Scan and Learn!

 

Task 1. Why should employers care about their employees' work-life balance?

 

Task 2. Read the extract of a company's terms and conditions for its employees. Choose the correct heading for each section.

•       Family and health

•       Working hours

•       Holiday

1.              ______________________. The company operates a system of flexitime. All employees must be at work during the core hours of between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. but they can start and finish work between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Employees must take their lunch break anytime between midday and 2 p.m. and this should not be less than 30 minutes long. Paid overtime must be done outside of the flexible working hours (e.g. before 8 a.m. or after 6 p.m.). The company also allows home-working for up to a maximum of eight hours on one day a week. 

2.              ______________________. Full-time employees receive 25 working days’ holiday (not including public holidays) in a calendar year. Annual leave for part-time staff is calculated according to the number of days worked per year. After five years of service, an employee can take an extra two days’ leave per year.  

3.              ______________________. Expectant mothers can take up to 52 weeks’ maternity leave at the following rates: 12 weeks of full pay, 27 weeks of statutory pay and an additional 13 weeks of unpaid leave. Fathers can take two weeks off for paternity leave at any time between the child's birth until eight weeks afterwards.

For sick leave, employees receive full pay for a short-term illness up to 28 days. For longer-term illness, employees with over 24 months’ service will receive full pay for up to six months. A medical certificate is required from your

doctor if you are absent for more than Tip | Compound words five days.

Business texts and official documents often

           

Task 3. Do you think these terms and contain compound words. Compound words can conditions provide a good work-life be written as one word (e.g. overtime), with a

balance for employees? Why/Why hyphen (e.g. home-working), or as two words not? (e.g. statutory pay). You can use your dictionary              to check.

 

 

Task 4.  Look for compound words in the text and match them to definitions 1-10.

 

 

1.      A system of working a particular number of hours each week  or month but choosing when you start and finish

2.      The times when you always have to work.

3.      Time at work in addition to your normal hours. 

4.      Not working in your office but at your house. 

5.      The number of days off for holidays per year.

6.      Extra days off.

7.      An official rate of pay according to the law. 

8.      Time off with no money.

9.      Time off for men to spend time with a new baby. 

10.  All your normal salary

 

Task 5.  Read a new employee's questions to their manager. Using the terms and conditions in the text in Task 2, what will the manager reply?

1.                  Can I start work earlier in the day so I finish by five o'clock?

________________________________________________________

2.                  I'd like to finish work every day at three-thirty. Is that possible? ________________________________________________________ 3. How long can I take for lunch?

________________________________________________________ 4. I worked until eight last night. Do I get paid anything extra?

________________________________________________________

5.       January 1st is a public holiday, but is it part of my normal holiday? ________________________________________________________ 6. Does everyone get the same amount of annual leave?

________________________________________________________

                   7.         My wife is having a baby next month. Can I take some time off when it's born?

________________________________________________________ 8.           Sorry I was off sick yesterday. Do I still get paid?

________________________________________________________

 

Task 6.  Work with a partner. Then change roles and repeat. Afterwards, compare your answers.

Student A: You are a new employee at Student B's company. Ask the questions in Task 5.   

Student B: Student A is a new employee at your company.

                    Answer their questions with true answers for your company.

 

Task 7.  Complete the sentences with the phrases from the list.

 

flexi time        overtime        home-working        core hours       lunch break      public holiday      paternity leave        unpaid leave        annual leave       statutory pay  

            

1.      I work flexitime, so I can start and finish my working day whenever I like.

2.      Our employees' _______________________  ________________________ are between ten and four, when they have to be in the office.

3.      Last week, I worked for 55 hours, so I did 20 hours _____________________________ .

4.      I work from home once a week because my company has a system of ________________________.

5.      With maternity leave, the first 12 weeks are fully paid and then you receive 27 weeks'______________________, which is less.

6.      I rarely take a________________________   _____________________________. I usually keep working and eat my sandwich at my desk.

7.      In many countries, 1st January is a _____________________________.          

8.      Nowadays, more fathers are taking __________________ ______________ to help with a new baby.

9.      Last year, I took six months___________________  ____________________  to travel round the world. It was a great experience but I missed receiving a salary!

10.  I need to take the rest of my ____________  ___________before the end of the year or I'll lose it.

 

Task 8.  Choose the correct words (a, b or c) to complete 1-6 in the text.

According to research by Peran Kandola, a business psychology firm, 86% of employees also see a link between their moods and how well they do their work. How can this help us at work?

•      Take control. If you don’t like the terms and ¹__________________ at your company, do something about it. Talk to someone or maybe even change jobs.

•      Don’t work late every day or be the person who always says, ‘I’ll work ²    ______________!’ It’ll only end up with you needing to take ³ ___________________ leave.

•      Keep your body healthy as well as your mind. Try cycling to work or do exercise during your ⁴__________________ like a walk round the building.

•      Aim for a good work-life ⁵  __________________. Make time for your family and friends. Make sure you take time off when you need it and always take your full ⁶ __________________.

1           a  conditions	b agreements	c  employment
2           a  core hours	b overtime	c  unpaid
3           a   annual	b statutory	c sick
4           a holiday	b  lunch break	c   unpaid leave
5          a  balance	b  day	c  flexible
6           a  paternity leave	b  annual  leave	c flexitime

Glossary 

▪  advice (n) an opinion or a suggestion about what sb should do in a particular situation

▪  budget (n) an amount of money that is available to a person or organization to spend on sth

▪  catch up (phr v) to spend extra time or do extra work because you have not done sth earlier, so that          you finish everything you planned to finish

▪  catering (n) the work of providing food and drinks for meetings or social events

▪  charity (n) an organization whose aim is to help people in need

▪  crucial (adj) very important

▪  deadline (n) a point in time by which sth must be done

▪  delegate tasks (phrase) to give particular pieces of your work to other people to do

▪  develop (v) to think of or produce a new idea, product, etc. and make it successful

▪  essential (adj) extremely important; completely necessary so that sth can be done

▪  experience (n) an event or sth that happens to you, that affects you in some way

▪  fall behind schedule (phrase) to progress too slowly, so that things are not done by the time they        were planned to be done

▪  issue (v) to give sth to sb, especially officially

▪  leaflet (n) a printed sheet of paper or a few printed pages that are given free, in order to advertise or give information about sth

▪  loan (n) money that a person or company borrows from an organization such as a bank

▪  meet a deadline (phrase) to succeed in doing sth by the point in time when it was agreed it should be done

▪  objectives (n) things that you are trying to achieve

▪  predicted (adj) expected to happen or stated by sb to be going to happen

▪  profitable (adj) that makes or is likely to make money

▪  raise awareness (phrase) to help people know that sth exists, to understand more about it, and to know that it is important

▪  schedule (n) a plan that lists all the work that you have to do and when you must do each thing

▪  skill (n) a particular ability or type of ability, especially one that needs training or experience

▪  staff (n) all the people who work for a company or organization

▪  sustainable  (adj) involving the use of natural products and energy in a way that does not harm the environment

▪  teamwork (n) the activity of working well together as a team

 

 

 

Home task: Scan QR-code and do the Task.