SHRM-CP Practice Exam.
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1. Two employees on the same project have stopped speaking directly and are routing complaints about each other through their manager.

• A. Issue a written warning to both employees for unprofessional conduct.
• B. Split the employees onto different projects permanently without addressing the underlying conflict.
• C. Instruct the manager to stop relaying messages and let the employees figure it out unsupervised.
• D. Facilitate a structured, private conversation between the two employees to identify the root cause and agree on working norms.

2. What is a primary benefit of using structured interviews with standardized questions across all candidates for the same role?

• A. They eliminate the need for any reference checks.
• B. They guarantee every candidate will receive a job offer.
• C. They improve consistency and comparability between candidates while reducing the influence of interviewer bias.
• D. They shorten the total hiring timeline in every case.

3. A frontline manager asks HR to terminate an employee immediately for "poor performance" but no coaching or written warnings exist in the file.

• A. Transfer the employee to another department to avoid the conflict.
• B. Approve the termination since the manager has authority over their own team's staffing decisions.
• C. Tell the employee informally that their job is at risk without putting anything in writing.
• D. Advise the manager to document specific performance issues and begin a formal improvement process before considering termination.

4. An employee reports that their direct supervisor has made repeated unwelcome comments about their appearance.

• A. Move the accused supervisor's desk to another floor as a full resolution.
• B. Wait until a second employee files the same complaint before investigating.
• C. Ask the employee to handle it directly with the supervisor first.
• D. Open a prompt, impartial investigation and keep the employee informed of next steps while protecting them from retaliation.

5. A new hire tells HR during their first week that the team's informal communication style feels exclusionary and hard to follow.

• A. Reassign the new hire to a different team without exploring the concern.
• B. Ignore the feedback since it was raised so early in the employee's tenure.
• C. Meet with the new hire and the manager to clarify team norms and set explicit expectations for communication.
• D. Tell the new hire that adapting to team norms is their responsibility alone.

6. An employee with a documented back injury requests a standing desk and reduced lifting duties.

• A. Grant the request permanently without ever revisiting it.
• B. Deny the request because the job description lists lifting as an essential function.
• C. Approve the request only if the employee's physician pays for the equipment.
• D. Engage in an interactive dialogue with the employee to identify a reasonable accommodation that does not create undue hardship.

7. A normally strong performer's output has declined sharply over the past month, and the employee seems withdrawn in meetings.

• A. Have a private, supportive conversation to understand what's changed and identify any resources or adjustments that could help.
• B. Immediately begin a formal disciplinary process based on the recent decline.
• C. Say nothing and wait to see if performance recovers on its own.
• D. Reassign the employee's key responsibilities to a coworker without discussion.

8. During a reduction in force, HR must help select which positions to eliminate across departments with uneven age and tenure distributions.

• A. Let each department manager choose employees to lay off based solely on personal judgment.
• B. Select employees for layoff based on salary level alone to maximize cost savings.
• C. Apply objective, job-related criteria and run a disparate-impact analysis across protected classifications before finalizing the list.
• D. Use tenure as the only selection factor without reviewing other criteria.

9. An anonymous tip alleges that a mid-level manager has been submitting inflated expense reports.

• A. Confront the manager publicly in a team meeting to gauge their reaction.
• B. Forward the tip to the manager's direct reports to see if they can verify it.
• C. Dismiss the tip because it was submitted anonymously.
• D. Route the tip to the appropriate internal investigation function and preserve relevant records while the claim is examined confidentially.

10. A remote employee has become slow to respond to messages and missed two recent deliverables.

• A. Reassign all of the employee's work without notice.
• B. Schedule a check-in to discuss workload, expectations, and any obstacles before deciding on next steps.
• C. Reduce the employee's pay until responsiveness improves.
• D. Immediately terminate the employee for insubordination.

11. A high-performing employee tells their manager they've received a competing job offer with significantly higher pay.

• A. Offer a title change with no change in compensation or duties.
• B. Tell the employee that counteroffers are never considered under any circumstances.
• C. Immediately match the competing offer without reviewing internal pay equity.
• D. Review the employee's total compensation and market data with HR before deciding on a retention response that also considers internal equity.

12. Employees are resisting a new HRIS rollout, citing confusion about how it changes their daily workflow.

• A. Delay the rollout indefinitely until all objections are resolved.
• B. Roll back to the old system permanently.
• C. Mandate immediate use with no additional support and let employees adapt independently.
• D. Provide targeted training and communicate the specific benefits and workflow changes before and during the transition.

