PHRi study plan

Map the full scope of Domain 6 (Employee and Labor Relations, 20%) into a one-page outline covering employment law concepts, employee discipline and termination, grievance and complaint handling, and union/labor relations fundamentals.

Define and write plain-language definitions for the core legal concepts most tested: employment-at-law vs. contractual employment, protected categories, retaliation, wrongful termination, and due process in discipline.

Build a comparison table of progressive discipline steps versus just-cause standards, listing what documentation each step requires.

Draft 15 original practice questions on discipline and termination and score yourself, logging every miss with the reason.

Outline the union and labor relations subtopics: organizing process, collective bargaining stages, good-faith bargaining, grievance procedures, and unfair labor practice concepts.

Sequence a step-by-step grievance handling flowchart from informal complaint through final arbitration, labeling each party's role.

Compare employee relations and employee engagement as domains, writing a short note on where they overlap and where they diverge.

Write 12 original scenario questions on grievance handling and labor relations, then review each wrong answer against your outline.

Deconstruct Domain 5 (Employee Engagement, 17%) into drivers of engagement, measurement approaches, and intervention design.

Distinguish engagement, satisfaction, and retention intent, and write one example survey item for each construct.

Design a mock engagement survey of 10 original items mapped to specific drivers, and state how you would analyze the results.

List six concrete engagement interventions and match each to the driver it targets and the metric it should move.

Explain how engagement data links to retention and performance outcomes, writing the causal logic chain in your own words.

Outline Domain 4 (Total Rewards, 15%): compensation philosophy, base pay structures, pay ranges and midpoints, incentives, and benefits design.

Calculate pay range spread, midpoint, and compa-ratio for three worked examples and check your arithmetic.

Identify the reward elements most likely to influence engagement and justify each link with a concrete mechanism.

Compare defined benefit and defined contribution retirement plans, and summarize legally required vs. discretionary benefits at a conceptual level.

Draft 15 original practice questions on pay structures, incentives, and benefits, then score and log errors.

Outline Domain 1 (Business Management, 14%): strategy types, HR's role in strategy, budgeting, and basic financial statements.

Interpret a simple income statement and balance sheet, writing out what three key ratios tell an HR leader.

Outline Domain 2 (Workforce Planning and Talent Acquisition, 14%): forecasting methods, gap analysis, job analysis, sourcing, selection, and onboarding.

Build a workforce planning worked example: forecast demand, assess supply, and quantify the gap for a hypothetical unit.

Compare three selection methods on validity and reliability, and write which you would choose and why.

Draft 15 original practice questions on workforce planning and selection, score them, and log errors.

Outline Domain 3 (Learning and Development, 10%): needs assessment, learning theories, design and delivery, transfer of training, and evaluation.

Apply a four-level evaluation framework to one training program you know, writing an indicator for each level.

Outline Domain 7 (HR Information Management, 10%): HRIS selection, data governance, privacy and security, and HR metrics.

List 10 HR metrics, define each formula, and state one decision each metric should inform.

Assemble a 60-question mixed practice exam weighted to the official domain percentages and take it timed in one sitting.

Review every missed item, tagging each error by domain and by cause (knowledge gap, misread, or guess).

Re-study only the two domains with the highest error density, writing a condensed review sheet for each.

Rehearse the exam-day plan: timing per question, flagging strategy, and what to do when stuck.