According to a recent study, employees who bring their own lunches to

I didn't understand the reasoning here for the OA. can any expert help with that.
Thanks for your time.

Conclusion is in order to min. the no. of sick days - cafeteria eliminated.
What if the people who bring lunch falls less sick because of some other reason i.e some good habits, gym etc in that case the validity of argument would be weaken.
Hence D.

Here's something that shows up in a lot of GMAT CR weaken problems: the 'reason why' argument. (See this for more detail: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... l-you-why/)

In this argument, the author is implicitly assuming that bringing your own lunch causes you to be healthier and more productive. How do we know that the author is assuming that? Well, he has some data that says that people who bring their own lunch are healthier and more productive. He proposes eliminating the cafeteria. The only reason for him to make that proposal, would be if he thought that eliminating the cafeteria, forcing people to bring their own lunch, would cause people to be healthier and more productive.

So we've got this assumption that something happened for a particular reason. When you see that kind of assumption in a Weaken problem, ask yourself whether there could be another, better reason that could explain why that thing happened. For instance, another, better explanation here is that having a healthier lifestyle in general causes you to be healthier and more productive. D is correct because it suggests that that reason is the right one.

premise: bring their own lunches means less sick days , more productive per hour spent at work than those who eat at the workplace cafeteria.
objective: minimize the number of sick days taken.

What to do? : Find reason that cafeteria should not be closed.
pre-thinking: alternate cause for explaining this.

A. Boltech's cafeteria is known for serving a diverse array of healthy lunch options. --- it is still not explaining sick leaves.
B. Because of Boltech's location, employees who choose to visit a nearby restaurant for lunch will seldom be able to return within an hour. --- time is not a point of discussion here.
C. Employees have expressed concern about the cost of dining at nearby restaurants compared with the affordability of the Boltech cafeteria. --- price is agin not a concern .
D. Employees who bring their lunch from home tend to lead generally healthier lifestyles than do employees who purchase lunch. ---- this one is talking about health. cause of healthier lifestyles. on the line of thinking.
E. Many Boltech employees chose to work for the company in large part because of its generous benefits, such as an on-site cafeteria and fitness center. ---- out of scope

VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL SOLUTION:

The strategy outlined in this Weaken problem makes a classic error of correlation vs. causation, assuming that "bringing lunch to work" is a cause of "takes fewer sick days." In actuality, it could be that bringing lunch is an effect of a totally different cause, as choice D correctly points out. With choice D, the cause of both "brings lunch to work" and "takes fewer sick days" is that generally-healthier people do both - they bring their lunch to work and they take fewer sick days. Forcing someone else - someone less healthy - to bring his or her lunch wouldn't change the other unhealthy habits that lead to extra sick days, so the plan would not work.

While choice A seems like it should weaken the plan (taking away the healthy options at the cafeteria), keep in mind that we already have the evidence that those who bring their lunch take fewer sick days than those who eat at the cafeteria, so those healthy cafeteria options have already been called into question as a driver of fewer sick days.

Choice B could very well be correct if the goal were to minimize "time away from one's desk" or something similar, but the goal is specifically called out as "fewer sick days." Being away for a longer period for lunch may well be a problem worth considering, but in the context of this particular goal it is irrelevant.

Choice C is similar: it shows a reason why the plan might not be a great plan overall (it could hurt employee morale) but the goal is specifically drawn at "fewer sick days" so that morale is irrelevant to the specific aims in the problem. For similar reasons, choice E is also incorrect - while morale may be hurt and people might feel misled (or future recruitment efforts may fall short), the only objective specifically addressed in the problem is "reduce the number of sick days" so choice E is not relevant.

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