Page 396 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

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Real-World Classification: Designing a New Program

Many times, people ask how writing essays will help them in the “real

world.” This real-world assignment demonstrates how writing using

classification might be used outside the classroom.

You are part of a human resources team at a medium-sized company.

Profits have been so good that the company has decided to fund a

program that will benefit employees and the company. Each team

member has been asked to come up with ideas about the kinds of
programs that might be offered. The only restrictions are that both the

company and the employees should benefit from the programs. For

example, wellness programs such as exercise, weight loss, or stop-

smoking clinics would benefit both the employee, who would be

healthier, and the company, which would theoretically benefit because
healthier employees would use less sick leave and incur lower health

insurance costs. Incentive programs offering rewards for increased

productivity would similarly benefit both the rewarded employees and

the company, which would benefit from the increased productivity.

Write an essay describing three types of programs that might be

developed. Give examples of how each program would work and

describe how it would benefit both the employees and the company.