Grey Workers Reading Answers

Jan 24, 2023

Grey Workers Reading Answers tests a candidate’s reading and understanding abilities through a passage followed by 13 questions. Grey Workers Reading Answers is an IELTS Academic Reading passage. IELTS Reading Sample Grey Workers Reading Answers has been taken from the book The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS Student's Book with Answers with DVD-ROM. This passage contains three question types: Identifying information, Multiple-choice questions with a single answer, and Multiple-choice questions with two answers. For preparation, candidates will come across numerous passages in IELTS reading practice papers that are available online.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Grey Workers Reading Answers

Given the speed at which their workers are growing greyer, employers know surprisingly little about how productive they are. The general assumption is that the old are paid more in spite of, rather than because of, their extra productivity. That might partly explain why, when employers are under pressure to cut costs, they persuade the 55-year-olds to take early retirement. Earlier this year, Sun Life of Canada, an insurance company, announced that it was offering redundancy to all its British employees aged 50 or over “to bring in new blood”.
In Japan, says Mariko Fujiwara, an industrial anthropologist who runs a think-tank for Hakuhodo, Japan’s second-largest advertising agency, most companies are bringing down the retirement age from the traditional 57 to 50 or thereabouts – and in some cases, such as Nissan, to 45. More than perhaps anywhere else, pay in Japan is linked to seniority. Given that the percentage of workers who have spent more than 32 years with the same employer rose from 11% in 1980 to 42% by 1994，it is hardly surprising that seniority-based wage costs have become the most intractable item on corporate profit-and-loss accounts.
In Germany, Patrick Pohl, spokesman for Hoechst, expresses a widely held view: “The company is trying to lower the average age of the workforce. Perhaps the main reason for replacing older workers is that it makes it easier to ‘defrost’ the corporate culture. Older workers are less willing to try a new way of thinking. Younger workers are cheaper and more flexible.” Some German firms are hampered from getting rid of older workers as quickly as they would like. At SGL Carbon, a graphite producer, the average age of workers has been going up not down. The reason, says the company’s Ivo Lingnau, is not that SGL values older workers more. It is collective bargaining: the union agreement puts strict limits on the proportion of workers that may retire early.
Clearly, when older people do heavy physical work, their age may affect their productivity. But other skills may increase with age, including many that are crucial for goods management, such as an ability to handle people diplomatically, to run a meeting or to spot a problem before it blows up. Peter Hicks, who co-ordinates OECD work on the policy implications of ageing, says that plenty of research suggests older people are paid more because they are worth more.
And the virtues of the young may be exaggerated. “The few companies that have kept on older workers find they have good judgment and their productivity is good，,” says Mr Peterson. “Besides, their education standards are much better than those of today’s young high-school graduates.” Companies may say that older workers are not worth training, because they are reaching the end of their working lives: in fact, young people tend to switch jobs so frequently that they offer the worst returns on training. “The median age for employer-driven training is the late 40s and early 50s，,” says Mr Hicks. “It goes mainly to managers.”
Take away those seniority-based pay scales, and older workers may become a much more attractive employment proposition. But most companies (and many workers) are uncomfortable with the idea of reducing someone’s pay in later life – although workers on piece-rates often earn less over time. So retaining the services of older workers may mean employing them in new ways.
One innovation, described in Mr Walker’s report on combating age barriers, was devised by IBM Belgium. Faced with the need to cut staff costs, and have decided to concentrate cuts on 55-60-year-olds, IBM set up a separate company called Skill Team, which re-employed any of the early retired who wanted to go on working up to the age of 60. An employee who joined Skill Team at the age of 55 on a five-year contract would work for 58% of his time, over the full period, for 88% of his last IBM salary. The company offered services to IBM, thus allowing it to retain access to some of the intellectual capital it would otherwise have lost.
The best way to tempt the old to go on working may be to build on such “bridge” jobs: part-time or temporary employment that creates a more gradual transition from full-time work to retirement. Mr Quinn, who has studied the phenomenon, finds that, in the United States, nearly half of all men and women who had been in full-time jobs in middle age moved into such “bridge” jobs at the end of their working lives. In general, it is the best-paid and worst-paid who carry on working: “There are”, he says, “two very different types of bridge job-holders – those who continue working because they have to and those who continue working because they want to, even though they could afford to retire.”
If the hob market grows more flexible, the old may find more jobs that suit them. Often, they will be self-employed. Sometimes, they may start their own businesses: a study by David Storey of Warwick University found that, in Britain, 70% of businesses started by people over 55 survived, compared with an average of only 19%. To coax the old back into the job market, work will not only have to pay. It will need to be more fun than touring the country in an Airstream trailer, or seeing the grandchildren, or playing golf. Only then will there be many more Joe Clarks.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation

