Human Resource Development and HR Administration
HR development and administration items test process literacy: how training is designed and evaluated, how performance is managed and documented, and how long records are kept.
Training design begins with a needs assessment and typically follows ADDIE (analyze, design, develop, implement, evaluate). Evaluation uses Kirkpatrick's four levels: reaction, learning, behavior, and results. Compliance training is mandatory: employers with 50 or more employees must give two hours of California-specific sexual harassment prevention training to supervisors and one hour to nonsupervisory employees within six months of hire and every two years thereafter.
Performance management pairs clear, measurable goals with frequent feedback, calibrated ratings, and contemporaneous documentation. A performance improvement plan should state specific deficiencies, measurable expectations, a defined review period, and consequences - and must be genuine, not a pretext for a decision already made. Progressive discipline escalates from coaching to written warning to final warning to separation.
Records retention favors the longer of state or federal requirements: payroll records four years (Labor Code 1174), personnel records at least three years after separation, Form I-9 three years after hire or one year after separation (whichever is later), Cal/OSHA logs five years, and FEHA-related records four years. Employees may inspect their personnel file within 30 days of a request and receive a copy at cost.
HR metrics turn activity into evidence: turnover rate (separations divided by average headcount), time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, and 90-day retention.
Trap: retaliating against an employee for requesting a personnel file, or retaining I-9s for exactly three years from hire without checking the separation rule.
Worked example: 14 separations in a year with average headcount of 120 yields 11.7 percent turnover.