Question 91·Easy·Inferences
A recent report from the National Workplace Institute describes two companies that adopted a compressed four-day workweek. At Company A, managers recorded a 15% rise in weekly productivity and a 20% drop in energy costs. At Company B, employee surveys showed a 30% decline in reported stress and a 25% increase in job satisfaction. Both companies kept total weekly pay unchanged.
Therefore, the four-day workweek can reasonably be inferred to ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
For inference/completion questions, restate what the text directly shows (here: employer benefits in Company A, employee benefits in Company B, pay unchanged in both). Then eliminate choices that add new conditions ("only if"), new time frames ("over time"), or unrelated factors (like flexible schedules). Pick the general statement that fits all the evidence without going beyond it.
Hints
Locate the key results for each company
Look carefully at what happened at Company A and at Company B after they moved to a four-day workweek. Ask: who is mainly benefiting in each case—employers or employees?
Pay attention to what did not change
The last sentence says something important about weekly pay. How does that detail limit what you can say about the effects of the four-day workweek?
Watch for extreme or extra claims
Check each answer for words like "only," "over time," or added conditions (such as other workplace policies) that the passage never mentions.
Look for a generalization that fits both companies
The best inference should be consistent with the outcomes at both Company A and Company B, without adding extra assumptions.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand what the question is asking
The question asks what can reasonably be inferred from the information given. Choose the completion that is strongly supported by the paragraph, without adding new claims.
Summarize the evidence for each company
- Company A: 15% rise in weekly productivity and 20% drop in energy costs (employer-focused benefits).
- Company B: 30% decline in reported stress and 25% increase in job satisfaction (employee-focused benefits).
- Both companies: total weekly pay stayed the same.
Eliminate choices that add unsupported conditions
Eliminate any option that:
- contradicts the passage (for example, claiming energy costs rose),
- predicts pay cuts (despite pay being unchanged in the report), or
- adds a new condition (like flexible schedules) that the passage never mentions.
Choose the inference that fits both companies
The only statement supported by both sets of results is:
benefit both employers and employees, though in different ways.