Questions 1-4

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage ?
In boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement is true
FALSE if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN if the information is not given in the passage

Insurance company, Sun Life of Canada made the decision that it would hire more Canadian employees rather than British ones in order to get fresh staff.
Unlike other places, employees in Japan get paid according to the years they are employed.
Elder workers are laid off by some German companies which are refreshing corporate culture.
According to Peter Hicks, companies pay older people more regardless of the contribution they make.

(Guide: Candidates need to study the question, identify the same, and answer as True or False or Not Given)

Answers:

Question 1.

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: There isn’t any mention of Canada employees’ role in the insurance company, Sun Life of Canada.

Question: 2.

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: “More than perhaps anywhere else, pay in Japan is linked to seniority. Given that the percentage of workers who have spent more than 32 years with the same employer rose from 11% in 1980 to 42% by 1994, it is hardly surprising that seniority-based wage costs have become the most intractable item on corporate profit-and-loss accounts.”
Keyword: linked to seniority, workers, seniority-based wage costs
Keyword Location: Para B Lines 3-5
Explanation: According to the above lines, pay in Japan is linked to seniority of the employee which is a unique law of Japan.

Question 3.

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: “The company is trying to lower the average age of the workforce. Perhaps the main reason for replacing older workers is that it makes it easier to ‘defrost’ the corporate culture. Older workers are less willing to try a new way of thinking. Younger workers are cheaper and more flexible.”
Keyword: lowertthe average age, replacing older workers, defrost the corporate culture
Keyword location: Para C Lines 2-4
Explanation: The author of these lines says that the companies are trying to replace older workers with younger ones so as to create a refreshing atmosphere. Younger workers are cheap and more open to ideas.

Question 4.

Answer: False
Supporting Sentence: “Peter Hicks, who coordinates OECD work on the policy implications of ageing, says that plenty of research suggests older people are paid more because they are worth more.”
Keyword: OECD work, worth more
Keyword location: Para D Lines 4-5
Explanation: Peter Hicks clearly said that older people are paid more because they are worth more owing to their wide experience.

Questions 5-6

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, D, E.

Write your answers in boxes 5-6 on your answer sheet.

According to the passage, there are several advantages to hire elder people, please choose TWO from below:

their productivity is more superior than the young.
paid less compared with younger ones.
run fast when there is a meeting
has a better interpersonal relationship
identify problems in an advanced time

(Guide: Candidates need to choose two options from the list of A to E that states about advantages to hire older people)

Answers:

Question 5.

Answer: D. have a better interpersonal relationship
Supporting Sentence: “But other skills may increase with age, including many that are crucial for good management, such as an ability to handle people diplomatically”
Keyword: skills, crucial for good management, handle people
Keyword location: Para D Lines 2-3
Explanation: The above lines conclude that older people are good at handling their clients diplomatically which makes them better than younger ones in terms of interpersonal relationships.

Question 6.

Answer: E. identify problems in an advanced time
Supporting Sentence: “ But other skills may increase with age, including many that are crucial for good management, such as an ability to handle people diplomatically, to run a meeting or to spot a problem before it blows up.”
Keyword: spot a problem
Keyword location: Para D Lines 2-4
Explanation: The above lines conclude that older people can identify problems before it creates any havoc.

Questions 7-8

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, D, E.

Write your answers in boxes 7-8 on your answer sheet.

According to Mr Peterson, Compared with the elder employee, young graduates have several weaknesses in the workplace, please choose TWO of them below:

they are not worth training.
their productivity is lower than counterparts.
they change work more often
their academic criteria is someway behind elders’.
they are normally high school graduates.

(Guide: Candidates need to answer questions 7 and 8 by selecting two options from the list of A to E. Select only those two options that answers the question ‘According to Mr.Peterson, Compared with elder employees, young graduates have several weaknesses in workplace’)

Answers:

Question 7.

