Running Dry, How to Reduce Employee Turnover – IELTS Reading Answers
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The Reading Module of the IELTS can be the top-scoring category, with diligent practice. To achieve the best results in this section, you must understand how to approach and answer the different Question types in the Reading Module. By solving and reviewing Sample Reading Questions from past IELTS papers, you can ensure that your Reading skills are up to the mark.
In the Academic Reading practice test, “Running Dry, How to Reduce Employee Turnover, Reading passage 3” there are 40 questions of various question types. We at IELTSMaterial.com would urge every IELTS aspirant to time this test as in the real exam and find the answers without looking at the key. If you have scored 40/40, then we wish you all the best. If you haven’t, then we would earnestly advise you to take one of our IELTS reading practice tests.
Here are question types in this reading test
Reading Passage 1 (Running Dry):
- Matching information,
- Yes/No/Not Given questions,
- summary completion
Reading Passage 2 (How to Reduce Employee Turnover):
- summary completion,
- Yes/No/Not Given questions,
- Multiple choice questions
Reading Passage 3:
- Multiple choice questions,
- Matching features,
- T/N/NG questions
Reading Passage 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage 1
Running Dry
The problems of water shortages have always been with us. Worldwide consumption of water is doubling every 20 years, a solution is desperately needed.
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Question 1-4
Reading Passage 1 has eight paragraphs A-H.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.
1 where most freshwater is located in the world
2 A way Mexican women obtain water
3 the effect of waste upon Mexican rivers
4 Mexico’s financial commitment for its water
Question 5-8
Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 5-8 on your answer sheet write
YES, if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NO, if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN, if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
5 Unhealthy water is causing illness among Mexican children.
6 Mexicans are moving to other cities because of water shortages.
7 Mexican food crops will fail without water from America.
8 Drinking water in Canada has been polluted by industry.
Question 9-13
Complete the summary of paragraphs F-H below.
Chose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answer in blank spaces next to 9-13 on your answer sheet.
The main issue that confronts cities with poor water supplies is their growing 9____________. Canada, which contains 10_______________ of the world’s freshwater, has dealt with water pollution in some cities through a process of 11_________________ . Although treated for dangerous pollution, some health experts believe city water to be a cause of 12_____________. Not all people are content to drink town water and this has added to a demand for 13_____________
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Reading Passage 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on Reading passage 2
How to Reduce Employee Turnover
Question 14-18
Complete the summary below of paragraphs A-D of Reading Passage 2.
Choose ONE OR TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in blank spaces next to 14-18 on your answer sheet.
Training new employees; downtime as new employees get used to their new job, and unfavourable guest satisfaction levels all led to a large 14____________ for a large hotel. It was determined that the solution to these problems, was in the reduction of the company’s 15___________. The hotel addressed these issues in 4 ways through the implementation of a 16_______________ . The efforts of the hotel chief executive decreased downtime and reduced employee turnover which, in turn, resulted in improvements in 17________________. The company position was improved by $10 million. It is not common for big companies to experience such 18____________
Question 19-21
Do the following statements reflect the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 2?
In boxes 19-21 on your answer sheet write
YES, if the statement reflects the claims of the writer
NO, if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN, if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
19 It was surprising that positions with the highest turnover were not connected to high costs.
20 There was a clear connection between high costs and length of training.
21 New employees were given an incorrect description of their job.
Question 22-26
Reading Passage 2 gives FIVE effective changes that the hotel introduced for staff
Choose these changes from list A-L below.
Write the appropriate letters A-K in boxes 22-26 on your answer sheet.
A changes
B discussed future plans
C introduced regular staff luncheons
D started a regular sports program
E clearly defined job expectations
F did their own staff recruiting
G built new sporting facilities
H involved new staff in goal setting
I offered bonuses to proven, committed new staff
J began meeting regularly with new staff
K implemented a support program
L began recruiting through an employment service
22
23
24
25
26
Reading Passage 3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 27-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3.
Question 27-30
Choose the correct letter A, B, C or D and write them next to 27-30 on your answer sheet.
