WGU D360 Task 1 Questions and Answers (2025-2026)
Jamie Nelson
D360 Task 1
Student ID # 010698469
A1. Explain how the shelter's existing culture contributes to its current recruiting policies
and practices.
The shelter's existing culture is laid back in a "fly by the seat of their pants" way. Anika
is just trying to survive daily. The shelter's culture contributes poorly to the current recruiting
policy by creating staffing, recruiting, and employee retention issues. Anika's lack of
organization, policies, and procedures for staffing and operating create chaos within the
organization.
A2. Describe two weaknesses of the recruiting methods used at the shelter.
The first weakness is poor organization. Anika keeps all the applications in a filing
cabinet with over 100 applicants in one folder. She uses this because it was taught to her and
worked then. She also stores current employee files in file folders in a filing cabinet.
A second weakness is there is no system in place or procedures to follow. There is no way to
track applicants or a system to sort them by. This process needs to be updated to streamline the
hiring process from start to finish from applicants applying to the hiring process. The current
process is very time-consuming to go through every time they need to hire somebody new. If she
had a system to post jobs, have applicants apply, track resumes, and hire all in one place, that
would help immensely. It can even be as simple as scanning and uploading the applications in a
folder and using a spreadsheet she creates to track the application process.
A3. Explain two different federal laws with which the shelter must comply as the number
of staff grows and why those laws apply.
The first law Anika should address is posting labor law posters. Per the supporting
documents, no labor law-required posters are present anywhere. Per the US Department of
Labor, all businesses must post at least the "Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards"
poster in a place everyone can see, like a breakroom or lunchroom. (Workplace)
Also, if the employee count reaches at least 50, they would fall under the Family and
Medical Leave Act of 1993, which requires a private employer with 50 or more employees in 20
or more work weeks to provide FMLA if needed. Posters must also be posted for this in the
breakroom or lunchroom. (FMLA)
A4. Compare two methods of evaluating recruitment outcomes currently used by the
shelter with two the shelter should use instead.
Anika's methods to determine if the recruiting is successful is if she can fill the positions
within the first round of applicants and if they stay for at least 1 year.
, The length of how long the employee stays is a good start for Anika. Tracking the
Employee retention rate is a good alternative. She is doing this already, but not to the extent she
should. Tracking the retention rate is good for multiple reasons. It allows you to determine your
ability to keep employees over time but leaves room for new employees with more desirable
skills to join your team. Anika could go even further and track the retention rate by job
description as well. This would help her determine what job description has the most turnover,
and then she could evaluate that position to help reduce the turnover.
The second alternative that would greatly help Anika is an employment tracking system.
This could help track the employees from when they start the application process until they are
hired and onboarded with the company. We use a system like this at my current job called
Frontline. Once applicants fill out an application, it starts tracking them. After the interview, the
employer can post an offer and email the candidate. Once the offer is accepted, it goes back to
HR to start the hiring process, such as collecting ID and W-9 documents, setting up direct
deposit, and beginning the background and drug test screening. Every step is a new notification
in the system. If you have to pay a license fee or anything, you can do it right in the applicant
tracking system. This also allows everyone in HR to see where all employees are at all times.
Anika's current system to write down interviews in her planner only enables her to know where
she is in the process.
A5. Explain the relationship between recruiting and retention at the shelter based on—
your responses to A1-A4.
I have already mentioned this above in A4, but the effort put into recruiting highly affects
the retention rate of employees. If Anika keeps going the way she is, she will continue to have a
high turnover rate and lack of employees. Her current process is to hire as fast as possible and
keep them for one year. By taking more time on the recruiting process and using a tracking
system, she can find candidates that better align with the shelter's needs and mission and, in turn,
find people who want to be at work. If she finds the right candidates who are there for more than
just a paycheck, the retention rate will decrease. By putting a new system in place for recruiting
and hiring, anybody who interviews candidates will have a baseline as to what the company is
looking for and a way to screen people to determine if they are a good fit. It will take more time
to find better candidates; however, if they stay longer than one year or even longer than 5 years
and she does not need to recruit as often, it would benefit the shelter. It will also help her
determine if certain positions have a higher turnover rate than others.
B1. Explain the relationship between the shelter's mission and the existing total rewards
strategy.
The shelter's mission is: "To provide a professional, caring, and healthy space for stray
and abandoned cats and dogs until loving owners can adopt the animals." The current total
rewards strategy is not bad. However, they do not have enough staff to make it work. The
compensation for the executive director is $100,000, and the shelter manager (Anika) is $55,000,
a decent salary for the hours worked. According to the staff compensation document, the
veterinarians have taken a pay cut from $45 per hour to $30 per hour by employee choice. I
suggest that this was not by choice but by necessity. I would redefine and realign the
Jamie Nelson
D360 Task 1
Student ID # 010698469
A1. Explain how the shelter's existing culture contributes to its current recruiting policies
and practices.
