Our Annual Summer Quiz: The American Workplace

by Pat DiDomenico on August 7, 2015

It’s summertime, so take a break from your work to take our annual quiz about, well, … work.

Here are a dozen questions about the American workplace and the people who inhabit it. You’ll find the answers below, along with links to read more about each answer. Happy Summer!

 

1. What do HR professionals say is the biggest body language mistake made by interviewees?

a. Failing to make eye contact

b. Failing to smile

c. Having a weak handshake

 

2. In 2001, 48% of all jobs in the United States were held by women. By 2014, that number:

a. Fell to 46%

b. Stayed the same

c. Rose to 49%

 

3. In 2004, U.S. employees had stayed with their current employer an average of 4.0 years. By 2014, that number had:

a. Fallen to 3.9 years

b. Risen to 4.6 years

c. Stayed the same

 

4. What’s America’s most depressing job, in terms of the highest percentage of employees who report being clinically depressed?

a. City bus drivers

b. Social workers

c. Real estate agents

 

5. What type of discrimination does the EEOC say has grown fastest in the past decade?

a. Age

b. Religion

c. Pregnancy

 

6. Employees in which age group are more likely to worry about being laid off?

a. age 18-34

b. age 35-54

c. age 55 and older

 

7. Retaliation is the most common discrimination claim by employees filed with the EEOC. What is the second most common?

a. Race discrimination

b. Sex discrimination

c. Age discrimination

 

8. In what month do the highest percentage of work-related fatal injuries occur?

a. March

b. July

c. December

 

9. What do Americans say is the No. 1 most important skill for their children to have to get ahead in the world?

a. Writing

b. Logic

c. Communication

 

10. What is the ideal day and time to schedule a meeting that people are most likely to attend?

a. Friday at 10 a.m.

b. Wednesday at 1 p.m.

c. Tuesday at 3 p.m.

 

11. What are the top two things, in order, that employees say makes them late for work most often?

a. Overslept, bad weather

b. Bad weather, traffic

c. Traffic, overslept

 

12. What three things (in order) do HR people say are the biggest productivity killers in their workplaces?

a. The Internet, smartphones, smoke breaks

b. Smartphones, the Internet, gossip

c. The Internet, noisy co-workers, gossip

 

 

ANSWERS

1. a

2. c

3. b

4. a

5. c

6. a

7. a

8. b

9. c

10. c

11. c

12. b

 

SOURCES

1. CareerBuilder survey; 2. CareerBuilder survey; 3. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; 4. Social Psychiatry journal; 5. EEOC; 6. Gallup poll; 7. EEOC; 8. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; 9. Pew Research Center Poll; 10. When is Good survey; 11. CareerBuilder survey and 12., CareerBuilder survey

 

 

Category: HR Soapbox