Cheat sheet

Exam length and item mix

134

total items presented

24

unscored field-test items, drawn from both item types

The 24 field-test items are inside the 134, not added to it: 158 is the trap. They are not all situational judgment items.

Seat time

Unused minutes in Section 1 do not carry into Section 2. No break is scheduled; if you leave the room the clock keeps running.

Behavioral competency cluster weights (2026 handbook)

By item type the same 50% splits into Situational Judgment 40% and Foundational Knowledge 10%.

The 2025 weights (Leadership 17%, Business 16.5%, Interpersonal 16.5%) are the carryover error.

Try itleadership navigation 5 · mediumleadership navigation 33 · mediumbusiness acumen 15 · medium

HR knowledge domain weights (2026 handbook)

People and Leadership are both 19%; Organization 18% is the only domain weight that did not move from 2025. Workplace fell from 14% to 13%.

Try ithr strategy 27 · mediumorg effectiveness 3 · mediumglobal workforce 7 · easy

How a situational judgment item is keyed

Distractors are not illegal or absurd, and there is no partial credit. Rank by effectiveness, not by speed, legality alone, or escalation.

Try itleadership navigation 31 · easyconsultation 28 · mediumengagement retention 30 · medium

Which functional area sits in which domain

14

functional areas under HR Expertise, in 3 domains

9 + 1

nine behavioral competencies plus the technical competency HR Expertise

Organizational Effectiveness & Development is an Organization area, not Workplace, even though it is enterprise-wide. No U.S. statute appears in Employee & Labor Relations: the NLRA lives only in U.S. Employment Law & Regulations.

Try ithr function structure 2 · easyorg effectiveness 1 · easyorg effectiveness 2 · easycsr 8 · easyemployee labor relations 4 · medium

The three behavioral competency clusters (2026 BASK)

2026 merged Inclusion & Diversity with Global Mindset into Inclusive Mindset and moved it into Leadership, which is why Interpersonal now has only two competencies.

Try itleadership navigation 3 · easyrelationship management 4 · mediumbusiness acumen 1 · easyinclusive mindset 1 · easy

Sub-competency counts

Inclusion & Diversity had 3 in 2025; Inclusive Mindset has 5 in 2026. Reversing those two counts is the standard trap.

Try itleadership navigation 1 · easyethical practice 1 · easyinclusive mindset 5 · easyrelationship management 2 · easycommunication 2 · easyconsultation 1 · easyanalytical aptitude 1 · easy

Named theory counts under Leadership & Navigation

9

situational, transformational, participative, inclusive, leader-member exchange, servant, transactional, trait, contingency

6

goal-setting, expectancy, attribution, self-determination, equity, Herzberg's two-factor

Maslow's hierarchy and path-goal theory are NOT on the BASK lists even though they are the best-known names. Herzberg is the only motivation theory named for its author.

Try itleadership navigation 6 · mediumleadership navigation 10 · easyleadership navigation 11 · mediumleadership navigation 12 · easyleadership navigation 13 · hard

Title VII / ADA / GINA employer coverage

Both halves must be met. The 20 in this test is weeks, not employees; the ADEA's 20 is employees. 25 appears in no statute.

Try itus employment law 1 · easyus employment law 5 · easy

ADEA employer coverage and the protected age

State and local governments are covered regardless of size, so an 11-person county department is still covered.

There is no upper age cap: the 40-to-70 band was removed in 1986.

Try itus employment law 2 · easyus employment law 3 · easyus employment law 4 · mediumus employment law 6 · mediumtalent acquisition 22 · easy

EEOC charge-filing deadline

180 is the default; treating 300 as the default is the listed common error. For ADEA charges only a state law or agency triggers the extension, not a local one.

Try itus employment law 7 · easyus employment law 8 · mediumus employment law 9 · hard

Right-to-sue and ADEA suit windows

The 90-day suit window and the 180-day charge window are the pair candidates swap. The ADEA's 60 days is a floor, not a deadline.

Try itus employment law 10 · easyus employment law 11 · hard

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (2009)

The pre-Ledbetter one-time-act theory is the wrong answer. Getting the paycheck rule right but dropping the two-year back-pay limit is the second-best distractor.