The shelter's existing culture is laid back in a "fly by the seat of their pants" way. Anika
is just trying to survive daily. The shelter's culture contributes poorly to the current recruiting
policy by creating staffing, recruiting, and employee retention issues. Anika's lack of
organization, policies, and procedures for staffing and operating create chaos within the
organization.
A2. Describe two weaknesses of the recruiting methods used at the shelter.
The first weakness is poor organization. Anika keeps all the applications in a filing
cabinet with over 100 applicants in one folder. She uses this because it was taught to her and
worked then. She also stores current employee files in file folders in a filing cabinet.
A second weakness is there is no system in place or procedures to follow. There is no way to
track applicants or a system to sort them by. This process needs to be updated to streamline the
hiring process from start to finish from applicants applying to the hiring process. The current
process is very time-consuming to go through every time they need to hire somebody new. If she
had a system to post jobs, have applicants apply, track resumes, and hire all in one place, that
would help immensely. It can even be as simple as scanning and uploading the applications in a
folder and using a spreadsheet she creates to track the application process.
A3. Explain two different federal laws with which the shelter must comply as the number
of staff grows and why those laws apply.
The first law Anika should address is posting labor law posters. Per the supporting
documents, no labor law-required posters are present anywhere. Per the US Department of
Labor, all businesses must post at least the "Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards"
poster in a place everyone can see, like a breakroom or lunchroom. (Workplace)
Also, if the employee count reaches at least 50, they would fall under the Family and
Medical Leave Act of 1993, which requires a private employer with 50 or more employees in 20
or more work weeks to provide FMLA if needed. Posters must also be posted for this in the
breakroom or lunchroom. (FMLA)
A4. Compare two methods of evaluating recruitment outcomes currently used by the
shelter with two the shelter should use instead.
Anika's methods to determine if the recruiting is successful is if she can fill the positions
within the first round of applicants and if they stay for at least 1 year.
, The length of how long the employee stays is a good start for Anika. Tracking the
Employee retention rate is a good alternative. She is doing this already, but not to the extent she
should. Tracking the retention rate is good for multiple reasons. It allows you to determine your
ability to keep employees over time but leaves room for new employees with more desirable
skills to join your team. Anika could go even further and track the retention rate by job
description as well. This would help her determine what job description has the most turnover,
and then she could evaluate that position to help reduce the turnover.
The second alternative that would greatly help Anika is an employment tracking system.
This could help track the employees from when they start the application process until they are
hired and onboarded with the company. We use a system like this at my current job called
Frontline. Once applicants fill out an application, it starts tracking them. After the interview, the
employer can post an offer and email the candidate. Once the offer is accepted, it goes back to
HR to start the hiring process, such as collecting ID and W-9 documents, setting up direct
deposit, and beginning the background and drug test screening. Every step is a new notification
in the system. If you have to pay a license fee or anything, you can do it right in the applicant
tracking system. This also allows everyone in HR to see where all employees are at all times.
Anika's current system to write down interviews in her planner only enables her to know where
she is in the process.
A5. Explain the relationship between recruiting and retention at the shelter based on—
your responses to A1-A4.
I have already mentioned this above in A4, but the effort put into recruiting highly affects
the retention rate of employees. If Anika keeps going the way she is, she will continue to have a
high turnover rate and lack of employees. Her current process is to hire as fast as possible and
keep them for one year. By taking more time on the recruiting process and using a tracking
system, she can find candidates that better align with the shelter's needs and mission and, in turn,
find people who want to be at work. If she finds the right candidates who are there for more than
just a paycheck, the retention rate will decrease. By putting a new system in place for recruiting
and hiring, anybody who interviews candidates will have a baseline as to what the company is
looking for and a way to screen people to determine if they are a good fit. It will take more time
to find better candidates; however, if they stay longer than one year or even longer than 5 years
and she does not need to recruit as often, it would benefit the shelter. It will also help her
determine if certain positions have a higher turnover rate than others.
B1. Explain the relationship between the shelter's mission and the existing total rewards
strategy.
The shelter's mission is: "To provide a professional, caring, and healthy space for stray
and abandoned cats and dogs until loving owners can adopt the animals." The current total
rewards strategy is not bad. However, they do not have enough staff to make it work. The
compensation for the executive director is $100,000, and the shelter manager (Anika) is $55,000,
a decent salary for the hours worked. According to the staff compensation document, the
veterinarians have taken a pay cut from $45 per hour to $30 per hour by employee choice. I
suggest that this was not by choice but by necessity. I would redefine and realign the