27 The main reason fathers and mothers join the workforce is
A They want to escape the boring environment of the home.
B they want to be able to retire comfortably.
C they need extra money.
D they need the mature interaction that goes on between adults.
28 ‘Spillover’ is
A mostly positive when it comes to the workplace.
B a term researchers use to describe work life.
C a dominant area of scientific research.
D a term that relates to how work-life affects family life.
29 the significance of rope’s comment is that working women
A should not do the work of men.
B are heavily relied upon to do household duties.
C should not work outside of the home.
D leave household work for their husbands to do.
30 Regarding work and family, the writer concludes that
A work itself plays an important role in job satisfaction.
B more empirically-based theories are yet to be offered by researchers.
C family relationships have a significant effect on job satisfaction.
D work and family are best kept separate from each other.
Question 31-34
Look at the following list of theories (Questions 31-34) and the list of definitions below.
Match each theory with its related idea.
Write the correct letter A-H in boxes 31-34 on your answer sheet.
31 Segmentation
32 Self-determination
33 Compensation
34 Developmental
A family and career remain essentially changeless
B work and family are totally unrelated
C the relationship between work and family is constantly changing
D negative working environments hurt work performance
E high levels lead to positive work and family outcomes
F family duties tend to dominate work duties
G determined people tend to have successful families
H high work involvement results in family neglect
Question 35-39
Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer in Reading Passage 3?
In boxes 35-39 on your answer sheet write
TRUE, if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE, if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN, if there is no information on this
35 Lack of money is the main reason both fathers and mothers enter the workforce.
36 The conflict between work and family increases according to the size of the family.
37 High-income earners balance work and family life better than low-income earners.
38 Men handle work stresses better than women.
39 Work-family conflict is due largely to constant changes in work hours.
Question 40
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D
Write your answer next to 40 on your answer sheet.
40 What is the best title for Reading Passage 3?
A Family relationships and job promotion.
B The psychological effects of work.
C Theories on family and work.
D Work-family conflict and job satisfaction.
Answers
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Running Dry Reading Answers (Passage 1)
1 Answer: E
Question Type: Matching Information
Answer location: Paragraph E, line 2
Answer explanation: In paragraph E, the author states, “of all the water in the world, only about 2.5 per cent is fresh and two-thirds of this is locked up in glaciers and ice caps.” Most freshwater in the world is located in glaciers and ice caps.
2 Answer: B
Question Type: Matching Information
Answer location: Paragraph B, 2nd last line
Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, the author mentions that “deputy director of the Mexican National Water Commission Cantu Suarez reports, “In Oaxaca, south of Mexico City, women line up at dawn to fill a few plastic containers from a passing water truck.” Mexican women in order to obtain water have to line up at dawn to fill a few plastic containers from a passing water truck.
3 Answer: A
Question Type: Matching Information
Answer location: Paragraph A, line 4
Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, refers that “Mexico City, built eight centuries ago atop vast lagoons, cannot adequately supply water for its 22 million inhabitants, like many cities in the world, less than half of the city’s waste is treated. The rest sinks into underground lakes or flows toward the Gulf of Mexico, turning rivers into sewers.” Here, it can be understood that the water condition of Mexico is extremely polluted. Mexico is unable to provide purified water for its twenty-two million inhabitants. The remaining percentage of water that is not treated flows into the Gulf of Mexico that turns rivers into sewers.
4 Answer: C
Question Type: Matching Information
Answer location: Paragraph C, line 4
Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. You must note the paraphrasing here. In the passage, it is said that “under complex water agreements with the United States, Mexico can take water from the Rio Grande but must pay it back.” Mexico is running out of water and is allowed to take water from the Rio Grande but must pay it back due to the agreement (financial commitment) made by Mexicans with the United States.
5 Answer: YES
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph A, line 3
Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line in the said paragraph that describes “according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Mexican children are contracting digestive diseases due to poor water storage.” Hence, the survey of WHO confirms that Mexican children due to unhealthy/poor water storage children suffer from digestive diseases (illness).
