Advanced Hero is a major, publicly traded defense contractor to the US government. During the recent annual Leadership Summit, the CEO spoke of his vision for greater innovation, deeper sales pipelines within governmental agencies, and world-class performance in each operating sector. He summed this up as a Talent 2.0 version of the company. He has asked each department to consider the tasks and come back with ways they can achieve this vision. How should the company view this challenge?

• a) No department understands the nuances of recruiting, motivating, training, and retaining people to impact operational performance better than HR professionals. HR can act as a strategic partner and lead the business to reach the CEO\'s objectives.
• b) Operations at the end of the day has ultimate accountability to company performance. Support functions are there to support the revenue generating departments. Because of this, Operations should take the lead and seek input from support functions.
• c) Operational performance and success is a shared accountability across a business. Ultimately, every manager has to become a subject matter expert in talent management and is encouraged to do his or her part in reaching the vision outlined by the CEO.
• d) As these are lofty goals, it is often prudent to hire external consulting firms to help the current
• leadership team execute key strategic initiatives. They have deep experience working with organizations with similar goals and can put the framework around this request.

2. The HR department at Advanced Hero is piloting several new initiatives, one of which is opening up their recruitment process to atypical candidates. The talent acquisition team reached out to Jeremy, who has spent the majority of his adult life on humanitarian missions in third world countries. He comes highly recommended for his deep level of commitment and his ethics of hard work. Despite the positives from this initiative and Jeremy\'s background, why will Jeremy have a difficult time socializing to the new organization?

• a) Jeremy has worked for non-profit organizations with missions that align with his personal values and goals, and he may be uncomfortable with the motivators that drive for-profit organizations in the defense space.
• b) Jeremy\'s expectations for total rewards may not align well with the expectations outlined by the company because he is used to the non-profit sector.
• c) Jeremy may likely be impossible to lead and manage because he is used to non-profits that do not adhere to standard performance management principles.
• d) Jeremy does not have an MBA like most other people in this same job profile, so he may have a difficult time dealing with business topics.

3. Advanced Hero invites new hires to a dinner and networking event 30 days after hire as part of the socialization and onboarding process. While at dinner, the HR Director overhears two new employees talk about the difficulty they have had being isolated while working night shifts. One employee states, \"If I would have known the job was this dreary, I may have gone to a different company.\" How can the HR Director avoid situations like this in the future?

• a) Provide this information to the employee\'s manager and have the manager follow up the next week. It is important to ensure employees feel their voice is heard.
• b) Provide candidates a realistic job preview so that they are fully educated and aware of the working dynamics, both positive and negative, before they accept an offer.
• c) Provide a better mentor who can coach and guide the new employee through the difficult times ahead.
• d) Provide the new employee an option to work the day shift as he clearly doesn\'t want to work the night shift anymore.

4. The HR Director over the Americas wants to understand how to increase retention at a site in Kentucky that has slowly declined the last three years. The most recent HR analytics report highlights an increase in voluntary turnover after the 12-month mark. What should the Kentucky HR Director suggest as the best path forward to fixing the situation?

• a) Most people leave their jobs because of a lack of compensation. Conduct a thorough compensation analysis to identify those most likely to leave and provide appropriate increases.
• b) A good benefits program highlights all the amazing perks the company has to offer and can encourage employees to stay. Work with the benefits broker to restructure the benefits program.
• c) Hitting critical milestones during the onboarding process can drastically improve retention efforts and boost engagement. Focus on making onboarding more effective.
• d) Creating incentives in the workplace is proven to increase employee engagement. Work with the HR Director over the Americas to expand the HR budget for more giveaways and parties at the site.