Chapter 17 — Quiz

Twenty-four self-check questions. Answer from memory first; the key is collapsed at the bottom.

Multiple choice

1. Turnover rate is: - (a) separations divided by hires - (b) separations divided by average positions, annualized - (c) the cost of replacing one employee - (d) the percentage of staff employed over one year

2. In §17.1's build, the single largest component of a line cook's replacement cost is: - (a) advertising - (b) the stage - (c) unproductive training wages - (d) vacancy overtime

3. Bellwether's estimated annual turnover cost of about \$38,000 represents roughly: - (a) 0.5% of revenue - (b) 2.5% of revenue - (c) 7.5% of revenue - (d) 12% of revenue

4. Which sourcing channel typically produces the best retention? - (a) job boards - (b) walk-ins - (c) staff referrals - (d) culinary schools

5. A structured interview differs from an unstructured one primarily because it: - (a) is longer - (b) uses the same scored questions in the same order for every candidate - (c) is conducted by two managers - (d) avoids questions about past employers

6. The chapter's stated reason unstructured interviews predict poorly is that they mostly measure: - (a) intelligence - (b) technical skill - (c) rapport and similarity to the interviewer - (d) work history accuracy

7. Under the general FLSA principle described in §17.5, a trial shift is compensable when: - (a) it lasts more than two hours - (b) the work primarily benefits the employer - (c) the candidate is subsequently hired - (d) the restaurant is open to guests

8. Section 2 of Form I-9 must be completed by the employer within: - (a) one business day of the start date - (b) three business days of the start date - (c) seven calendar days of the start date - (d) thirty days of the start date

9. With respect to I-9 documents, an employer may not: - (a) make copies - (b) specify which acceptable documents the employee must present - (c) accept a document from List B with one from List C - (d) retain the form after separation

10. A third-party criminal background check is governed principally by: - (a) the FLSA - (b) the Fair Credit Reporting Act - (c) the ADA - (d) state liquor law

11. "Ban-the-box" laws generally restrict: - (a) whether you may run a background check at all - (b) when in the process you may ask about criminal history - (c) how long records may be retained - (d) which positions require checks

12. At-will employment means: - (a) the employee may quit but the employer must show cause - (b) either party may end the relationship at any time for any lawful reason - (c) employment continues while performance is satisfactory - (d) termination requires two weeks' notice

13. According to Figure 17.3, the three moments at which new hires most commonly quit are: - (a) day 1, week 2, day 30 - (b) week 1, month 3, month 6 - (c) day 1, month 6, year 1 - (d) week 2, month 2, month 4

14. A departure at day 25 is financially worse than one at month eight because: - (a) severance is higher early - (b) the investment is spent before the return begins - (c) unemployment claims are larger - (d) training costs are deferred

15. Refusing to state a wage in a job posting principally harms the restaurant by: - (a) violating federal law in all states - (b) selecting for candidates with the fewest alternatives - (c) increasing job-board fees - (d) slowing the I-9 process

16. Bellwether's staffing plan at opening carries: - (a) 22 people, 31 FTE - (b) 31 people, about 22 FTE - (c) 31 people, 31 FTE - (d) 18 people, 18 FTE

Short answer

17. Write the formula for turnover rate and compute it for a restaurant with 28 positions and 21 separations in a year.

18. Name four of the nine components of turnover cost and state which P&L line each hides in.

19. Why does §17.1 argue that turnover cost is "invisible"? Name three accounts it disappears into.

20. Give two structured-interview questions for a line cook that ask about behavior rather than a hypothetical.

21. State the safe practice for stages recommended in §17.5, and price it for a four-hour shift at a \$22 fully loaded rate.

22. Explain the "correction test" from §17.5 and what it is actually measuring.

23. Bellwether expects about 27 separations in year one against a headcount of 31. Explain why the line-cook and sous-chef rows of Figure 17.1 require completely different management responses despite both being kitchen positions.

24. Connect this chapter to Chapter 23's argument about the second visit: how does a hiring decision become a revenue decision?

Answer key — attempt all twenty-four first **1.** (b) — separations ÷ average positions, annualized. **2.** (c) — unproductive training wages at \$440, the largest single line. Advertising, the component most operators name first, is \$150. **3.** (b) — \$38,070 ÷ \$1,550,000 = 2.46%. It is also 7.6% of the \$500,000 labor line. **4.** (c) — staff referrals. The referrer's own standing is attached, which pre-screens for you. **5.** (b) — the same predetermined questions, same order, scored against a rubric. **6.** (c) — rapport, confidence, and similarity to the interviewer, all of which an unstructured conversation measures far more efficiently than job performance. **7.** (b) — if the work primarily benefits the employer, it is work, and work is compensable. **8.** (b) — three business days. Section 1 is completed by the employee no later than the first day. **9.** (b) — specifying documents is document abuse and is itself unlawful. The employee chooses from the lists of acceptable documents. **10.** (b) — the FCRA, which imposes standalone disclosure, written authorization, and pre-adverse and final adverse-action notice obligations. **11.** (b) — when in the hiring process criminal history may be asked about, commonly paired with a requirement for individualized assessment. **12.** (b) — subject to significant exceptions, and easily undercut by careless offer-letter language such as "as long as performance is satisfactory." **13.** (a) — day one, week two, and day thirty. All three sit to the left of break-even. **14.** (b) — the investment is front-loaded, so an early departure returns none of it. A departure at month eight has at least been partly earned back. **15.** (b) — candidates with good alternatives will not spend an evening applying to discover the job pays less than the one they have. It is also unlawful in a growing number of jurisdictions. **16.** (b) — 31 people, about 22 full-time equivalents. **17.** Turnover rate = separations ÷ average positions. 21 ÷ 28 = **75%**. **18.** Any four of: advertising (*advertising/marketing*); management screening time (*management salary*); the stage (*hourly labor*); orientation (*hourly labor + management salary*); unproductive training wages (*hourly labor*); trainer's diverted attention (*hourly labor*); reduced output (*food cost and lost revenue*); learning-curve waste (*food cost*); vacancy overtime (*hourly labor*). **19.** Because no account is named "turnover." Three of: advertising, management salary, hourly labor, food cost. **20.** Any two behavior-based questions, e.g. "Tell me about the worst night you've worked — what happened and what did you do?" and "Describe the last time a ticket came back to you." Hypotheticals ("what would you do if…") invite a performance rather than a report. **21.** Pay for the stage. Four hours at \$22 fully loaded = **\$88** — about 4% of the \$2,180 replacement cost, and cheap insurance against both a bad hire and a wage claim. **22.** Deliver a small, specific correction mid-stage and watch the next ninety seconds. It measures **how information will travel between you and this person**, not compliance — a candidate who explains why they did it differently may be right, and kitchens that punish that reply stop hearing about the walk-in running warm. **23.** The line cook turns over at 100% and costs \$2,180 — a *volume* problem, addressed with pipeline, referrals, and onboarding, because it will happen four times a year no matter what. The sous chef turns at 50% and costs \$5,200 — a *single-point* problem, addressed with retention, development, and a named successor, because losing that person destabilizes the whole kitchen. Managing them identically wastes effort on one and under-protects the other. **24.** The guest experience is delivered entirely by the people you hired. A server three weeks into a job cannot read a table, recommend the wine that lifts the check, or recover a mistake gracefully — so the hire determines whether the guest returns, and the second visit is where profitability lives. Hiring is therefore a revenue decision that arrives disguised as an administrative one.