B2 – Upper Intermediate
For small business owners, allowing staff to work from home offers several advantages. Among them include fostering employee satisfaction and lowering rent costs for offices. Despite the buzz around telecommuting, there are still possible risks to be aware of.
Watch the video on a discussion about how some companies think the remote working is a liability.
Vocabulary Questions:
- What does “preempt” mean? “I don’t want to preempt anything I would say to the team. So, he wouldn’t tell me what the timeline is.” Give 2 synonyms and use ‘preempt’ in your own sentence.
- What does “crank up” mean? “Come summer, if folks want to be working from home on Fridays, they really need to crank up the effort.” Give 2 synonyms and use ‘crank up’ in your own sentence.
- What is the meaning of “buzzword“? “The latest buzzword in international travel is “ecotourism”.” Kindly use the word in your own sentence.
Discussion Questions:
- What do you think of working from home? Is remote working a liability or not? Explain.
- What are the pros and cons of remote working for companies?
- What do companies in your country think of remote work?
- How do you think company managers in your country would feel about workers having the flexibility to combine weeks of proper vacation and working remotely during summertime?
- What do you think about being able to choose to come in and out of work at time that best suits an employee during their workday? Cite the advantages and troubles with this kind of flexibility in worker schedules.