Final answer:
To find the number of employees in the company prior to the reduction, set up and solve an equation by considering the given reduction percentage and number of eliminated employees.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the number of employees in the company prior to the reduction, we can set up an equation.
Let's represent the original number of employees as 'x'.
Since the number of employees was reduced by 28% (or 0.28), we can express the equation as follows: x - 0.28x = 240.
Simplifying the equation gives us: 0.72x = 240.
Dividing both sides by 0.72 gives us: x = 240 ÷ 0.72 = 333.33.
Since we can't have a fractional number of employees, the closest whole number is 333.
Therefore, the answer is 333.