13. Several exit interviews over two months independently mention the same manager creating a hostile team environment.

• A. Compile the pattern of feedback and initiate a review of the manager's conduct and leadership practices.
• B. Wait for a current employee to file a formal complaint before taking any action.
• C. Disregard the feedback since departing employees may be biased.
• D. Share the exit interview details directly with the manager's peers.

14. An employee posts a public social media comment sharply criticizing a company decision, without naming coworkers or disclosing confidential information.

• A. Review the post against the written social media policy and any protected-activity considerations before deciding on a proportionate response.
• B. Ignore it completely regardless of what the post says or how it evolves.
• C. Terminate the employee immediately for any public criticism of the company.
• D. Publicly respond to the employee's post from the company's official account.

15. A manager rates every employee on the team as "meets expectations," even those with clearly different performance levels.

• A. Accept the ratings as submitted since the manager knows the team best.
• B. Override all the ratings without consulting the manager.
• C. Remove the manager's ability to conduct future reviews permanently.
• D. Coach the manager on differentiating ratings using specific, documented examples of performance for each employee.

16. A candidate mentions during a job interview that she is currently pregnant.

• A. Ask follow-up questions about her due date and planned leave timeline before proceeding.
• B. Redirect the candidate to a role with less physical activity based on the disclosure.
• C. Note the pregnancy in the interview scorecard for the hiring committee's awareness.
• D. Continue the interview focused only on job-related qualifications, without factoring the pregnancy into the hiring decision.

17. An employee requests to bring a trained service animal to assist with a documented medical condition.

• A. Evaluate the request as a disability accommodation and determine reasonableness based on the specific workplace and role.
• B. Deny the request because pets are not allowed in the office under any policy.
• C. Approve the request only if coworkers unanimously agree.
• D. Require the employee to use a different, more common accommodation instead without discussion.

18. Team members in a multinational project report frequent misunderstandings during video calls, with some feeling excluded from decisions.

• A. Disband the multinational team and reassign members to local-only teams.
• B. Establish shared communication norms and provide cultural-effectiveness coaching to help the team collaborate across differences.
• C. Instruct team members to simply communicate more and assume the issue will resolve itself.
• D. Move all meetings to the time zone of the largest office regardless of impact on others.

19. An employee requests a modified work schedule to accommodate a religious observance that falls on a regularly scheduled workday.

• A. Require the employee to use unpaid personal leave for the entire remainder of the year.
• B. Deny the request automatically because it would require any schedule change.
• C. Approve the request only if every other employee agrees to cover the shift voluntarily.
• D. Explore feasible scheduling options such as shift swaps or make-up time, granting the accommodation unless it creates undue hardship.

20. Two internal candidates with similar experience and performance ratings apply for the same promotion.

• A. Select the candidate with more seniority automatically, regardless of other factors.
• B. Use a structured, documented evaluation against the role's defined competencies to differentiate the candidates.
• C. Promote both candidates into the same role to avoid making a choice.
• D. Flip a coin to avoid any appearance of favoritism.

21. HR learns that a spreadsheet containing employee Social Security numbers was accidentally emailed outside the organization.

• A. Activate the organization's data breach response procedures, including assessment, notification obligations, and remediation steps.
• B. Wait to see if anyone reports misuse before taking any action.
• C. Address only the sender individually without any organizational response.
• D. Quietly delete the sent email from the sender's outbox and consider the matter closed.

22. An HR director learns that the CEO has been steering a lucrative vendor contract to a company owned by a close relative without disclosure.

• A. Wait until the contract naturally expires before raising any concern.
• B. Say nothing since the CEO has ultimate authority over vendor decisions.
• C. Mention it informally to a few trusted colleagues instead of escalating it.
• D. Raise the conflict of interest through the appropriate governance channel, such as the board or ethics committee, regardless of the CEO's seniority.

23. HR is leading a major reorganization and employees are anxious about job security and unclear about the new reporting structure.

• A. Only share the plan with senior leaders and let information filter down informally.
• B. Communicate the rationale, timeline, and known details transparently in stages, acknowledging what is still being decided.
• C. Let managers each craft their own separate explanation without coordination.
• D. Delay all communication until the reorganization is fully finalized and irreversible.

24. HR wants leadership to fund an expanded onboarding program but needs to make the business case.

• A. Present the request with data connecting time-to-productivity, turnover cost, and expected return to the organization's financial goals.
• B. Ask for the budget based on employee sentiment alone, without cost data.
• C. Request the smallest possible budget to avoid pushback, regardless of program needs.
• D. Frame the request purely in terms of HR department preference.

