Tag: Work and Workplace

The Most Stressful Jobs

B1 – Intermediate

Job stress is something that every employee can relate to, but not all jobs are created equal.

Listen to the audio about stressful jobs below.

https://www.allthingstopics.com/uploads/2/3/2/9/23290220/uk-stressfuljobs.mp3

Transcript:

“Recently, my nine-year-old son proudly announced to me that he wanted to become a commercial airline pilot when he grows up. I’m happy for him because he spends hours reading books about airplanes, and he loves to play airplane game apps. It’s great to know what career you want at such a young age. As well, the average annual salary for an airline pilot is quite good: US$105,270. Also, being an airline pilot means that you might travel to many exotic locations around the world places that most people might never get a
chance to see. However, I wonder if his choice of career is one that I should encourage. You see, this morning I googled “most stressful jobs” and I discovered that my son’s dream career is actually the third most stressful job on a list of top ten most stressful jobs. This makes sense because as a pilot you are responsible for the lives of hundreds of people, you are away from home for many days at a time, and you may have to fly through many different time zones which can be very difficult to adjust to. Number one on the list was “military personnel” (soldier) and number two was “firefighter”. Of course, jobs like these are very dangerous – you must put your life in danger almost daily. Interestingly, however, “taxi driver” was also on the list (at number ten). “

Discussion Questions:

  1. What do you think is the most stressful job?
  2. What do you think is the least stressful job?
  3. What do you think of your job?
  4. If a job gets too stressful, what would you do?
  5. Would you support your children no matter what career they choose?

Headteacher Has to Clean School Toilets

B1 – Intermediate

The UK government has cut school budgets. Schools have little money to spend and have to reduce cost on many things. Thousands of headteachers have made difficult decisions about how to spend their school’s money.

Read the article below and be ready to answer the questions that follow.

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1903/190326-head-teacher-0.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. What do you think about the decision made by the headteacher in the article?
  2. What can you say about your country’s education system?
  3. Does your government pay more attention to issues in the education sector?
  4. Do schools in your country get enough funds?
  5. What other problems related to the education system do you have in your country and how can these issues be addressed?

The Best Companies to Work For

B1 – Intermediate

A new report ranked companies to find out the best places to work in. It considered workers’ satisfaction with their jobs. Google was on top of this list.

Read more about pay and benefits in companies.

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1405/140527-pay-benefit-package-1.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. What do you think of the benefits of Google employees?
  2. What are the best companies to work for in your country?
  3. If you were happy working for a company, would you go on holiday less?
  4. What are the important benefits you want to receive from the company you are working for?
  5. What are the good and bad things about your company?

Business Suits Worn Less

B1 – Intermediate

The choice for what to wear to work is between suit or casual. Every company has a standard dress code for their office workers. As the time progressed, more professionals are seen wearing business clothes less and less. Nowadays, more companies allow their workers to dress more casually. This is to make their staff feel more relaxed and focused on their jobs.

Read the article about how business suits are worn less in offices.

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1903/190322-business-suit-1.html

Vocabulary Questions:

  1. What does “dress code” mean? “The latest international company to relax its dress code is Goldman Sachs.” Use this phrase in your own sentence.
  2. Define “casual“. “Some people think casual dress is not good.” Use this word in your own sentence.
  3. Define “sloppy“. “He added that if people dress sloppily, people will think the brand is sloppy.” Use this word in your own sentence.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What do you think of business clothes and dress codes at work?
  2. Do people in business suits look better and more professional? Explain.
  3. Is it good or bad to dress casually at work? Explain.
  4. What kind of clothes do you wear to work?
  5. Would you be able to work harder in casual clothes at work? Explain.

A Job Interview

B1 –  Intermediate

A job interview is an important tool for employee selection. It involves a conversation between a job applicant and an interviewer.

Let’s watch a sample interview and be ready to answer the questions about it.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Talk about a typical interview in your country.
  2. Talk about your last job interview.
  3. What kinds of jobs have you applied for? Have you ever applied for a job you don’t have any experience in? How did it go?
  4. How do you answer this interview question, “How do you describe yourself?”
  5. What advice can you give to someone attending a job interview for the first time?

