Human Resources Director: Some people dislike their jobs but still go

Question

Human Resources Director: Some people dislike their jobs but still go to work every day because they feel that it is ethically wrong to miss work. Others enjoy their jobs but sometimes miss work because they genuinely believe that they are too sick to work or that they might infect others if they go to work. This makes it difficult to ____________.

Which one of the following most reasonably completes the argument?

(A) determine whether employees absent from work more often than others are any less fearful of losing their jobs

(B) maintain accurate absenteeism records for all the different employees of a company

(C) draw any conclusions about an employee's job satisfaction from his or her absenteeism record

(D) assess the trustworthiness of employees who claim that they must miss work because they are ill

(E) make any reliable predictions about an employee's future behavior from his or her absenteeism record

guddo · Answer

Human Resources Director: Some people dislike their jobs but still go to work every day because they feel that it is ethically wrong to miss work. Others enjoy their jobs but sometimes miss work because they genuinely believe that they are too sick to work or that they might infect others if they go to work. This makes it difficult to ____________. 
 
Which one of the following most reasonably completes the argument?

The passage says absenteeism does not reliably show whether someone likes or dislikes a job. Some dissatisfied employees may still attend regularly, while some satisfied employees may miss work for legitimate health reasons.  So absenteeism is not a reliable indicator of job satisfaction .

(A) determine whether employees absent from work more often than others are any less fearful of losing their jobs

Wrong. The passage is not about fear of losing jobs.

(B) maintain accurate absenteeism records for all the different employees of a company

Wrong. The passage does not say records are hard to maintain. It says those records may be hard to interpret.

(C) draw any conclusions about an employee's job satisfaction from his or her absenteeism record

Correct. The examples show that low absenteeism does not necessarily mean job satisfaction, and high absenteeism does not necessarily mean job dissatisfaction.

(D) assess the trustworthiness of employees who claim that they must miss work because they are ill

Wrong. The employees mentioned are said to genuinely believe that they are too sick to work or might infect others, so the passage gives no reason to question their trustworthiness. The issue is why employees are absent, not whether their claims are honest.

(E) make any reliable predictions about an employee's future behavior from his or her absenteeism record

Wrong. Too broad. The passage shows only that absenteeism is unreliable for judging job satisfaction. An employee's past absenteeism record could still be useful for predicting future absenteeism or other behavior.

Answer: (C)

Pikachuu · Answer

Some people who dislike their jobs still feel obligated to go.   
   Some people who like their jobs stay home sick.    
 
 Unsupported. The stimulus doesn’t discuss people who are, or aren’t fearful of losing their jobs

Unsupported. The stimulus doesn’t suggest what’s required for maintaining accurate absenteeism records, so we have no reason to think that maintaining such records is difficult.

Strongly supported. We know that some people with low job satisfaction are never absent, while some people with high job satisfaction are sometimes absent. So it’s difficult to draw any conclusions about a person’s job satisfaction solely based on whether, or how often, that person is absent.

Unsupported. The stimulus doesn’t suggest that anyone is being dishonest when missing work, nor does it suggest what’s involved in assessing someone’s trustworthiness. So we have no reason to think that assessing trustworthiness is difficult.

Unsupported. We have no information about whether there are, or aren’t, patterns in people’s behavior over time, or how those patterns relate to absenteeism. Perhaps satisfied employees who stay home sick do so predictably, and unsatisfied employees who always go to work also do so predictably. We have no reason to think it’s difficult to make reliable predictions.

yc168 · Answer

OE for reference:

Overview:  
According to the human resources director, some people who dislike their jobs do not miss work (because they believe it would be wrong to do so), while some people who like their jobs are occasionally absent (because they genuinely believe they are too sick or might infect others). The director concludes that this makes it difficult to do something, but we are not told what it is. The question asks you to choose the response that completes the argument in the most reasonable way. The correct answer will identify something that it would be difficult to do if the director's statements are accurate.

The Correct Answer:

C  It might seem like people who are rarely absent from work are likely to have higher levels of job satisfaction, while those who are frequently absent are likely to be less satisfied. The director, however, suggests that this is not always the case: some people who rarely miss work nonetheless have low job satisfaction, while others are absent more frequently despite being very satisfied with their jobs. This makes it difficult to conclude anything about job satisfaction from absenteeism records, so (C) is a very reasonable way to complete the director's argument.

The Incorrect Answer Choices:

A  The director never says anything about people who are afraid of losing their jobs. So the director's comments do not allow us to draw any conclusions about these people; in particular, those comments do not suggest that it is difficult to determine whether employees who are absent from work more frequently are any less fearful of losing their jobs.

B  The director's comments do not suggest that it would be difficult to maintain accurate absenteeism records for all of a company's employees. They do suggest that some employees miss work more often than others, but that is compatible with the possibility that it is relatively easy to keep track of these absences.

D  While the director does mention employees who miss work because they are ill, these employees are said to "genuinely believe" that they are too sick or might infect others. This suggests that these people are being trustworthy when they claim that they must miss work. The director never discusses the trustworthiness of any other employees, so the claim that it is difficult to assess such trustworthiness is not a reasonable way to complete the director's argument.

E  The director's argument never bears on the issue of whether absenteeism, or anything else in the employee's record, is a useful predictor of an employee's future behavior. The possibility that past absenteeism rates are reliable predictors of future absenteeism rates is entirely compatible with the director's argument, so (E) is not a reasonable way to complete that argument.

Human Resources Director: Some people dislike their jobs but still go

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Human Resources Director: Some people dislike their jobs but still go

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