Company X has just switched to a 4-day workweek, mandating that employees work 10 hours per day from
Monday to Thursday instead of 8 hours per day from Monday to Friday. Although the policy is new,
Company X claims that the policy will help to increase profits by shutting down offices on Fridays and to
boost employee morale by reducing commuting time to and from work each week.
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to
explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if
the assumptions prove unwarranted.
Company X claims that switching to a 4-day workweek will help the company to increase both profits
and employee morale. While it is possible that the plan will work as stated, the company’s argument
depends upon several assumptions that may or may not be valid. It is possible that a 4-day workweek will
have no effect on profits; however, under certain circumstances, a 4-day workweek could actually decrease
profits. Further, while some employees will no doubt be thrilled to have a 3-day week-end every week,
others may not appreciate a 10-hour work day.
The company assumes that commute time is a significant “point of pain” for most of its employees,
and that those employees would be happy to work 10 hours rather than 8 in order to avoid one day of
commute time. The company fails to address, however, how a 10-hour workday might alter the schedules
and lives of the employees outside of work. Let’s assume that employees work a standard 8am to 5pm
schedule. Now, employees will have to start earlier or work later (or both). Those with partners and / or
children may find that this new schedule disrupts the family dinner or the before-school morning routine.
Those who participate in regularly scheduled activities — an exercise routine, a sports match, a book club
— may find their personal and social activities curtailed. If so, the new plan is not likely to improve
employee morale.
The company believes that profits will increase because the company will reduce expenses
associated with keeping the office open on Fridays. The company assumes, then, that it will make the same
amount of revenue in 4 days that it typically makes in 5. Perhaps the nature of the company’s business
allows this but it would be wise to validate this assumption before proceeding. For instance, the business
model might require salespeople to call on customers. What hours do those customers work? If it is very
difficult to call on customers before 8am or after 5pm, then extending the hours for salespeople whilecutting off one workday a week could actually result in decreased revenues. Alternatively, employees may
be more mentally fatigued by the end of a 10-hour day and lose productivity; it’s entirely possible that four
10-hour days will produce less work than five 8-hour days, though both add up to 40 hours.
This brings us to our final assumption: the company appears to believe that there are no negative
consequences relative to shutting down completely on Fridays. Does the company ever field customer
inquiries or have to provide support for its products and services? If so, customers will be unhappy if they
cannot reach the company on Fridays. Does the company receive deliveries of any kind or have to interact
with vendors or suppliers in any way? In such a case, Friday closures could impact the company’s
efficiency, which could in turn impact revenues, expenses, or morale.
Company X has developed an interesting idea that may be worth further exploration, but committing
to such a plan immediately would be rash. There are a number of variables that need to be examined before
concluding that the plan is likely to achieve the stated goals without resulting in (possibly quite negative)
unintended consequences. It would be prudent for the company to determine, via direct dialogue with
workers, what measures in general are likely to improve employee morale. Further, the company must
carefully examine the possible financial consequences associated with spreading 40 hours of work over 4
days rather than 5 and with closing its offices entirely on a day when businesses are typically expected to
be open.
Comments
Essay evaluation report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 58 15
No. of Words: 600 350
No. of Characters: 2956 1500
No. of Different Words: 293 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.949 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.927 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.639 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 222 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 185 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 117 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 64 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 10.345 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 5.659 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.31 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.198 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.764 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.03 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 37 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: And
... the company to increase both profits and employee morale. While it is possible t...
^^^
Line 5, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Depends
...s stated, the company's argument depends upon several assumptions that may or ma...
^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Profits
...-day workweek could actually decrease profits. Further, while some employees will no ...
^^^^^^^
Line 17, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Commute
...r than 8 in order to avoid one day of commute time. The company fails to address, how...
^^^^^^^
Line 19, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: And
...our workday might alter the schedules and lives of the employees outside of work....
^^^
Line 21, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Schedule
... employees work a standard 8am to 5pm schedule. Now, employees will have to start earl...
