Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5.5 for HR and employment questions
Effectively a dead heat: 94–93
Same 12 HR and employment questions tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. Claude Sonnet 5 took 2 tasks, GPT-5.5 took 1, 9 tied. Tested 18 Aug 2026.
Where they differed most
Guidance excerpt: 'A fair grievance procedure normally follows these stages: the employee sets out the grievance in writing; the employer holds a meeting to discuss it without unreasonable delay; the employee has a statutory right to be accompanied at that meeting by a colleague or a trade union representative; the employer decides what action to take and confirms the decision to the employee in writing; and the employee is told they may appeal, with the appeal heard by someone not previously involved wherever possible. Written records should be kept at every stage.' Priya has submitted a grievance about her own line manager, Dean — who is the person who would normally hold the meeting. Using only the excerpt, set out the first 5 steps in order: exactly 5 bullets, one line each, no sub-points, no preamble. On the line where it matters, say what Dean's involvement changes and who should act instead.
- Priya sets out her grievance about Dean in writing. - Because Dean is the subject of the grievance, he cannot hold the meeting; a different, uninvolved manager should hold it instead, without unreasonable delay. - Priya has the statutory right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative at that meeting. - That substitute manager decides what action to take and confirms the decision to Priya in writing. - Priya is told she may appeal, with the appeal heard by someone not previously involved wherever possible.
- Priya sets out her grievance in writing. - The employer holds a meeting without unreasonable delay; because Dean is the subject of the grievance, someone else from the employer should hold it instead. - Priya is told she has the statutory right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union representative. - The employer decides what action to take and confirms the decision to Priya in writing. - Priya is told she may appeal, with the appeal heard by someone not previously involved wherever possible.
Task by task
| Task | Claude Sonnet 5 | GPT-5.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Probation is not a free pass | 9 | 9 |
| Write only the message | 10 | 10 |
| The grievance about the manager | 10 | 9 |
| The decision was made in the car | 9 | 9 |
| Ask everyone or ask nobody | 8 | 8 |
| The off-the-record phone call | 9 | 9 |
| Write only the invitation letter | 10 | 9 |
| Precedent is not a reason | 10 | 10 |
| Write only the file note | 10 | 10 |
| The number you must not supply | 10 | 10 |
| The screenshotted group chat | 9 | 9 |
| Refuse the engineered redundancy | 9 | 10 |
Full receipts: Claude Sonnet 5, GPT-5.5 · judges gemini-3.1-pro-preview, gpt-5.6-terra, grok-4.5
Questions people ask
Which is better for HR and employment questions: Claude Sonnet 5 or GPT-5.5?
Effectively a dead heat: Claude Sonnet 5 edged it 94/100 to 93/100 on our HR and employment questions suite — too close to matter, so pick on price or the product you already use.
How was this tested?
Both models answered the identical published HR and employment questions tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.
More HR and employment questions head-to-heads: Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · Claude Opus 4.8 vs Claude Sonnet 5 · Claude Sonnet 5 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro · Claude Sonnet 5 vs Kimi K3 · Claude Sonnet 5 vs Grok 4.5 · Claude Sonnet 5 vs Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
Full ranking: Best AI for HR and employment questions · model pages: Claude Sonnet 5, GPT-5.5