At Melinda Patton Foundation, many employees have quit

Question

At Melinda Patton Foundation, many employees have quit recently and taken jobs with a competitor firm. Shortly before the employees quit, the Melinda Patton Foundation had lost its largest advertising partner as well as the wholesaler purchasing the products of the Foundation. Clearly, the employees are no longer confident in the Melinda Patton Foundation's future prospects regarding servicing the pending large loans from the banks.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the the claim that concerns about the future prospects regarding servicing the loans caused the employees to quit?

A. Many prospective applicants who were interviewed with the Melinda Patton Foundation finally accepted job offers with other competing firms.

B. A new competitor firm to the Melinda Patton Foundation has offered to provide automobile and health insurance for its employees, a benefit that Melinda Patton Foundation lacks.

C. Employees at the Melinda Patton Foundation's competitor firm recently received a large and well publicised raise.

D. Melinda Patton Foundation will unlikely be able to replace the lost revenue via either an increase in existing client sales or the attraction of new clients.

E. Melinda Patton Foundation's research into new offerings are moving at an equal pace vis-a-vis its competitors.

chiplesschap · Answer

What's wrong with C? That we can't be sure if those newly joining the competitor isn't guaranteed to get a higher salary?

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Tea12 · Answer

Exactly , higher salary cannot be guaranteed to all or many employees, and the important point to be noted here is that employees at Melinda's competitor firm recently received a large and well publicised raise. We cannot be sure if this raise was given to employees who switched from Melinda foundation, or this raise was already provided to the employees before the switch was made and the competitor firm would provide the same to newbie.
However, choice B says about automobile and health which in general is applicable for all employees. Thus, choice B is correct

Abhishek009 · Answer

I will see it as a demand and supply situation wherein employees of Melinda Patton Foundation (MPF) who quit their job will competitor firm (CF) and therein CF will have an upper hand in deciding/negotiating the salary.

Furthermore, may be the salary hike is an annual exercise and it may be based on criteria such as no of years worked etc.. and may not be applicable immediately to the employee of MPF.

Whereas automobile and health insurance facilities are common for all employees of CF and all ex employees of MPF may enjoy the same.

Thus IMHO (B) wins over (C)

Anandanwar · Answer

Hello,
A query here:
The argument says that the employees have quit Melinda Foundation to join a competitor.

Choice B speaks about a competitor. Note it says "A new competitor". For this to be a viable choice it atleast should speak about the competitor the employees joined. 
This threw B out of scope for me.
Choice C: I realised the perspective that salary hike does not mean that the new employees would also get the same, but since B was out of scope I chose C.

Could you please correct me here?
Regards,
Ankit

guddo · Answer

At Melinda Patton Foundation, many employees have quit recently and taken jobs with a competitor firm. Shortly before the employees quit, the Melinda Patton Foundation had lost its largest advertising partner as well as the wholesaler purchasing the products of the Foundation. Clearly, the employees are no longer confident in the Melinda Patton Foundation's future prospects regarding servicing the pending large loans from the banks. 
 
Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the claim that concerns about the future prospects regarding servicing the loans caused the employees to quit?

The argument assumes that the employees left because they were worried about Melinda Patton Foundation’s financial future. So the best weakener is a strong  alternative reason  for leaving, especially one that directly explains why employees would move to the competitor instead.

(A) Many prospective applicants who were interviewed with the Melinda Patton Foundation finally accepted job offers with other competing firms.

This is too indirect. It talks about applicants, not the employees who already worked there and then quit.

(B) A new competitor firm to the Melinda Patton Foundation has offered to provide automobile and health insurance for its employees, a benefit that Melinda Patton Foundation lacks.

This is the best answer. It gives a direct alternative explanation for why employees left: the competitor offers valuable benefits that Melinda Patton Foundation does not. That makes the claim about fear over loan servicing much less convincing.

(C) Employees at the Melinda Patton Foundation's competitor firm recently received a large and well publicised raise.

This weakens the claim somewhat, but less strongly than B. A raise at the competitor is attractive, but B is more direct because it identifies a concrete employment advantage available to people deciding whether to leave.

(D) Melinda Patton Foundation will unlikely be able to replace the lost revenue via either an increase in existing client sales or the attraction of new clients.

This strengthens the argument. It makes the Foundation’s financial outlook seem worse.

(E) Melinda Patton Foundation's research into new offerings are moving at an equal pace vis-a-vis its competitors.

This is largely irrelevant. It does not explain why employees quit.

Answer: (B)

At Melinda Patton Foundation, many employees have quit

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At Melinda Patton Foundation, many employees have quit

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