13. Pension schemes

A pension is money paid to an employee when he retires, leaves on reaching a certain age. In Britain there is a compulsory scheme in which the employee pays a fixed amount every week and the employer a larger amount. Then on retirement, the worker gets his state pension.

Nowadays, however, an increasing number of companies operate their own pension schemes to give their employees more money to retire on. These schemes are usually governed, or ruled, by a trust deed. The trust is separate from the company.

Trustees are appointed and they hold meetings regularly to approve money for pensions, examine the fund accounts and so on. We can consider the pension scheme as an example of Harper & Grand. Every employee working for Harper & Grant, for example, pays a certain amount of his wages into the fund.

This money is invested to increase its value, and after a certain period of employment the employee qualifies for a pension. In this company according to the articles of the trust, if an employee leaves the firm for a time he must then work a certain number of years in order to qualify for the full pension. Thus, each company has its own pension scheme that you want to know when applying for a job.

14. Downsizing and dismissing

Middle managers are those in the hierarchy between senior management and front-line managers or line managers, the people managing employees.

Middle managers are now most often mentioned in the context of re-engineering, delayering, downsizing or rightsizing: all these expression describe the recent trend for companies to reduce the numbers of people they employ. Often by getting rid of layers of managers from the middle of the hierarchy.

When people lose their jobs, they are dismissed or made redundant. When people are laid off like this? Commentators talk about the number or dismissal or redundancies involved.

The language of dismissal appear to have as many euphemisms as that of sex and death. Those unfortunate enough to find themselves on the street may often wonder if they have been let go, terminated, discharged, fired, sacked, axed, given the boot, pushed or chopped.

The euphemisms for executives we more gentle. They retire, leave by mutual consent, part company to spend more time with their family, pursue an alternative career or accept a fresh challenge.

One of the most subtly disguised dismissal appeared in the film Philadelphia, where the actor Tom Hanks, playing an Aids victim, was told by his bosses: "We can't make the best use of your talents. At least the words “You’re fired" have a certain nag to them.

15. Discrimination in the work place

Discrimination on the basis of age is a pressing problem in business today. Age discrimination is the fastest-growing discrimination complaint in the work place. In 1986, almost twenty-seven thousand age-discrimination complaints were filed with federal and state agencies - more than twice the number filed in 1980. Although many age-discrimination cases never reach court, the rapid increase in the number of complaints has many businesspeople worried.

Most age-discrimination cases originate in right-to-work states outside of the North-East. The typical person who files suit is a white male manager in his fifties, who lost his job because of corporate restructuring. These people believe a lawsuit is their only option because they are not protected by union rules and cannot claim racial or sexual discrimination.

Although other countries had had laws preventing discrimination on the basis of age for several years, not until 1967 did Congress pass the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act and its amendments should not be interpreted to mean that older workers cannot be fired for unproductivity. Businesses should keep in mind, however, that decisions to hire and fire must be based on ability, not on age. Employers need to evaluate individual employees' ability to carry out job duties, not rely on arbitrary age limits.