The following is part of a business plan being discussed at a board meeting of the Perks Company.
It is no longer cost-effective for the Perks Company to continue offering its employees a generous package of benefits and incentives year after year. In periods when national unemployment rates are low, Perks may need to offer such a package in order to attract and keep good employees, but since national unemployment rates are now high, Perks does not need to offer the same benefits and incentives. The money thus saved could be better used to replace the existing plant machinery with more technologically sophisticated equipment, or even to build an additional plant.
Discuss how well reasoned... etc.
The author of Perks Companys business plan recommends that funds currently spent on the employee benefits package be redirected to either upgrade plant machinery or build an additional plant. The author reasons that offering employees a generous package of benefits and incentives year after year is no longer cost-effective given current high unemployment rates, and that Perks can attract and keep good employees without such benefits and incentives. While this argument has some merit, its line of reasoning requires close examination.
To begin with, the author relies on the reasoning that it is unnecessary to pay relatively high wages during periods of high unemployment because the market will supply many good employees at lower rates of pay. While this reasoning may be sound in a general sense, the particular industry that Perks is involved in may not be representative of unemployment levels generally. It is possible that relatively few unemployed people have the type of qualifications that match job openings at Perks, if this is the case, the claim that it is easier now to attract good employees at lower wages is ill-founded.
Secondly, the argument relies on the assumption that the cost-effectiveness of a wage policy is determined solely by whatever wages a market can currently bear. This assumption overlooks the peripheral costs of reducing or eliminating benefits. For example, employee morale is likely to decline if Perks eliminates benefits; as a result, some employees could become less productive, and others might quit. Even if Perks can readily replace those employees, training costs and lower productivity associated with high turnover may outweigh any advantages of redirecting funds to plant construction. Moreover, because the recommended reduction in benefits is intended to fund the retrofitting of an entire plant or the building of a new one, the reduction would presumably be a sizable one; consequently, the turnover costs associated with the reduction might be very high indeed.
In conclusion, this argument is not convincing, since it unfairly assumes that a broad employment statistic applies to one specific industry, and since it ignores the disadvantages of implementing the plan. Accordingly, I would suspend judgment about the recommendation until the author shows that unemployment in Parks industry is high and until the author produces a thorough cost-benefit analysis of the proposed plan.
A recipe for disaster 后患无穷
Bye bye Big Ben's bongs 与大本钟的钟声暂时告别
In good nick 品质好、没有损坏
It takes two to tango 一个巴掌拍不响
White / blue-collar worker 白领,蓝领
Too much stuff 物质主义和简约主义
Bored at work? Sue the boss! 工作无聊怪老板?
Online Shopping 网上购物-英语点津
Close, but no cigar 几近成功
It's on the cards 这件事十有八九会发生
Barefaced 厚颜无耻的
The university of life 生活经历
Hot potato 棘手的问题“烫手山芋”
Reunion? Count me out! 重聚? 别算上我!
Get someone's goat 火冒三丈
Axe to grind 别有用心
To make a mountain out of a molehill 小题大做
Until I'm blue in the face 任凭你磨破嘴皮
To turn something upside down 把……翻个底朝天
Knee-jerk reaction 本能反映
Lights! Camera! English! 灯光,摄像机,英语!
Pain in the neck 令人讨厌的事情或人
Going forward 从今往后
A bitter pill to swallow 不得不吞的苦药
A cashless society 无现金社会
Off the hook 脱身
Are you addicted to your phone? 你是不是玩手机上瘾了?
To fall at the first hurdle 跌倒在第一关
Cyclists make Olympic history, 400-year-old shark 英国自行车运动员创英奥运历史,400岁格陵兰鲨鱼
Apple’s headphone headache? 令人头疼的新款苹果耳机
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |