Level 4 Business Writing Sample Item
Prompt:
At your office, employees are allowed to skip their morning and/or afternoon breaks to take longer lunch breaks. However, the personnel manager says that employees have been taking too much time on their lunch breaks as a result of this policy. She wants to require all employees to take their morning and afternoon breaks and the standard lunch break. Write a letter to the personnel manager explaining whether or not you are in favor of this proposal and why.
Level 4 Sample Response
The employees in the office greatly appreciate the efforts you've made to keep everyone on task. However, I know I represent a group of employees who disagree with your suggestion to change the lunch and break system. Although we agree that employees shouldn't abuse their lunch privillages, we feel that micromanagement of our time will hurt the work we accomplish every day.
When an employee is given the choice of having two short breaks or a longer lunch hour it allows individuals to complete their work during a time of day when they are most efficient. Some people benefit from having a short break in the morning or afternoon and don't feel they would enjoy a longer lunch. Personally, I have a very heavy workload on a daily basis. Some of the tasks I do for clientel are not easy to stop in the middle. Due to this situation, I prefer to skip the interruption of a short break to have a longer lunch hour.
Another situation employees are frequently faced with is unexpected short-term projects. Some employees receive notice in the morning they have to see a client that day. Often employees have had to forefit their morning break.
The employees I represent would like you to reconsider your proposal. Hopefully our reasoning will shed new light on the situation. We are willing to watch time on breaks and lunch hours more carefully. The loss of flexibility would be a detriment to our company. Thank you for your time.
Why this is a Level 4 response:
- Sentences are generally varied in length and complexity (Although we agree that employees shouldn't abuse their lunch privillages, we feel that micromanagement of our time will hurt the work we accomplish every day.)
- Infrequent errors in grammar and/or mechanics do not interfere with communication. Spelling is generally correct. Errors include misspellings of privillages, clientel, and forefit and a missing comma in the first sentence of the 2nd paragraph.
- Word choice shows some precision and variety. Words such as micromanagement, individuals, interruption, forefit, flexibility, and detriment show precise and varied language, despite spelling errors.
- The tone is consistent with standard business English (The employees in the office greatly appreciate the efforts you've made to keep everyone on task.)
- The writing is organized and maintains consistent focus. Transitions are effective but not strongly varied (however and although).
- The ideas are mostly well developed, with relevant supporting examples and details. There are two well-developed ideas, but the second idea, short-term projects, is limited.