Try itus employment law 12 · mediumus employment law 13 · mediumtalent acquisition 30 · hard

ADA undue hardship

No percentage-of-revenue bright line exists, and one manager's discretionary budget is not the test: at a 900-person system the enterprise's resources are.

Try itus employment law 19 · mediumus employment law 20 · medium

OWBPA consideration periods

Swapping 21 and 45 is the listed common error. A reduction in force across departments is a group program: 21 days is not enough.

Try itus employment law 14 · easyus employment law 15 · mediumus employment law 18 · hard

OWBPA revocation and validity elements

The 7-day revocation applies to individual AND group waivers. 7 is not the consideration period; 21 is.

Try itus employment law 16 · easyus employment law 17 · medium

Covered employer (private sector)

This is employer coverage. The 50-within-75-miles test is a separate employee-eligibility test; reversing 50 and 75 is the classic slip.

Try itus employment law 21 · easytotal rewards 37 · easy

Employee eligibility — all three must be met

1,250

hours of service, not hours paid or scheduled

75 miles

radius from the worksite, measured when notice is given

There is no part-time exclusion: a part-timer who reaches 1,250 hours is eligible, and one at 1,100 or 1,180 hours is not.

A 600-employee national headcount is irrelevant if only 31 work within 75 miles of the worksite.

Try itus employment law 22 · easyus employment law 23 · mediumus employment law 31 · mediumtotal rewards 38 · medium

Military caregiver leave and the combined cap

26 − weeks already used

remaining entitlement (8 used → 18 left)

12 + 26 = 38 is the most common error: the entitlements do not stack. Applying the 12-week cap to military caregiver leave is the other.

Try itus employment law 24 · mediumtotal rewards 39 · hard

Eligibility Notice timing

The clock runs from the request or the employer's knowledge, not from receipt of the medical certification. A supervisor's knowledge starts it.

Try itus employment law 25 · mediumus employment law 30 · mediumtotal rewards 40 · medium

Designation Notice

Not one notice per absence: intermittent leave for the same reason needs only the one designation. 15 business days is invented.

Try itus employment law 26 · hard

Key-employee exception

It denies restoration, not the leave itself, and it is a pay-rank test, not a title test. The 10% pool includes ineligible employees.

Try itus employment law 27 · hardtotal rewards 41 · medium

Health coverage and restoration

Not COBRA, not employee-paid-in-full, not any vacancy. Intermittent leave is defined by the separate blocks of time for a single qualifying reason, not by its total duration.

Try itus employment law 28 · easyus employment law 29 · medium

Federal minimum wage and tipped cash wage

$5.12

the gap tips must fill ($7.25 − $2.13) — the maximum tip credit, NOT the cash wage

$5.12 offered as the required cash wage is the designed trap.

Try itus employment law 32 · easyus employment law 33 · easytotal rewards 31 · easy

Overtime rule

11-hour days totalling exactly 40 hours owe nothing federally. The premium is on the regular rate, not on the minimum wage, and the multiplier is 1.5, not 2.

Try itus employment law 34 · mediumtotal rewards 30 · medium

Overtime gross pay

rate

regular rate of pay

46 h @ $20

800 + 6 × 30 = $980.00

46 h @ $18

720 + 6 × 27 = $882.00

48 h @ $22

premium portion = 8 × 33 = $264.00; total $1,144.00

Distractors pay every hour at 1.5, pay the excess at straight time, or pay only the half-time increment. The overtime hours get the full time-and-a-half.

Try itus employment law 35 · mediumtotal rewards 28 · easytotal rewards 29 · medium

Child labor: 14- and 15-year-olds, nonagricultural

A 5-hour Tuesday shift ending at 8 p.m. during the school year breaks both the hours and the time-of-day rule. The minor's consent is irrelevant.

Try itus employment law 40 · mediumus employment law 44 · medium

FLSA record retention

Reversing 3 and 2 is the classic swap. The 3-years-or-1-year-after-termination rule is Form I-9, not FLSA.

Try itus employment law 42 · mediumtotal rewards 32 · medium

FLSA civil money penalty

Other real figures in the same schedule attach to child labor violations, including the higher amount where a violation causes serious injury or death; do not attach them to §206/§207.

