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Difficulty: MediumWeakening Arguments

To reduce employee turnover caused by workplace burnout, a technology firm plans to institute a mandatory four-day workweek while keeping salaries unchanged and maintaining existing weekly project deadlines. Management reasons that granting employees a three-day weekend every week will lower overall stress levels, thereby improving job satisfaction and reducing voluntary resignations. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument above?

  1. Compressing the same total volume of weekly tasks into four days significantly increases daily work intensity and stress during working hours.Answer
  2. B
    A recent industry survey indicated that companies offering flexible work hours generally report lower turnover rates than those with rigid scheduling.
  3. C
    Most software engineers at competing firms consider health insurance benefits to be more important than three-day weekends when evaluating job offers.
  4. D
    The company's human resources department will need to adjust paid time off tracking systems to accommodate the revised work Schedule.
  5. E
    Employees who engage in personal development activities on non-working days report higher long-term satisfaction than those who spend free time passively.

Answer

The argument is most weakened by the finding that compressing the unchanged weekly workload into four days increases daily stress during working hours.
The argument relies on the assumption that a three-day weekend will produce a net reduction in employee stress and burnout. The correct choice weakens the argument by exposing a major flaw in the plan: because weekly deadlines remain unchanged, employees must complete 40 hours of workload across 4 days. This compressed schedule creates high daily stress during working days, which directly negates the anticipated reduction in overall burnout.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the premise and conclusion of the argument.
Premise: Providing a mandatory three-day weekend will give employees extra time off. Conclusion: Giving employees an extra day off each week will reduce overall stress levels and lower employee turnover caused by burnout.
Deconstructing the argument reveals the core causal claim.
2
Identify the key unstated assumption.
The author assumes that the extra day off will actually lower net stress without introducing new, equal, or greater sources of workplace stress.
The conclusion relies on net stress decreasing as a result of the schedule change.
3
Evaluate the option that undermines this assumption.
If weekly project deadlines remain unchanged, completing five days of work in four days creates severe daily time pressure and stress during the workweek, offsetting or exceeding any stress relief from the long weekend.
Showing an unintended negative consequence directly negates the assumed benefit of reduced overall stress.

Key Concept

Weakening a Plan-to-Goal Argument via Implementation Constraints
Estimated Time:1m 50s
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Weakening Arguments

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