25. A new HR business partner wants to build credibility with skeptical department managers who see HR as purely administrative.

• A. Avoid engaging with the managers until they request help directly.
• B. Focus exclusively on enforcing policy compliance in every interaction.
• C. Proactively learn the department's goals and challenges, then offer relevant support that demonstrates HR's value as a partner.
• D. Send a company-wide email listing all the services HR offers.

26. A department head asks HR to "just write a new policy" to solve a recurring team conflict without further discussion.

• A. Draft the requested policy immediately as asked, without further inquiry.
• B. Refer the department head to legal counsel without further HR involvement.
• C. Decline to help since policy writing isn't part of the department head's original request framing.
• D. Ask clarifying questions to understand the root cause before recommending whether a policy, coaching, or another intervention is the right fix.

27. HR notices turnover has risen in one department and wants to determine the true driver before recommending a fix.

• A. Assume compensation is the cause without reviewing any data, since pay is the most common complaint.
• B. Analyze exit interview themes, engagement survey results, and manager span-of-control data together before drawing a conclusion.
• C. Recommend an across-the-board raise for the department immediately.
• D. Compare the department's turnover only to national averages and stop there.

28. A company wants to strengthen its employer brand to attract more qualified applicants in a competitive labor market.

• A. Avoid publishing any employee reviews or testimonials.
• B. Consistently communicate the organization's authentic culture, values, and employee experience across recruiting channels.
• C. Focus recruiting entirely on one channel to keep messaging simple.
• D. Only highlight compensation figures in every job posting.

29. During a behavioral interview, a candidate is asked to describe a time they handled a conflict with a coworker.

• A. The question is designed to reveal how the candidate has actually behaved in a past situation as a predictor of future job performance.
• B. The question has no bearing on the candidate's likely job performance.
• C. The question is intended to catch the candidate in an inconsistency for disqualification.
• D. The question is designed to test the candidate's general knowledge of conflict theory.

30. After an engagement survey shows low scores on "opportunities for growth," what is the most effective next step for HR?

• A. Share the results with leaders and employees, then co-create specific action plans targeting the growth-opportunity gap.
• B. Announce the low score company-wide without a plan attached.
• C. Address the issue solely through an all-company email restating the existing training catalog.
• D. Archive the results and administer the same survey again next year without changes.

31. What is the primary purpose of conducting "stay interviews" with current employees?

• A. To determine severance amounts before a layoff.
• B. To replace annual performance reviews entirely.
• C. To gather feedback only from employees who are already planning to leave.
• D. To proactively understand what currently motivates employees to stay so the organization can reinforce those factors before turnover risk grows.

32. A company wants its employee recognition program to actually drive engagement rather than feel like a formality.

• A. Limit recognition exclusively to years-of-service milestones.
• B. Design recognition to be timely, specific about the behavior being recognized, and meaningful to the recipient.
• C. Only recognize employees through a single annual company-wide announcement.
• D. Recognize the same handful of top performers every quarter regardless of others' contributions.

33. A company notices its highest-performing employees are leaving at a higher rate than average performers, even though pay is competitive.

• A. Offer identical retention bonuses to every employee regardless of performance level.
• B. Reduce performance expectations so top performers feel less pressure.
• C. Conclude that nothing more can be done since pay is already competitive.
• D. Investigate non-pay drivers such as growth opportunity, manager quality, and workload through targeted listening before designing a retention response.

34. What is the primary goal of a formal succession planning process?

• A. To identify and develop internal talent capable of filling key leadership roles when they become vacant.
• B. To reduce the current workforce headcount.
• C. To eliminate the need for external hiring permanently.
• D. To guarantee that every employee eventually receives a promotion.

35. What is the main purpose of providing employees with a total rewards statement?

• A. To announce upcoming layoffs to affected employees.
• B. To help employees see the full value of their compensation and benefits package, not just base pay.
• C. To replace the need for a base salary discussion during hiring.
• D. To satisfy a requirement that applies only to unionized workplaces.

36. What is the purpose of building a job evaluation and pay grade structure across an organization?

• A. To ensure every employee in the company earns the same salary.
• B. To determine which employees will be promoted next.
• C. To eliminate the need for market pay surveys.
• D. To establish internally consistent pay levels based on the relative value and requirements of each role.

37. What is a key advantage of offering a flexible (cafeteria-style) benefits plan compared to a single fixed benefits package?

• A. It removes the need for open enrollment periods.
• B. It eliminates the employer's cost for providing benefits entirely.
• C. It guarantees identical benefit choices for every employee regardless of need.
• D. It allows employees to select the mix of benefits that best fits their individual and family circumstances.