Try itus employment law 43 · hard

Standard salary level

$2,964

$684 × 52 / 12 — not $684 × 4

The 2024 rule's higher levels were vacated nationwide in November 2024 and DOL restored $684 in the CFR in May 2026; tracking proposals rather than the level in effect is the typical error.

$650 or $690 a week fails or passes the salary test alone: the duties test still has to be met.

Try itus employment law 36 · easyus employment law 37 · mediumtotal rewards 18 · easytotal rewards 19 · hard

Highly compensated employee exemption

$100,000 is the pre-2020 round figure; the higher numbers come from the vacated 2024 rule. The $684 weekly floor still applies on top of the annual figure.

Try itus employment law 38 · mediumtotal rewards 20 · medium

Computer employee exemption

$27.63 transposed to $26.37 or $27.36 is the designed trap. $17.10 ($684/40) is the salary level expressed hourly, not the regulatory alternative.

Try itus employment law 39 · mediumtotal rewards 21 · medium

Nondiscretionary bonus toward the salary level

Expressly unavailable to highly compensated employees. It governs how the salary may be paid; it never substitutes for a duties test.

Try ittotal rewards 23 · hard

Executive vs administrative duties

Salaried does not mean exempt. A $700/week clerk following a fixed procedure manual exercises no discretion on matters of significance and is nonexempt.

Try ittotal rewards 24 · mediumtotal rewards 25 · mediumtotal rewards 26 · mediumtotal rewards 33 · medium

Section 1 timing

Not before hire, and not within three days: three business days is the Section 2 deadline. Confusing the two sections' deadlines is the most common I-9 error.

Try itus employment law 45 · easy

Section 2 timing

The clock runs from the start of employment, not from the offer and not from a payroll cycle. A late Section 2 gets an accurate, currently dated entry — never a backdated one.

Try itus employment law 46 · mediumus employment law 51 · medium

I-9 retention

Hired 2023-01-10, terminated 2024-03-01

later of 2026-01-10 and 2025-03-01 → retain through 2026-01-10

Flipping later to earlier licenses premature destruction and is the most damaging version of this error. Keeping only one prong is equally wrong.

Try itus employment law 47 · mediumus employment law 48 · hard

Alternative (remote) document examination

No headcount condition and no field-office approval. The employer never holds the employee's original documents.

Try itus employment law 49 · medium

H-1B caps

65,000 is the regular cap alone; 85,000 is the combined figure. 66,000 belongs to H-2B.

Try itglobal workforce 15 · easyglobal workforce 16 · easyglobal workforce 17 · medium

H-2B cap and allocation

Fiscal-year halves, not calendar-year halves. 33,000 is half the cap, not the cap.

Try itglobal workforce 18 · mediumglobal workforce 19 · hard

Fatality reporting

Swapping the 8-hour and 24-hour rules is the standard error. The duty does not wait on an internal investigation.

Try itus employment law 53 · easyrisk management 15 · easyrisk management 30 · medium

24-hour reporting triggers

9:00 a.m. Tuesday amputation

report by 9:00 a.m. Wednesday

One hospitalization triggers it; there is no three-employee threshold. A Friday-afternoon amputation cannot wait for Monday's safety summary.

Try itus employment law 54 · easyus employment law 60 · mediumrisk management 16 · easyrisk management 17 · medium

General recording criteria (29 CFR 1904.7)

First aid alone (bandage and antiseptic, shift finished, no restrictions) is not recordable. Work-relatedness alone is not enough, and there is no three-day minimum.

Try itus employment law 55 · mediumrisk management 18 · mediumrisk management 19 · hard

Form 300A posting and retention

300A is the summary that gets posted; the 301 Incident Reports contain case detail and are not posted. Five years, not the FLSA's three.

Try itus employment law 56 · mediumrisk management 20 · easyrisk management 21 · mediumrisk management 28 · easy

Electronic submission

February 1 and April 30 are the posting dates, not the submission date; all three are real OSHA dates attached to different obligations.

Try itus employment law 58 · mediumrisk management 23 · easyrisk management 26 · medium

Small-employer partial exemption

The exemption covers RECORDING only. Every covered employer must still REPORT fatalities, in-patient hospitalizations, amputations and eye losses.