6 Answer: NO
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph A, last line
Answer explanation: A line in the paragraph denotes “a forced exodus from parched cities seems far-fetched, and no one suggests it will happen next week but it is a specter haunting Mexico’s future.” The term exodus means a mass departure of people and parched implies extremely thirsty. Since it is given that forced moving of the people out of cities is a far-fetched idea and unlikely to happen. Hence, Mexicans aren’t moving to other cities because of water shortages.
7 Answer: NOT GIVEN
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: N/A
Answer explanation: None of the passages confirms or denies that Mexican food crops will fail without water from America.
8 Answer: YES
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph D, last line
Answer explanation: Paragraph D puts forward the information that “far too many rivers and streams in Canada have been badly contaminated by industrial activity.” The term contaminated has been paraphrased to polluted. Thus, it’s correct that drinking water in Canada has been polluted by industry.
9 Answer: population(s)
Question Type: Summary completion
Answer location: Paragraph F, line 2
Answer explanation: Few lines in the said paragraph convey that “the huge problem, however, is the rapidly increasing populations in places that lack adequate water resources, as well as mismanagement of available resources.” The author states that cities face poor water supplies is due to the rapidly increasing/growing population.
10 Answer: 5.6 per cent
Question Type: Summary completion
Answer location: Paragraph F, line 3
Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can point out that “Canada, with only 0.5 per cent of the world’s population, has 5.6 per cent of its usable fresh water supply.” It is given that only 5.6 per cent of the water is usable supply. Thus, Canada contains 5.6 per cent of the world’s freshwater (that is used).
11 Answer: sterilization
Question Type: Summary completion
Answer location: Paragraph G, line 2
Answer explanation: At the beginning of paragraph G, it is given that “in an attempt to solve this issue the main solution put forward by scientists is sterilization of the water.” In order to deal (solve) with the issue of water pollution, scientists have started with the process of sterilization of the water
12 Answer: cancer(s)
Question Type: Summary completion
Answer location: Paragraph G, line 4
Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, a line in the passage specifies that “drinking such water over a long period can cause bladder and colon cancers, but health experts maintain the benefits far outweigh these risks.” However, it is also argued that consumption of treated/sterilized water can in the longer period cause bladder and colon cancers.
13 Answer: bottled water
Question Type: Summary completion
Answer location: Paragraph G, line 5
Answer explanation: If you observe, in the said paragraph to the fact that “as a result, the bottled water business is booming.” Since there are too many arguments happening about the safety of using sterilized water, not all people are content to drink town water, and the bottled water business is growing in demand (booming).
How to Reduce Employee Turnover Reading Answers (Passage 2)
14 Answer: annual costs
Question Type: Summary completion
Answer location: Paragraph A, line 1
Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line that claims, “The chief executive of a large hotel became aware that his company was experiencing an annual employee turnover of about 60 per cent, at an annual cost estimated between $10 to $15 million. This large amount of money was calculated based on three factors.” Here, the author mentions that there are 3 major factors that play a vital role in comprehending the annual cost (a large amount of money) for the hotel.
15 Answer: turnover costs
Question Type: Summary completion
Answer location: Paragraph B, line 1
Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, refer that, “the Chief Executive knew that in order to save his company, he had to reduce the high turnover costs.” Here, the term saves his company has been paraphrased to solve problems. Thus, in order to solve the problem, the hotel was required to reduce the company’s turnover costs.
16 Answer: plan
Question Type: Summary completion
Answer location: Paragraph B, line 3
Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. In the passage, it is said that “but the hotel boss decided to tackle the issue head-on by implementing a 4 point plan, the hotel first took the time to calculate their turnover costs; secondly to evaluate the main causes for the staff turnover and; thirdly to discuss some of the solutions to the problems and lastly to prioritize actions and evaluate future returns following implemented changes.” In order to address these issues hotel boss implemented a 4-ways (point) plan.