38. In a unionized workplace, management wants to change a scheduling practice that affects a term covered by the existing collective bargaining agreement.

• A. Announce the change directly to employees without informing the union.
• B. Notify the union and bargain over the proposed change consistent with the collective bargaining agreement and applicable obligations.
• C. Wait until the current contract term ends without any interim discussion.
• D. Implement the change immediately since management retains all scheduling authority regardless of the contract.

39. An employee files a formal grievance disputing a recent disciplinary action, following the steps outlined in company policy.

• A. Follow the established grievance procedure, including timely review at each step, to reach a documented resolution.
• B. Dismiss the grievance immediately since the discipline has already been issued.
• C. Handle the grievance informally with no documentation of the outcome.
• D. Skip directly to the final step of the grievance procedure without following earlier stages.

40. What is considered a best practice when conducting a workplace misconduct investigation?

• A. Reach a conclusion before interviewing any witnesses to save time.
• B. Allow the accused employee to conduct the interviews of witnesses.
• C. Interview all relevant parties, document findings objectively, and reach a conclusion based on the evidence gathered.
• D. Interview only the person who filed the complaint.

41. Why does HR conduct workforce planning that forecasts future staffing needs against anticipated business demand?

• A. To set individual employee salaries for the coming year.
• B. To determine which employees will be terminated in advance.
• C. To eliminate the need for a recruiting function.
• D. To anticipate talent gaps or surpluses early enough to plan hiring, development, or restructuring proactively.

42. A CHRO wants to build an HR metrics dashboard that actually informs business decisions rather than just reporting activity.

• A. Report headcount alone as the single dashboard metric.
• B. Track only the number of HR emails sent each week.
• C. Select metrics like turnover cost, time-to-fill, and engagement trends that link directly to business outcomes leadership cares about.
• D. Include metrics with no connection to business outcomes as long as they are easy to collect.

43. A company is redesigning its organizational structure to move from siloed functional departments to cross-functional product teams.

• A. Implement the new structure company-wide overnight with no phased transition or communication plan.
• B. Assess how the new structure affects reporting lines, decision rights, and collaboration patterns, and plan a change process to address the transition.
• C. Keep all existing job titles and reporting relationships unchanged to simplify the announcement.
• D. Change the org chart only, without addressing how work or decision-making will actually flow differently.

44. When selecting a new HR information system (HRIS), what should be a top priority in the evaluation process?

• A. Selecting the system every competitor in the industry currently uses.
• B. Prioritizing the system with the most visually appealing user interface alone.
• C. Choosing the vendor with the lowest sticker price regardless of fit.
• D. Evaluating how well the system's functionality fits current and future HR processes, data needs, and integration requirements.

45. Why does HR maintain defined record retention schedules for personnel files, payroll records, and hiring documentation?

• A. To retain every record permanently regardless of type or purpose.
• B. To meet applicable legal retention requirements and preserve documentation that may be needed for audits or disputes.
• C. To avoid ever having to produce records during a legal proceeding.
• D. To delete all records as quickly as possible to save storage space.

46. What is a core goal of implementing inclusive hiring practices, such as structured interviews and diverse slate requirements?

• A. To reduce bias in the selection process so candidates are evaluated fairly on job-related criteria.
• B. To reduce the total number of qualified candidates considered.
• C. To guarantee a specific demographic outcome for every open position.
• D. To eliminate the use of any qualification standards.

47. What is the primary intended outcome of unconscious bias training for hiring managers and interviewers?

• A. To completely eliminate all forms of bias immediately after a single session.
• B. To assign blame to individual managers for past biased decisions.
• C. To build awareness of common bias patterns so managers can apply more objective, consistent practices in decisions.
• D. To replace the need for structured interview processes.

48. A company is redesigning its office space and wants to ensure it is accessible to employees with a range of physical disabilities.

• A. Assume that meeting only the minimum legal standard automatically ensures the space is truly usable.
• B. Wait until an employee formally complains about a barrier before making any design changes.
• C. Focus accessibility efforts solely on the main entrance and ignore interior workspaces.
• D. Involve employees with disabilities and accessibility expertise early in the design process to identify practical barriers and solutions.

49. A department manager asks HR to skip the standard interview process and hire their close friend directly into an open role.

• A. Approve the hire but backdate interview notes for the file.
• B. Explain that all candidates, including referrals, must go through the same consistent selection process to protect fairness and defensibility.
• C. Deny the referral from consideration entirely because of the personal relationship.
• D. Comply since the manager will supervise the new hire and knows best.