Try itus employment law 57 · hardrisk management 22 · mediumrisk management 34 · medium

OSHA maximum penalties

The lower published maximum applies to serious, other-than-serious and posting violations and to failure to abate per day; it is a real figure at the wrong severity level.

Try itus employment law 59 · hardrisk management 27 · medium

Section 7 rights

Only the refrain clause came from Taft-Hartley; the rest is the 1935 text. Section 7 does not require a union: three non-union employees emailing jointly about scheduling are protected.

Try itemployee labor relations 21 · mediumemployee labor relations 22 · medium

The five employer unfair labor practices

Employer-created, employer-funded committees addressing wages are 8(a)(2), not the broader 8(a)(1). Firing a witness after NLRB testimony is 8(a)(4), not 8(a)(3).

Try itemployee labor relations 23 · mediumemployee labor relations 24 · mediumemployee labor relations 25 · mediumemployee labor relations 26 · easy

Section 8(d) — duty to bargain and contract notice

Hard bargaining is not bad faith; refusing a wage demand outright after 14 real sessions is lawful. The 30-day figure is the separate FMCS notice under 8(d)(3).

Try itemployee labor relations 27 · mediumemployee labor relations 28 · mediumemployee labor relations 30 · hard

Section 10(b) charge limitation

Twelve months is the §9(c)(3) election bar, not the charge limit; three months exists nowhere in the Act.

Try itemployee labor relations 31 · easy

Showing of interest

30% applies to RC and RD petitions (29 CFR 101.18) and to UD petitions by statute (§9(e)(1)). A majority is what wins the election, not what files the petition.

Try itemployee labor relations 32 · mediumemployee labor relations 35 · medium

Election bar

Six months and three years are both invented. The 60-day early-filing window does not move the election date forward.

Try itemployee labor relations 33 · hard

Economic vs unfair labor practice strikers

Union-security grace period: at least 30 days, except 7 full days in building and construction under §8(f).

Try itemployee labor relations 36 · mediumemployee labor relations 37 · hardemployee labor relations 38 · hardemployee labor relations 34 · medium

Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971)

Griggs created disparate impact, going beyond the disparate-treatment theory; it did not create a good-faith safe harbour.

Try itus employment law 61 · easy

McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green (1973)

prima facie

protected class; applied and qualified; rejected; position remained open and the employer kept seeking similar applicants

The employer's middle-step burden is production, not persuasion. This is individual disparate treatment, not statistical impact proof.

Try itus employment law 62 · medium

Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody (1975)

No automatic-discard rule and no vendor safe harbour; deference went to the EEOC Guidelines.

Try itus employment law 63 · hard

Harris v. Forklift Systems, Inc. (1993)

The rejected rule is exactly the one the Sixth Circuit had applied: proof of psychological harm. Severity or pervasiveness still matters.

Try itus employment law 64 · medium

Faragher / Ellerth (1998)

A written policy alone is not element one — it must be enforced. Economic loss is not part of the defense.

Try itus employment law 65 · mediumus employment law 70 · medium

Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Ry. v. White (2006)

This standard is broader than the one for substantive discrimination, and no malice element is required. Moving the complainant can itself be materially adverse.

Try itus employment law 66 · medium

Ricci v. DeStefano (2009)

It did not prohibit impact analysis, and outside validation is not the trigger.

Try itus employment law 67 · hard

Vance (2013) and Ames (2025)

Vance rejected the broader EEOC directs-daily-work test 5-4. Vance changes the liability theory, not the employer's duty to investigate and correct.

Try itus employment law 68 · mediumus employment law 69 · mediumus employment law 70 · medium

Turnover rate (SHRM)

average headcount

sum of the headcount reports ÷ number of reports

(210+218+222)/3 = 216.667

6 / 216.667 × 100 = 2.77%

84 / 700

12.0% · 72 / 480 = 15.0% · 96 / 640 = 15.0%

Use AVERAGE headcount, never ending or year-end headcount; dividing by the highest or lowest monthly report is the designed wrong answer.

Separations divided by hires is a replacement ratio, not turnover. BLS JOLTS uses the same separations-over-employment structure.

Try itanalytical aptitude 18 · mediumanalytical aptitude 20 · easyengagement retention 14 · easyengagement retention 15 · easyworkforce management 27 · easyworkforce management 28 · mediumorg effectiveness 25 · medium

What counts in the numerator

12 separations, 4 temp layoffs, 400 avg

(12 − 4) / 400 × 100 = 2.00%

Including the temporary layoffs gives 3.00%, which SHRM's key marks wrong.

