers at all levels (C) are ultimately responsible for carrying out a successful crisis management plan. Execution—not design—is the defining factor of crisis response effectiveness, and managers are the link between strategy and action.

SPHR-level leadership frameworks emphasize that crisis plans rely on distributed accountability. Managers translate plans into operational decisions, communicate with employees, ensure compliance with procedures, and adapt responses to real-time conditions. Without manager engagement and competence, even the most comprehensive crisis plan will fail.

Senior leadership (B) plays a critical role in setting direction, allocating resources, and signaling priorities, but they are not present in every operational area during a crisis. Emergency response teams (A) and internal safety departments (D) provide expertise and coordination, yet they do not manage day-to-day employee actions across the organization.

This question reinforces an SPHR principle: leadership responsibility is shared, and crisis preparedness depends on training, empowerment, and accountability at every management level. HR supports this by ensuring managers are trained, informed, and prepared to lead during disruptions.

References :

HRCI SPHR Exam Content Outline — Functional Area: Leadership and Strategy (risk management; crisis leadership; organizational accountability).

HRCI SPHR Study Guide — Roles of managers in crisis and business continuity planning.

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The best efficiency measure for evaluating the staffing process is the average time between requisition and acceptance (D), commonly referred to as time-to-fill. At the SPHR level, efficiency measures assess speed, resource utilization, and process flow.

Time-to-fill directly reflects how quickly an organization can identify, assess, and secure talent once a hiring need is approved. Longer times may indicate process bottlenecks, labor market challenges, or inefficiencies that impact productivity and costs.

Offer acceptance rate (B) and manager satisfaction (C) are effectiveness or quality indicators, not efficiency measures. Number of applicants hired (A) is a volume metric and does not measure process efficiency.

SPHR exam content distinguishes clearly between efficiency metrics (time, cost) and effectiveness metrics (quality, satisfaction) in talent acquisition analytics.

References :

HRCI SPHR Exam Content Outline — Functional Area: Talent Planning and Acquisition (staffing metrics).

HRCI SPHR Study Guide — Measuring recruiting efficiency and effectiveness.

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For new hires, employers can include language requirements immediately — but only if they can demonstrate that English proficiency is a business necessity (e.g., safety, communication, customer service).

Extract from HRCI-aligned HR knowledge (Risk Management):

SPHR candidates must ensure “job requirements are defensible under EEOC and Title VII guidelines.” Language must be tied to business necessity, but is permitted for future recruiting efforts with appropriate documentation.

“Organizational health” refers to an organization’s ability to align around a clear vision, execute effectively, and renew itself. It directly impacts productivity and long-term performance. While employee performance improves, the broader impact is seen in organizational productivity, a key measure in strategic planning. This connects with the Leadership and Strategy domain focusing on organizational effectiveness.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

Early-career engagement is driven by meaningful work. High-impact projects create a sense of value, contribution, and confidence — accelerating integration and retention.

SPHR-level onboarding emphasizes purposeful task assignment, especially for new graduates or early-career professionals. It boosts commitment and perceived organizational investment.

Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

Per National Labor Relations Act regulations, a union must obtain authorization from at least 30% of the proposed bargaining unit to file a petition for an election with the NLRB.

SPHR professionals must have detailed knowledge of labor law thresholds. This is foundational in labor relations and union avoidance education under Employee Relations competencies.

The most compelling reason to use noncash rewards is that cash is not always perceived by employees as the most powerful motivator (C). At the SPHR level, reward effectiveness is driven by meaning, recognition, and emotional impact, not just monetary value.

Noncash rewards—such as recognition programs, experiences, development opportunities, and symbolic awards—can be more memorable and personally meaningful than cash. They reinforce desired behaviors, strengthen emotional connection to the organization, and support intrinsic motivation.

While cash bonuses becoming entitlements (D) is a valid concern, it is a secondary consideration. Ease of administration (A) and cost-effectiveness (B) are not primary motivators for using noncash rewards.

SPHR exam content emphasizes that total rewards strategies should be holistic, leveraging both financial and nonfinancial incentives to drive engagement and performance.

References :

HRCI SPHR Exam Content Outline — Functional Area: Total Rewards (reward strategy; motivation).

HRCI SPHR Study Guide — Noncash rewards and employee motivation.

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