17 Answer: guest satisfaction
Question Type: Summary completion
Answer location: Paragraph C, line 2
Answer explanation: Few lines in said paragraph discuss that “the annual employee turnover was reduced by 78 per cent and this impacted downtime due to training and guest satisfaction.” Here, we can observe that there was a reduction of the annual employee turnover by 78%. Improvements were in training and guest satisfaction.
18 Answer: savings
Question Type: Summary completion
Answer location: Paragraph C, line 3
Answer explanation: Paragraph C intimates that “the result was a $10 million savings for the company. Because most do not know the root causes of employee turnover and costs have often not been accurately estimated, causes are usually not known.” Here, the author mentioned that maximum companies do not dig into the main cause of high employee turnover and do not calculate the cost accurately, therefore many companies do not get the chance to see a huge saving of $10 million
19 Answer: NOT GIVEN
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: N/A
Answer explanation: None of the paragraphs confirms or denies that it was surprising that positions with the highest turnover were not connected to high costs.
20 Answer: YES
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph D, line 4
Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. In the passage, it is said that “positions that involved a substantial amount of time in training were the ones that attracted the highest costing.” Here, the amount of time in training implies the length of training and the highest costing signifies high. Hence, it’s correct that there was a clear connection between high costs and length of training.
21 Answer: YES
Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph E, last line
Answer explanation: In the reference paragraph, the author mentions that “candidates were being over-sold the job by recruiters and left soon after they encountered unrealistic job expectations.” Here, candidates infer new employees and unrealistic job signifies incorrect job description. Hence, it’s correct that new employees were given an incorrect description of their job.
22 Answer: B
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Paragraph F, line 4
Answer explanation: Paragraph F puts forward the information that “to add to employee motivation, new staff were made aware of the mission and goals of the organization and how they would be paid above industry standard for striving to attain hotel values.” This directly relates future plans for the new staff.
23 Answer: E
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Paragraph H, line 2
Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can find out that “now, when staff are employed, they are clearly told what is expected in the job and where it might lead to the right candidate.” This line confirms that the new changes introduced by hotel for staff include clearly defining job expectations.
24 Answer: F
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Paragraph F, line 2
Answer explanation: At the beginning of paragraph F it is given that “as far a recruiting was concerned, they changed their approach by getting personnel from the hotel to handle it.” Another new change introduced by the hotel for staff includes doing their own (hotel to handle it) staff recruiting.
25 Answer: I
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Paragraph G, line 1
Answer explanation: The opening line of paragraph G infers that “they had been losing many of their employees during the first month or two of employment, so they made new staff aware that bonuses would be offered to newly-hired employees at the end of their first three months which greatly assisted in goal setting.” Since the hotel was losing its employees, it came up with a new idea of introducing bonuses to committed staff.
26 Answer: K
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Paragraph G, line 2
Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, a line in the said paragraph discusses that “staff luncheons and the in-house volleyball and basketball competitions remained an effective part of staff unity and development and a support program was also introduced to help all staff with any job-related issues which gave employees a heightened sense of being cared for by the establishment.” Lastly, the hotel boss introduced support programs to help all staff with any job-related issues.
Reading Passage 3
27 Answer: C
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Paragraph A, line 4
Answer explanation: A line in the said paragraph states that “generally, the reasons for both being involved in the workforce revolve around the need to add to the family’s current financial base.” Here, both signify fathers and mothers. And it is given that the reason both join the workforce is because of their family’s current financial base and that they need extra money.
28 Answer: D
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Paragraph B, line 1
Answer explanation: The opening line of paragraph B signifies that “many researchers agree that attitudes towards work are carried over into family life. This spillover can be positive or negative.” Since the attitude towards work is carried into the family, it implies that work-life affects family life, and it is known as spillover.
29 Answer: B
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Paragraph F, line 3
Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. You must note the paraphrasing here. In the passage, it is said that “Winthrope points out that, Even though a woman may enter the workforce, research has shown that within the context of the family, the care of her husband and children, as well as the living quarters, is still heavily the woman’s domain.” Here, we can observe that Winthrope states that even though women enter the workforce, they are heavily burdened by the household duties (care of her husband and children).