Try itanalytical aptitude 19 · hard

Voluntary turnover and the benchmark medians

2022 SHRM medians

overall 15% · voluntary 12% · involuntary 4%

40 separations / 250, 30 voluntary

overall 16.0%, voluntary 12.0%

30/40 = 75% is a share of separations, not a turnover rate. Do not report the involuntary rate as voluntary.

Try itengagement retention 16 · mediumengagement retention 17 · mediumanalytical aptitude 24 · mediumworkforce management 29 · hard

HR-to-employee ratio (SHRM)

9 / 750

1.20 · 14 / 1,120 = 1.25 · 15 / 1,250 = 1.20

Inverting the fraction (total FTEs / HR FTEs) is the standard wrong answer.

Try itanalytical aptitude 21 · mediumanalytical aptitude 22 · hardhr strategy 19 · mediumhr strategy 20 · mediumhr function structure 21 · easyhr function structure 22 · medium

2022 Benchmarking Human Capital Report (n = 945)

Average well above median means a right-skewed distribution pulled up by high-ratio organizations — not an unstable or small sample. Median and average are the pair the item swaps.

Try itanalytical aptitude 23 · mediumhr strategy 21 · hardhr function structure 26 · hardhr function structure 28 · hard

Uniform Guidelines validity evidence

Face validity is NOT a recognized type; "it obviously looks job-related" is not a validation strategy. Reliability is consistency of measurement, not validity.

Try itanalytical aptitude 11 · mediumanalytical aptitude 12 · mediumanalytical aptitude 10 · mediumtalent acquisition 10 · mediumtalent acquisition 12 · mediumtalent acquisition 13 · hardtalent acquisition 14 · medium

Compa-ratio

72,000 / 80,000

90 — paid 10% below midpoint

118

18% ABOVE the midpoint

The reference point is the MIDPOINT, never the maximum. Inverting to midpoint/salary gives 1.11, the designed distractor.

Try ittotal rewards 6 · easytotal rewards 7 · easy

Solving for salary or for a group

1.10 × 95,000

$104,500

(63,000+69,000+72,000)/3 = 68,000

68,000 / 80,000 × 100 = 85

Divide instead of multiply and you get 86,364; use one salary instead of the average and you get 79 or 90.

Try ittotal rewards 10 · mediumtotal rewards 11 · hard

Range spread

(75,000 − 50,000) / 50,000

0.50 = 50%

Dividing the gap by the MAXIMUM (25,000/75,000 = 33%) is the standard error, as is reporting the dollar gap as a percentage.

Try ittotal rewards 8 · medium

Building the range from the minimum

60,000 × 1.40

max $84,000 at a 40% spread

48,000 × 1.50 = 72,000

midpoint = (48,000 + 72,000)/2 = $60,000

Reporting the maximum ($72,000) when the question asks for the midpoint is the most common slip on this calculation.

Try ittotal rewards 9 · mediumtotal rewards 12 · hard

Market pay line and lead/lag policy

60,000 × 1.03

$61,800 midpoint under a 3% lead

The pay line always runs through the midpoint, not the minimum or maximum — putting it at either end places the whole range above or below market.

Try ittotal rewards 15 · mediumtotal rewards 16 · hardtotal rewards 17 · medium

WorldatWork Total Rewards Model and BASK pay practices

The older five-element version of the WorldatWork model is the most common wrong answer, and its five elements are not the BASK pay-practices list.

Try ittotal rewards 5 · mediumtotal rewards 3 · mediumtotal rewards 1 · easy

Kotter's 8 steps (Kotter Inc.)

Urgency is step 1, not a precondition; coalition building is step 2. Two steps follow the short-term wins, which is the model's warning against declaring victory early.

Try itleadership navigation 15 · easyleadership navigation 16 · mediumleadership navigation 19 · easyconsultation 5 · mediumconsultation 6 · mediumorg effectiveness 4 · easyorg effectiveness 5 · mediumconsultation 26 · hard

Matching the symptom to the Kotter step

Step 5 is systemic obstruction; step 8 is anchoring so the organization does not revert. Step 7 (sustain acceleration) also concerns lasting change, which is why it is the tempting wrong answer for reversion.