50. An employee submits a leave request that overlaps with a critical project deadline the team is depending on.

• A. Approve the leave but quietly dock the employee's next performance review.
• B. Review the applicable leave policy, confirm eligibility, and work with the manager on interim coverage rather than blocking the leave.
• C. Ask the employee to work remotely during the leave to keep the project on track.
• D. Deny the leave request outright because of the timing.

51. A complainant in a harassment case asks HR to keep the investigation completely confidential from the accused employee.

• A. Deny the investigation any confidentiality protections at all.
• B. Publicly announce the investigation to the whole department.
• C. Agree fully and never inform the accused that a complaint exists.
• D. Explain that some confidentiality can be maintained, but the accused must be informed of the allegations to respond, as fairness requires.

52. Employees at one location begin distributing union authorization cards, and a supervisor asks HR how managers should respond.

• A. Advise managers to avoid threats, interrogation, promises, or surveillance regarding the organizing activity and to consult labor counsel on lawful responses.
• B. Tell managers to promise raises to employees who oppose the union effort.
• C. Instruct managers to ask each employee individually how they plan to vote.
• D. Direct managers to discipline any employee seen distributing cards.

53. What is the main purpose of giving candidates a realistic job preview during the hiring process?

• A. To reduce the total number of interview rounds required.
• B. To persuade every candidate to accept an offer regardless of fit.
• C. To replace the need for skills assessments in the selection process.
• D. To give candidates an honest picture of daily job demands so they can self-select based on genuine fit.

54. Before designing a new training program, why does HR typically conduct a training needs assessment?

• A. To select which vendor will deliver the training.
• B. To determine the venue and catering for the training session.
• C. To identify the actual performance gap and confirm that training is the right solution before investing resources.
• D. To finalize the training budget before any content is planned.

55. In the commonly used 70-20-10 learning framework, what does the largest share (70%) typically represent?

• A. Learning gained through external conference attendance.
• B. Learning gained through formal classroom instruction.
• C. Learning gained through on-the-job experience and challenging assignments.
• D. Learning gained exclusively through e-learning modules.

56. HR wants to evaluate whether a recent leadership training program actually improved participants' on-the-job behavior, not just their satisfaction with the session.

• A. Count the number of employees who attended the session as the sole measure of success.
• B. Assess behavior change on the job through manager observation or performance data collected some time after training, in addition to reaction data.
• C. Skip evaluation since satisfaction scores were already high.
• D. Rely solely on the post-training satisfaction survey completed immediately after the session.

57. A pay equity analysis reveals that employees in the same job with comparable experience are paid inconsistently across gender lines with no job-related explanation.

• A. Only address the disparity for new hires going forward, leaving current pay unchanged.
• B. Ignore the finding since pay differences are always the manager's discretion.
• C. Publicly announce individual salaries to increase pressure for informal correction.
• D. Investigate the root causes and develop a remediation plan to correct unexplained pay disparities for affected employees.

58. What is the primary purpose of a progressive discipline policy?

• A. To document only the final incident before termination.
• B. To terminate underperforming employees as quickly as possible.
• C. To provide employees with escalating notice and opportunity to correct performance or conduct issues before more serious consequences.
• D. To apply the same discipline step to every type of infraction regardless of severity.

59. What does the concept of "at-will employment" generally mean in the United States?

• A. Either the employer or the employee can generally end the employment relationship at any time, for any lawful reason or no reason, absent a contract or legal exception.
• B. An employee is guaranteed continued employment as long as performance is satisfactory.
• C. An employer must provide severance pay for any termination.
• D. An employee can never be terminated without a formal written contract.

60. A company wants to engage a worker who will set their own hours, use their own equipment, and work for other clients simultaneously, and is deciding whether to classify them as an employee or independent contractor.

• A. Evaluate the degree of behavioral and financial control the company has over how the work is performed, since misclassification carries legal and tax risk.
• B. Classification depends solely on what title is used in the engagement letter.
• C. Classify the worker as an employee automatically whenever the engagement lasts longer than a few months.
• D. Let the worker choose their own classification for tax purposes.

61. Why do organizations implement formal workplace safety programs, including hazard identification and incident reporting?

• A. To reduce workers' compensation costs by discouraging employees from reporting injuries.
• B. To proactively reduce the risk of injury and maintain compliance with workplace safety obligations.
• C. To avoid the need for any safety training of new hires.
• D. To shift all responsibility for safety entirely onto individual employees.