30 Answer: C
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Paragraph G, 2nd last line
Answer explanation: You can note the paraphrasing here. In the passage, it states that “many have conducted empirical research in relation to work-family conflict and job satisfaction with significantly varying results. However, one generally recognized outcome about which few researchers disagree is that when work-family conflict arises, job satisfaction decreases.” According to the author, when work-family conflict arises, job satisfaction decreases, which means family relationships have a significant effect on job satisfaction.
31 Answer: B
Question Type: Matching features
Answer location: Paragraph E, last line
Answer explanation: Few lines in the said paragraph convey that “segmentation theory proposes that work and family are actually two entirely separate domains and individuals are able to maintain a clear demarcation between the two.” The term separate can also be understood as unrelated. Hence, according to segmentation theory work and family are totally unrelated.
32 Answer: E
Question Type: Matching features
Answer location: Paragraph E, 2nd last line
Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, there’s a line that claims “studies built on the theory of self-determination, therefore, point out that if people have abundant levels of self-determination, participation in those areas will most often result in desirable outcomes.” Here, a high level can be inferred as abundant levels. Hence, self-determination theory implies that high (abundant) levels of participation lead to positive work and family outcomes (desirable outcomes).
33 Answer: H
Question Type: Matching features
Answer location: Paragraph E, 2nd last line
Answer explanation: In the said paragraph, you can point out that “it assumes that the relationship between work and family is negative by pointing out that high involvement in one sphere – invariably the work sphere – leads to low involvement in the other.” According to compensation theory, high involvement in one sphere (high work involvement) results in low involvement in the other ( family neglect).
34 Answer: C
Question Type: Matching features
Answer location: Paragraph D, line 3
Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, a line in the passage specifies that “hence, the relationship between work and family is constantly changing over a person’s life. The developmental approach, therefore… exploré is) the dynamics of the relationship between the individual, family, and career developments in the life-span of a worker.” The developmental theory explores, the relationship between work and family in a person’s life.
35 Answer: TRUE
Question Type: True/False/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph A, line 4
Answer explanation: If you observe, in the said paragraph to the fact that “generally, the reasons for both being involved in the workforce revolve around the need to add to the family’s current financial base.” Here, both signify fathers and mothers. And it is given that the reason both join the workforce is because of their family’s current financial base and that they needed extra money. Hence, it’s true that due to lack of money both fathers and mothers enter the workforce.
36 Answer: TRUE
Question Type: True/False/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph C, last line
Answer explanation: The answer is clearly mentioned in the said paragraph and line. In the passage, it is said that “researchers subscribing to this theory point out that the drain on family time is significantly related to work-family conflict with an escalation in conflict as the number of family members increases.” Drain on family time means family members spend less time together, and this is due to work-family conflict. And this conflict escalates (rises) if/according to the size of the family (family members increases).
37 Answer: NOT GIVEN
Question Type: True/False/Not Given Questions
Answer location: N/A
Answer explanation: None of the paragraphs confirms or denies that high-income earners balance work and family life better than low-income earners.
38 Answer: FALSE
Question Type: True/False/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph F, last line
Answer explanation: Few lines in said paragraph discuss that “despite this, there has been no positive link shown that one sex experiences greater difficulty in managing work-family conflicts over another.” Since it is given that there is no positive link on which sex experiences greater difficulty in managing work-family conflicts, it is incorrect to state that men handle work stresses better than women.
39 Answer: TRUE
Question Type: True/False/Not Given Questions
Answer location: Paragraph G, line 1
Answer explanation: If you read thoroughly, the author in the given paragraph mentions that “perhaps the most positive relationship that could be established between work and family conflict was in regard to irregular work hours.” From this line, we can confirm that work-family conflict is due largely (regards) to constant changes in work hours.
40 Answer: D
Question Type: Multiple Choice Questions
Answer location: Complete Paragraph
Answer explanation: By reading the passage you should have taken notice that all the ideas presented relate here are related to work, family, conflict, and job satisfaction. Thus, the appropriate title for the passage would be work-family conflict and job satisfaction.
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