Try itleadership navigation 17 · mediumleadership navigation 18 · mediumconsultation 18 · mediumorg effectiveness 6 · medium

Prosci ADKAR — the five elements

Address the EARLIEST unmet element first. Adoption, Alignment, Decision, Action and Results are not ADKAR words.

Try itleadership navigation 20 · easyleadership navigation 21 · mediumleadership navigation 24 · easyconsultation 8 · easyconsultation 9 · mediumorg effectiveness 8 · medium

Matching the symptom to the ADKAR element

Knowledge vs Ability is the exam's favourite distinction: describing the steps is Knowledge, performing them is Ability. Regression after success is Reinforcement, never a fresh Desire problem.

Try itleadership navigation 22 · mediumleadership navigation 23 · mediumleadership navigation 25 · hardconsultation 7 · easyconsultation 10 · hardconsultation 19 · mediumhr strategy 30 · mediumorg effectiveness 7 · mediumorg effectiveness 9 · mediumorg effectiveness 10 · medium

The four change models named in the BASK

ADKAR and Bridges are real models but are NOT the four named in Consultation's key concepts. Change Management is one of Consultation's five sub-competencies, which is where the BASK files them.

Try itconsultation 4 · mediumconsultation 25 · easy

The BASK consulting process (4 stages)

Not initiate-plan-execute-close, and not four of the five ADKAR elements. Presenting options with a preferred course is Advising on HR Solutions; diagnosing first is Evaluating Business Challenges.

Try itconsultation 3 · mediumconsultation 11 · mediumconsultation 14 · mediumconsultation 21 · medium

ADDIE

Assessment, Delivery, Integration and Engagement are not ADDIE phases. ADDIE begins with analysis, which is why a requested two-day class before any diagnosis is the wrong first move.

Try itlearning development 4 · easylearning development 11 · medium

BASK instructional design models vs adult learning theories

Bloom's taxonomy is an instructional design model in the BASK, and 70-20-10 is an adult learning theory. A full-text search of the BASK finds no Knowles, no andragogy and no Kirkpatrick.

Try itlearning development 3 · mediumlearning development 6 · mediumlearning development 7 · mediumlearning development 8 · hardlearning development 9 · mediumlearning development 26 · hardlearning development 33 · hard

Kirkpatrick's four levels

ROI is not Level 4's name; Results is. Smile-sheet ratings of "engaging and relevant" are Level 1 only, even when the numbers are high.

Try itlearning development 16 · easylearning development 17 · easylearning development 18 · mediumlearning development 19 · mediumlearning development 20 · mediumorg effectiveness 19 · easyorg effectiveness 21 · easy

Reading the evidence you have

Strong quiz scores with nothing changed on the job is a Level 3 transfer failure: measure and unblock behavior rather than buying a second workshop.

Try itlearning development 21 · mediumlearning development 22 · hardlearning development 34 · mediumorg effectiveness 20 · medium

70-20-10 (Center for Creative Leadership)

120 hours

84 / 24 / 12

Inverting the ratio to put training first is the single most common error, as is reading 70, 20 and 10 as hours rather than percentages.

It came from CCL's Lessons of Experience research, over 30 years of study of how executives learn, grow and change — not from Kirkpatrick.

Try itlearning development 12 · easylearning development 13 · mediumlearning development 14 · mediumlearning development 15 · mediumorg effectiveness 23 · mediumorg effectiveness 24 · medium

PESTLE

Strategic and Ethical are the substituted letters in the distractor. PESTLE scans OUTSIDE only; SWOT adds the internal half, so a pure external scan question wants PESTLE.

Try itbusiness acumen 3 · mediumbusiness acumen 4 · easybusiness acumen 20 · mediumhr strategy 7 · medium

Porter's Five Forces (1979 Harvard Business Review)

Regulators, labor supply and financing conditions are not forces. A new low-cost company arriving = new entrants; a different service model meeting the same need = substitutes; few large customers who can switch = buyer power.

