SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) — Question 6

A new HR director is hired into the HR department of one at a midsize, engineering company. The HR director immediately notices that, unlike all other major departments, HR is never invited to any important meetings, or involved in strategic discussions. The president of the company sees the sole use of an HR department as meeting legal requirements and the core duties of the HR director are to onboard new employees, help them complete their paperwork and address employee complaints. The HR director sees several areas where HR can add value to the company such as improving employee engagement, automating various HR systems, and introducing a performance review process. The HR director recognizes that the company needs one to two additional HR employees to truly be able to implement these important initiatives. When the HR director asks the president about the possibility of hiring two new HR employees, the president laughs and replies that one HR employee is costing the company more than enough.
A recently hired female engineer submits an HR complaint saying that she is not given the most visible opportunities despite her being one of the most experienced engineers at the company. After confirming that this is happening what should the HR director do in response?

Answer options

• A. Meet with the employee's manager to develop a career plan to provide more visible opportunities for the employee.
• B. Develop an equal opportunity statement and email it to all employees.
• C. Make the engineer's manager aware of the bias and require diversity training for the team.
• D. Form a women's mentoring group within the company.

Correct answer: C

Explanation

The correct answer is C because it directly addresses the issue of bias and requires action from the manager to foster a more inclusive environment through diversity training. Option A, while beneficial, does not address the underlying bias; B is too generic and lacks immediate impact; D, while supportive, does not directly tackle the immediate complaint or the management's role in the bias.