Unit 8 Remuneration

Exercise 1.

Read the text and match up the following words with the underlined words in the text.

cash	commission	salary	cost-of-living -allowance
deducted	evaluate	executive directors	fringe benefit
incentive	increments	earning potential	salespeople

Most of the full-time employees at our headquarters in Manchester earn an annual salary, divided into twelve monthly payments. Income tax is automatically (1) subtracted from the salary each month, along with National insurance contributions. The staff in our London office also receive a London (2) weighting, because living and working in the capital is more expensive. Unlike many public sector jobs (civil servants, teachers, nurses, and so on) our staff do not receive (3) automatic increases to their salary every year. Pay rises are given according to merit, and there is no fixed pay-scale. We have an appraisal system in which the managers (4) access the performance of their subordinates every December. The (5) senior managers are also paid a bonus at the end of the year if the financial results are good, on top of their basic (6) remuneration, which is already rather high.

The sales force earn a basic fixed salary, plus (7) a percentage of the value of their sales, which is obviously an (8) encouragement to higher productivity. On the other hand, the (9) reps do not receive overtime pay if they work long hours. The (10) potential income of the most successful ones is higher than that of some of the managers.

The hourly paid staff –cleaners, canteen workers, and so on –receive their wages in (11) notes and coins in a pay packet every Friday. Of course this after all deductions such as tax and insurance contributions.

Because we are in the insurance business we all get at least one (12) perk –cheap insurance policies.

Exercise 2.

Decide whether these common expressions refer to earning a high or a low salary?

1. Believe me, they pay peanuts.

2. He really is one of the fat cats.

3. He’s rolling in it.

4. I don’t know where he finds the time to spend it.

5. I earn an absolute pittance.

6. It’s hardly worth getting out of bed for.

7. It’s nothing to write home about.

8. She earns a fortune.

9. She must be absolutely loaded.

10. We’re talking serious money here, about 120K.

11. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys!

12. Are we talking telephone numbers?

Unit 9 Working Conditions

Exercise 1.

Read the text and complete it using the words in the box.

absenteeism	colleagues	contracts	duties	flexitime
holiday	leave	manual	maternity	morale
satisfaction	security	sick pay	workforce	vacation

My working conditions? I’d say they’re really good. The working hours are very reasonable – 38 hours a week, Mondays to Fridays only, and I get four weeks paid (1) …I always go on a two –week (2) … in the summer and I like to take another week to go skiing in the winter. That still leaves a few days if I want to take time off for something else. I think we’re even allowed to take unpaid (3) … if it’s really necessary. They introduced a (4) … system last year, so I can start any time between 7.30 and 9.30. in the morning, so I sometimes leave at 4 in the afternoon. Of course this means we now have to clock in and clock out, so we have to do the right number of hours.

Women get generous (5) ... leave, although that doesn’t concern me yet, and there are a lot of women employed half-time or part –time here, so they have time for their children.

Of course I’m a full-time white –collar worker, hoping to make a career here. My (6) … and I have permanent (7) … At least we think so, it’s hard to be sure about job (8) … these days. We are consulted if they want to change our (9) …or anything.

The entire (10) … is well-treated , not just us. The company’s blue –collar workers, doing (11) ... jobs also have good conditions of employment.

It all makes a change from when I was a student, when I did casual, unskilled, seasonal work for a fruit company, paid by the hour, with no (12) …or holiday pay or anything. They treated workers really badly, so (13) … was low, nobody was motivated, productivity was minimal, and there was a lot of (14) … and high turnover – I used to see new people almost every day. There was no job (15) …, and nothing changed if our performance was good or bad, so we all did the minimum.

Exercise 2.

Match up the following words and expressions into logical parts.

1. career a. blue-collar worker

2. flexitime b. job satisfaction

3. having a baby c. clocking in

4. manual labour d. permanent job

5. motivation e. .maternity leave

6. office work f. white –collar worker

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Listening

(CD)Task 1.

Kate North is an American who works in London. Listen about her work routine and underline the most appropriate words .

I usually get to work before/as soon as/until my boss arrives and as soon as/while/before I arrive I check my e-mail and post. I usually try to answer all important enquiries until/as soon as/before I go to lunch. As soon as/Until/While I’m having lunch, I often discuss problems with colleagues.

When/Before/Until I work long hours, I can take time off another day. I have a lot of flexibility over as soon as /when/until I arrive at the office and before/when/while I leave, depending on the daily workload.

Reading

Task 1.

Before reading the article, discuss these questions:

1. Do you prefer a slow or a fast pace of life? Why?

2. What can people do to have a good work-life balance?

3.Some people say they would like “to leave the rat race”. What do you think they mean?

Task 2.

Read the article below.