Try itbusiness acumen 12 · mediumbusiness acumen 13 · easybusiness acumen 14 · mediumbusiness acumen 29 · hardhr strategy 11 · mediumorg effectiveness 16 · easyorg effectiveness 17 · mediumorg effectiveness 18 · medium

Balanced scorecard and the BASK's business lists

Leading indicators describe activity that can change future performance. The balanced scorecard is a BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE tool with predictive analytics, trend analysis and scenario planning — it is NOT in HR Strategy's list of strategic planning analysis frameworks.

Financial analysis terms (balance sheets, budgets, cash flow, P&L, overhead, ROI, SWOT) are a different BASK heading from business terms (competitive advantage, revenue, fixed and variable costs, net income, KPIs).

Try itbusiness acumen 6 · mediumbusiness acumen 9 · mediumbusiness acumen 10 · mediumbusiness acumen 11 · mediumbusiness acumen 21 · mediumhr strategy 10 · hard

BASK strategic planning process and frameworks

Scanning is not a stage — it is done with the frameworks. The balanced scorecard is the item that does NOT belong on the frameworks list.

Try ithr strategy 12 · easyhr strategy 13 · mediumhr strategy 10 · hard

CEBMa — the four sources of evidence

Stakeholders is the source most often dropped. Benchmarking, vendor research, regulators and executive preference are not CEBMa sources. HRIS turnover and exit data = the organization.

Try itanalytical aptitude 13 · mediumhr strategy 22 · mediumhr strategy 25 · mediumorg effectiveness 11 · mediumorg effectiveness 13 · easyorg effectiveness 15 · easy

CEBMa — the six steps

Asking

translate a practical problem into an answerable question

Appraising

judge trustworthiness and relevance of each piece

Aggregating

weigh and pull the evidence together

Assessing

evaluate the outcome of the decision taken

Definition: conscientious, explicit and judicious use of the best available evidence from multiple sources — not exhaustive, not automated, and never selective.

Appraise before you aggregate, and acquire only after you have a question.

Try itanalytical aptitude 14 · mediumanalytical aptitude 15 · hardanalytical aptitude 16 · mediumanalytical aptitude 17 · mediumhr strategy 23 · hardhr strategy 24 · mediumorg effectiveness 12 · mediumorg effectiveness 14 · hardanalytical aptitude 29 · medium

Hofstede — 6 dimensions

power distance

the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept and expect that power is distributed unequally

Four is the original count before long-term orientation and indulgence were added; seven belongs to Trompenaars; nine is GLOBE. In-group collectivism, performance orientation and humane orientation are GLOBE, not Hofstede.

Try itinclusive mindset 28 · mediuminclusive mindset 29 · easyglobal workforce 10 · mediumglobal workforce 11 · hard

GLOBE — 9 dimensions

performance orientation

degree to which a collective encourages and rewards performance improvement and excellence

uncertainty avoidance (GLOBE)

reliance on social norms, rules and procedures to alleviate unpredictability

Power distance and uncertainty avoidance are the ONLY two names shared with Hofstede; long-term orientation and indulgence are Hofstede-only, assertiveness is GLOBE-only.

Try itinclusive mindset 30 · hardinclusive mindset 31 · hardglobal workforce 9 · mediumglobal workforce 12 · easyglobal workforce 13 · mediumglobal workforce 14 · medium

Methods for moving work and HR structures for global work

A cost-and-time-zone delivery decision uses the moving-work vocabulary. Inconsistent titles and bands across countries is fixed by global job classifications; centralizing visa and cross-border pay expertise is a geographic center of excellence.

Try itglobal workforce 2 · easyglobal workforce 3 · mediumglobal workforce 28 · mediumglobal workforce 30 · mediumglobal workforce 33 · hard

International assignment best practices (BASK)

Repatriation closes the list and is the stage most often missing when returnees resign within months. Immigration and mobility is a separate key concept: laws, visa processes and requirements, sponsorship expenses.

Try itglobal workforce 5 · easyglobal workforce 6 · mediumglobal workforce 4 · mediumglobal workforce 23 · mediumglobal workforce 24 · mediumglobal workforce 31 · mediumglobal workforce 32 · medium

ILO fundamental principles and conventions

No. 155 (1981)

Occupational Safety and Health Convention

No. 187 (2006)

Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention

The ILO is the body the BASK names at the head of the Employee & Labor Relations key concepts, and is the anchor for multinational baseline employment standards.

