An overwhelming proportion of the most productive employees at SaleCo'

Question

An overwhelming proportion of the most productive employees at SaleCo's regional offices work not eight hours a day, five days a week, as do other SaleCo employees, but rather ten hours a day, four days a week, with Friday off. Noting this phenomenon, SaleCo's president plans to increase overall productivity by keeping the offices closed on Fridays and having all employees work the same schedule—ten hours a day, four days a week.

Which of the following, if true, provides the most reason to doubt that the president's plan, if implemented, will achieve its stated purpose?

(A) Every employee of SaleCo who has been there for at least a year is entitled to three weeks of vacation each year and must be paid his or her regular salary for that time off.

(B) None of the employees who work four days a week had volunteered to work that schedule, but all were assigned to it by their supervisors.

(C) Working ten hours a day has allowed the most productive employees to work two hours alone each day in their respective offices relatively undisturbed by fellow employees.

(D) Employees at SaleCo are compensated not on the basis of how many hours a week they work but on the basis of how productive they are during the hours they are at work.

(E) Some of SaleCo's employees have indicated to company officials that they would quit if not allowed to work the same hours as the company's most productive employees.

GMATPrep Code  :  VCR006175

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akshata19 · Accepted Answer

As per B 
Supervisors assigned them 4 day schedule but from that we cannot conclude that this was the reason for them to be productive or not

C clearly states that the reason for their productivity was isolation of 2 hr 
But if everyone works at same time then the purpose is defeated and president's plan will not work (weakens the argument )

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BeingHan · Answer

It should be C. Because in that scenario , all the productivity will go down, as the productive people might be disturbed by other employees.

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AjiteshArun · Answer

Look at it like this: if the people currently working 4 days had volunteered, and the rest did not want 4 days, then maybe imposing 4 days on the rest would lead to problems with the newer set of people. But the question says:

and option B says:
 
So the first group was not composed of volunteers, and neither is the second. This leads us to think that volunteering is not important for this strategy to work.

Option C says that the first group got some time when they would not be disturbed. But if everyone is on the same shift, this time would be like the rest of the day (that is, others would be around).

GMATNinjaTwo · Answer

Thanks for the explanations!

To post additional questions not already addressed in this thread, feel free to use the  request verbal experts' reply  button.

yulka · Answer

You could also read article "Check out the Best Mobile Productivity Apps and Their Successful Promotion Strategies"

emcheeks · Answer

An overwhelming proportion of the most productive employees at SaleCo's regional offices work not eight hours a day, five days a week, as do other SaleCo employees, but rather ten hours a day, four days a week, with Friday off. Noting this phenomenon, SaleCo's president plans to increase overall productivity by keeping the offices closed on Fridays and having all employees work the same schedule—ten hours a day, four days a week.

Which of the following, if true, provides the most reason to doubt that the president's plan, if implemented, will achieve its stated purpose?

Premise: most productive employees work 10 hours/day, 4 days/week.
Conclusion: in order to make everyone productive, we should make everyone the same schedule (10/4)
Possible weaken choice: the same schedule won't make everyone productive

(A) Every employee of SaleCo who has been there for at least a year is entitled to three weeks of vacation each year and must be paid his or her regular salary for that time off.

Their time off doesn't affect their time at work. In addition, we don't if all employees have been there for at least a year.

(B) None of the employees who work four days a week had volunteered to work that schedule, but all were assigned to it by their supervisors.

This might contradict the premise. B sounds like neither the employees who are working for that schedule nor the rest volunteer for this schedule. If they didn't volunteer to work for that schedule, it could only decrease the first type of employees' productivity. But note that these people are the ones who are productive! Therefore, it is not about volunteering to be productive

(C) Working ten hours a day has allowed the most productive employees to work two hours alone each day in their respective offices relatively undisturbed by fellow employees.

if we take this plan into effect, no employee would have alone time which is essential to productivity in this case. Makes sense.

(D) Employees at SaleCo are compensated not on the basis of how many hours a week they work but on the basis of how productive they are during the hours they are at work.

If this is the case, it would also affect those employees who work for that schedule. However, like the stimulus said, they are the productive ones! So it is not about the way they are compensated to be productive.

(E) Some of SaleCo's employees have indicated to company officials that they would quit if not allowed to work the same hours as the company's most productive employees.

changing to the most productive employees' schedule doesn't mean you will be productive.

VerbalBot · Answer

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An overwhelming proportion of the most productive employees at SaleCo'

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