The following appeared in a memo at XYZ company.” When XYZ lays off employees, it pays Delany Personnel Firm to offer those employees assistance in creating résumés and developing interviewing skills, if they so desire. Laid-off employees have benefited greatly from Delany’s services: last year those who used Delany found jobs much more quickly than did those who did not. Recently, it has been proposed that we use the less expensive Walsh Personnel Firm in place of Delany. This would be a mistake because eight years ago, when XYZ was using Walsh, only half of the workers we laid off at that time found jobs within a year. Moreover, Delany is clearly superior, as evidenced by its bigger staff and larger number of branch offices. After all, last year Delany’s clients took an average of six months to find jobs, whereas Walsh’s clients took nine.”

The following appeared in a memo at XYZ company.

“When XYZ lays off employees, it pays Delany Personnel Firm to offer those employees assistance in creating résumés and developing interviewing skills, if they so desire. Laid-off employees have benefited greatly from Delany’s services: last year those who used Delany found jobs much more quickly than did those who did not. Recently, it has been proposed that we use the less expensive Walsh Personnel Firm in place of Delany. This would be a mistake because eight years ago, when XYZ was using Walsh, only half of the workers we laid off at that time found jobs within a year. Moreover, Delany is clearly superior, as evidenced by its bigger staff and larger number of branch offices. After all, last year Delany’s clients took an average of six months to find jobs, whereas Walsh’s clients took nine.”

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.

The CEO of XYZ company has decided that XYZ will outsource its personnel needs. He has cited the reduced costs of Walsh Personnel Firm, as well as the company’s greater experience with the firm, as reasons for his choice. However, the CEO fails to consider the long-term effects of outsourcing personnel services. His argument fails to take into consideration the decrease in productivity that will occur at XYZ after a large number of its employees are laid off.

The CEO states that those who used Delany Personnel Firm found jobs much more quickly than did those who did not. However, a simple examination of the salaries of the two groups would reveal that the Delany clients earned significantly more money. The CEO suggests that Delany personnel firm is superior because it has a larger staff. However, this assumes that the employees at Delany are more skilled at finding jobs than their counterparts at Walsh. In fact, Delany employees often receive bonuses for finding jobs, whereas Walsh employees do not. This might explain the disparity in success rates. Although Delany personnel firm has a larger staff than Walsh, it relies on its employees’ individual efforts to find jobs for the clients. Walsh, on the other hand, uses a sophisticated data-mining and sorting program to match workers to open positions, and this program seems to do a better job than Delany. The CEO also fails to consider the possibility that the employees at Walsh are more experienced than their counterparts at Delany, or that Walsh simply has better software at its disposal. If so, then Walsh may be superior to Delany, even though its costs are higher.

The CEO states that Delany’s clients took an average of six months to find jobs, whereas Walsh’s clients took nine. However, he fails to mention that Delany’s clients took an average of six months to find a job in 2013, whereas Walsh’s clients took an average of 11 months to do the same in 2016. This discrepancy in success rates can be explained by several factors. First, Walsh personnel firm has a larger staff than Delany, which means that Walsh is more likely to find a job for its clients. Second, Walsh personnel firm employs more sophisticated software than Delany, meaning that it is more efficient at finding suitable positions for its workers. Third, many Delany clients were laid off during the recession, whereas Walsh’s clients tend to be employed long-term at stable companies. This leads some to believe that Delany employs more job seekers on temporary contracts than Walsh does. As a result, Delany’s clients spend more time looking for work than Walsh’s does. Finally, Delany personnel firm has fewer branch offices than Walsh does. Thus, it is more difficult for its clients to find a branch office near their homes, which means that Delany clients must travel farther to work than Walsh clients do.

As a result of the CEO’s poor reasoning, XYZ will outsource its personnel needs. The employees at XYZ may suffer when they lose their jobs, and XYZ will spend more money on personnel services than it would have if Delany personnel firm had remained in-house.