Try itglobal workforce 20 · mediumglobal workforce 21 · mediumglobal workforce 22 · hardemployee labor relations 3 · easyemployee labor relations 10 · hard

The four risk treatments (BASK)

avoidance

cease the activity

reduction

lower probability or impact through controls

sharing

transfer the financial consequence, e.g. insurance

retention

absorb the loss on your own balance sheet

Buying insurance is SHARING, not transfer-as-a-fifth-option and not retention. Duplication, acceptance and mitigation are not the BASK's words here.

Try itrisk management 2 · easyrisk management 3 · mediumrisk management 29 · medium

Definition, ERM process and risk types

The goal is to control exposure, never to eliminate risk. Treatments come after the risks are understood; they are not themselves the process.

Try itrisk management 1 · easyrisk management 5 · easyrisk management 6 · medium

COSO ERM frameworks

Internal Control — Integrated Framework is COSO's separate internal control publication, not the ERM original.

Try itrisk management 10 · mediumrisk management 11 · medium

Emergency action plan (29 CFR 1910.38)

Written and kept in the workplace, EXCEPT an employer with 10 or fewer employees may communicate it orally. No annual third-party audit is required.

Try itrisk management 12 · mediumrisk management 13 · mediumrisk management 14 · hardrisk management 33 · medium

Safety and security threats named in the BASK

Business continuity and disaster recovery plans are listed with evacuation procedures and simulations — a plan that has never been exercised is the gap the BASK expects you to close.

Try itrisk management 7 · mediumrisk management 9 · easyrisk management 31 · mediumrisk management 32 · medium

Progressive discipline (BASK sequence)

Arbitration is an ADR type, not a discipline step, and a lockout belongs to strikes and lockouts. Jumping to termination with nothing documented and no reset expectations is the wrong first move.

Try itemployee labor relations 16 · mediumemployee labor relations 17 · mediumemployee labor relations 20 · medium

Grievance and complaint resolution

The appeal step is what candidates drop, and an appeal is meaningful only before someone not already invested in the outcome.

Try itemployee labor relations 18 · easyemployee labor relations 19 · mediumemployee labor relations 15 · hard

ADR types and investigations

Mediation fits parties who want to keep working together; arbitration is not a substitute for the fact-finding the employer still owes. Litigation is what ADR replaces, not a type of it.

Try itemployee labor relations 6 · easyemployee labor relations 7 · mediumemployee labor relations 2 · easyemployee labor relations 13 · easyemployee labor relations 14 · medium

COBRA — 18 months

12 months is the FMLA measuring period, not a COBRA duration.

Try ittotal rewards 34 · easy

COBRA — 36 months and the election window

coverage ends Mar 31, notice Apr 10

60 days run from April 10

Whichever is later, not earlier — the same later-of logic as I-9 retention.

Try ittotal rewards 35 · mediumtotal rewards 36 · medium

UN Global Compact

Principles 3–6

the labour principles

Ten principles, not seventeen (that is the Sustainable Development Goals) and not six (that is the SHRM Code of Ethics).

Labour principles: freedom of association and effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; elimination of forced and compulsory labour; effective abolition of child labour; elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation.

Try itcsr 9 · easycsr 10 · easycsr 11 · mediumcsr 12 · mediumcsr 13 · easy

SOX Section 404

Who does what is the whole item: (a) is management, (b) is the outside auditor.

Try itcsr 16 · mediumcsr 17 · mediumcsr 18 · hard

SOX Section 806 whistleblower

Protected reports

(A) a federal regulatory or law enforcement agency, (B) a Member or committee of Congress, (C) a person with supervisory authority or authority to investigate, discover or terminate misconduct

180 days since Dodd-Frank, not the original 90; the complaint goes to OSHA, not to the SEC. An internal report to a supervisor qualifies, and Murray v. UBS Securities (2024) rejected any retaliatory-intent element.

Preliminary-order remedies: reinstatement with the same seniority, back pay with interest at the 26 U.S.C. 6621 underpayment rate compounded daily, and special damages including litigation costs, expert fees and reasonable attorney fees.

Try itethical practice 27 · mediumethical practice 28 · mediumethical practice 30 · hardethical practice 32 · hard