The Inevitability of the Office Romance

C1 – Advanced

Fraternization in the workplace involves relationships that go beyond the normal scope of employee interactions. Some companies may allow dating among their employees, but others strictly do not.

Read more about employee fraternization and how an organization can establish a healthy employee dating policy within it.

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220228-the-inevitability-of-the-office-romance

Discussion Questions:

1. What are some benefits and harms of allowing a romantic relationship in a workplace?

2. Tell me about employee fraternization in your workplace. Why or why is it not allowed?

3. In what industries do you think employee fraternization can and can stringently not be allowed?

4. If employee fraternization were not allowed in your company, what would you do if you fell in love with a colleague?

The Firm that Starts Work at 9.06am

B2 – Upper Intermediate

Most employees consider having flexible work hours a perk. At Pivotal Software, they require their employees to clock in at exactly 9:06 in the morning.

Curious to know why? Click on the link below to read more about this unusual work rule.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37998577

Discussion Questions:

1. Why are employees at Pivotal Software required to report to work at exactly 9:06 AM?
2. What do you think of this idea?
3. Would you like such rule to be implemented in your company? Why or why not?
4. Describe your work hours and your typical work day.
5. What are the things that you do to increase your productivity at work?

The Lion Whisperer

B1 – Intermediate

There has always been a fascination with wild animals like lions and tigers. Some people’s job is to learn about their behaviors. Due to the risks associated, only a few dare to go near, more so, to live with these wild beasts.

Watch the video below and take a look at how one man is able to live amongst wild African cats.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How do you feel about humans interacting with wild animals?
  2. Are you fond of animals? Why or why not? Do you/Would you like to have any pets?
  3. What are some animals found in your country that are considered wild and endangered?
  4. How would you feel being around lions?
  5. What are your thoughts on this, “The lions are his equal.“?

Brown Shoes Could Lose You a Job

B2 – Upper Intermediate

When you show up for a job interview, you need to ‘dress the part’. This means that you need to wear clothes that would make you look very suitable for the job you are applying for.

If you dream of being an investment banker in the UK, you need to be wearing the right color of shoes to get that job. According to a report published by the U.K. Social Mobility Commission, it’s possible to lose a chance at a job if you don’t fit the classic look of a ‘polished city banker’.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/01/wearing-brown-shoes-could-lose-you-a-banking-job-in-uk.html

Discussion Questions:

  1. Describe a complete outfit you’d wear to a job interview.
  2. Should a job applicant be judged by what they are wearing rather than their skills or qualifications?
  3. One respondent in this study said he even had to change his accent. What is something that you changed or willing to change in order to get a job?
  4. Why are looks very important in some jobs?
  5. Talk about some ‘unwritten expectations’ of Spanish workers in your own industry.

A Toxic Workplace

B1 – Intermediate

If you find yourself  saying  that you love your job but that it’s killing you, or that your social life is dead, then you’re probably in a toxic workplace. You might want to re-examine  what is really going on at work, and why  you are having these feelings towards your employment.

Read the article below to know what a toxic workplace looks like and how you can deal with stressful situations at the office.

According to a recent article, Amazon’s work environment is toxic. To start, employees complain about pressure, stress, and job insecurity. They work past midnight, receive complaints if too slow to respond to emails, argue during meetings, and betray colleagues.

More than one hundred former employees gave information for the article. They told stories about grown men crying after meetings. And each month, the employees with the lowest performance ratings are fired.

The result is an extremely competitive environment. It has been called “rank and yank,” which means employees are ranked and the least productive members are fired. Such a system creates distrust, and goes against all of the ideas of good management practices. After all, if colleagues are likely to stab you in the back, no one values teamwork or knowledge sharing.

Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, quickly responded to the article. He explained that the environment at his company is friendly but intense. People work hard, and he couldn’t recognize the toxic environment in the article. In fact, it would be hard for any tech company to survive with these kinds of policies. He wrapped up his response by stating that these management practices are untrue and unacceptable.

Source: headsupenglish.com

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you think the negative article about Amazon is true?
2. If the article were true, why would anyone want to work in such an environment?
3. Would you want to work at a company like Amazon? Why/not?
4. What is the best place you have ever worked at? How about the worst place? Why?
5. What are some ideas and practices to maximize employee productivity?