^^^^^^^^
Line 23, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Children
...or both. Those with partners and / or children may find that this new schedule disrupt...
^^^^^^^^
Line 29, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Employee
...the new plan is not likely to improve employee morale. The company believes that pro...
^^^^^^^^
Line 33, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Associated
...ause the company will reduce expenses associated with keeping the office open on Fridays...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 35, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Amount
...mes, then, that it will make the same amount of revenue in 4 days that it typically ...
^^^^^^
Line 37, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Allows
...nature of the company's business allows this but it would be wise to validate t...
^^^^^^
Line 39, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Model
...roceeding. For instance, the business model might require salespeople to call on cu...
^^^^^
Line 39, column 91, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[1]
Message: “If” at the beginning of a sentence requires a 2nd clause. Maybe a comma, question or exclamation mark is missing, or the sentence is incomplete and should be joined with the following sentence.
...rs. What hours do those customers work? If it is very difficult to call on custo...
^^
Line 41, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Difficult
...o those customers work? If it is very difficult to call on customers before 8am or afte...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 49, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Consequences
...to believe that there are no negative consequences relative to shutting down completely on...
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 51, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Inquiries
... Does the company ever field customer inquiries or have to provide support for its prod...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 53, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Cannot
...so, customers will be unhappy if they cannot reach the company on Fridays. Does the ...
^^^^^^
Line 55, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: With
...eries of any kind or have to interact with vendors or suppliers in any way? In suc...
^^^^
Line 57, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Efficiency
...sures could impact the company's efficiency, which could in turn impact revenues, e...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 61, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: To
...h further exploration, but committing to such a plan immediately would be rash. ...
^^
Line 65, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Unintended
... resulting in possibly quite negative unintended consequences. It would be prudent for t...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 67, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Workers
...o determine, via direct dialogue with workers, what measures in general are likely to...
^^^^^^^
Line 73, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Be
... businesses are typically expected to be open.
^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, but, however, if, may, so, then, while, for instance, in general, no doubt
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 21.0 19.6327345309 107% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 30.0 12.9520958084 232% => Less auxiliary verb wanted.
Conjunction : 20.0 11.1786427146 179% => OK
Relative clauses : 19.0 13.6137724551 140% => OK
Pronoun: 38.0 28.8173652695 132% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 72.0 55.5748502994 130% => OK
Nominalization: 5.0 16.3942115768 30% => More nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3165.0 2260.96107784 140% => OK
No of words: 602.0 441.139720559 136% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.25747508306 5.12650576532 103% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.95335121839 4.56307096286 109% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.80223632172 2.78398813304 101% => OK
Unique words: 308.0 204.123752495 151% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.511627906977 0.468620217663 109% => OK
syllable_count: 950.4 705.55239521 135% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 6.0 4.96107784431 121% => OK
Article: 11.0 8.76447105788 126% => OK
Subordination: 6.0 2.70958083832 221% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 5.0 1.67365269461 299% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 27.0 19.7664670659 137% => OK
Sentence length: 22.0 22.8473053892 96% => OK
Sentence length SD: 52.9022184676 57.8364921388 91% => OK
Chars per sentence: 117.222222222 119.503703932 98% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.2962962963 23.324526521 96% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.11111111111 5.70786347227 55% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 35.0 5.15768463074 679% => Less paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 23.0 5.25449101796 438% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 10.0 8.20758483034 122% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 10.0 6.88822355289 145% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 7.0 4.67664670659 150% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.324960567943 0.218282227539 149% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0961438077207 0.0743258471296 129% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0879331214872 0.0701772020484 125% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.089697468468 0.128457276422 70% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0822989354619 0.0628817314937 131% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.5 14.3799401198 101% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 49.15 48.3550499002 102% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.9 12.197005988 98% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.52 12.5979740519 107% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.43 8.32208582834 101% => OK
difficult_words: 141.0 98.500998004 143% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 10.5 12.3882235529 85% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 11.1389221557 97% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.9071856287 92% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 30 minutes.
Maximum six paragraphs wanted.
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
---------------------
Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.