Answer: C. they change work more often
Supporting Sentence: “Companies may say that older workers are not worth training, because they are reaching the end of their working lives: in fact, young people tend to switch jobs so frequently that offer the worst returns on training.”
Keyword: switch jobs, frequently, worst returns on training
Keyword location: Para E Lines 4-6
Explanation: Younger people tend to switch their jobs more often compared to the older people.

Question 8.

Answer: D. their academic criteria is someway behind elders’.
Supporting Sentence: “Besides, their education standards are much better than those of today’s young high-school graduates.”
Keyword: education standards
Keyword location: Para E Lines 3-4
Explanation: Mr. Peterson clearly says that older peoples’ education standards are much higher than the younger graduates which is a weakness of the younger generation.

Questions 9-13

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

Write your answers in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.

(Guide: Candidates need to answer questions 9 to 13 by selecting correct answers from the list of A to D)

Question 9: According to paragraph F, the firms and workers still hold the opinion that:

Older workers are more likely to attract other staff
people are not happy if pay gets lower in retiring age.
Older people have more retaining motivation than young people
young people often earn less for their piece-rates salary.

Answer: B. people are not happy if pay gets lower in retiring age.
Supporting Sentence: “But most companies (and many workers) are uncomfortable with the idea of reducing someone’s pay in later life – although workers on piece-fates often earn less over time.”
Keyword: uncomfortable, reducing some’s play, later life
Keyword location: Para F Lines 2-4
Explanation: Most companies and workers still hold the idea that lowering the wages of people approaching retiring age makes them uncomfortable.

Question 10: SkillTeam that has been founded by IBM conducted which of the following movement:

Ask all the old worker to continue their job on former working hours basis
Carry on the action of cutting off the elder’s proportion of employment
Ask employees to work more hours in order to get extra pay
Re-hire old employees and kept the salary a bit lower

Answer: D. Re-hire old employees and kept the salary a bit lower
Supporting Sentence: “Faced with the need to cut staff costs, and have decided to concentrate cuts on 55-60-year-olds, IBM set up a separate company called SkillTeam, which re-employed any of the early retired who wanted to go on working up to the age of 60. An employee who joined SkillTeam at the age of 55 on a five-year contract would work for 58% of his time, over the full period, for 88% of his last IBM salary.”
Keyword: cut staff costs,
Keyword location: Para G Lines 2-6
Explanation: The above lines clearly conclude that SkillTeam that has been founded by IBM worked on the movement of rehiring older employees at lower wages.

Question 11: Which of the followings is correct according to the research of Mr Quinn:

About 50% of all employees in America switched into ‘bridge’ jobs.
Only the worst-paid continue to work.
More men than women fell into the category of ‘bridge’ work.
Some old people keep working for their motive rather than an economic incentive.

Answer: D. Some old people keep working for their motive rather than an economic incentive.
Supporting Sentence: “There are”, he says, “two very different types of bridge jog-holders – those who continue working because they have to and those who continue working because they want to, even though they could afford to retire.”
Keyword: continue working because they want to, even though they could afford to retire
Keyword location: Para H Lines 6-8
Explanation: According to the research of Mr Quinn, it is clear that some old people work for their motive rather than an economic incentive.

Question 12: Which of the followings is correct according to David Storey:

70% business is successful if they hire more older people.
Average success of a self-employed business is getting lower.
Self-employed elder people are more likely to survive.
Older people’s working hours are more flexible.

Answer: C. Self-employed elder people are more likely to survive.
Supporting Sentence: “If the job market grows more flexible, the old may find more jobs that suit them. Often, they will be self-employed. Sometimes, they may start their own businesses: a study by David Storey of Warwick University found that, in Britain, 70% of businesses started by people over 55 survived.”
Keyword: old, self-employed, over 55 survived
Keyword location: Para I Lines 1-4
Explanation: According to David Storey of Warwick University, self-employed elder people are more likely to survive if the job market becomes more flexible. Around 70% of businesses started by people over 55 years of age have survived which shows a quite good success ratio.

Question 13: What is the main purpose of the author in writing this passage?

there must be a successful retiring program for the old
older people should be correctly valued in employment
old people should offer more to help young employees grow.
There are more jobs in the world that only employ older people

Answer: B. older people should be correctly valued in employment
Supporting Sentence: Whole passage
Keyword: valued
Keyword location: Whole passage
Explanation: The main purpose of the author is to demand for the correct valuation of older people in the employment sector. Older people should not be blindly removed to hire cheap younger employees. Experience of the older generation should be widely used in growing the businesses.

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