Learn the vocabulary to talk about being absent from jobs in English

Time off

Learn the vocabulary to talk about being absent from jobs in English:

to take time off = to be absent from work, at home or on vacation.

·         I'm going to take a few days off to visit my parents.

·         I'm taking Monday off to go to the dentist and do some jobs at home.

to take a vacation = to take time away from work, especially when you travel for pleasure.

·         I'm taking my vacation next month. We're going to Spain.

·         I have to take my vacation during the school holidays because of my children.

to take a sabbatical = to take time away from work to study or travel, usually while continuing to be paid.

·         He's on a sabbatical while he does his MBA. He'll be back next month.

·         She's on a sabbatical from her job while she does research for her thesis.

to take unpaid leave = to have an authorized absence from work but without salary.

·         She's taken some unpaid leave while she moves house.

·         I don't have any paid holiday left so I'd like to take unpaid leave.

to be off sick = to be absent from work due to illness.

·         When you are off sick, you must provide a doctor's note.

·         He has been off sick for a few days now. I think he'll be back at work on Monday.

sick leave = the time that you can be absent from work, often while being paid part or all of your salary.

·         She is having an operation and so will be on sick leave for the next two months.

·         When you are on sick leave prescribed by your doctor, you get paid your full salary for the first three months.

maternity leave = the period a mother is legally authorised to be absent from work before and after the birth of a child.

·         Her maternity leave finishes next week but she is not coming back to work.

·         Statutory maternity leave is paid for up to 26 weeks and can start 11 weeks before the baby is due.

parental leave = the time that a parent is allowed to spend away from work to take care of their baby.

·         He has taken parental leave to look after the baby while his wife returns to work.

·         You have to work for an employer for one year to qualify for parental leave to look after your children.

statutory sick pay = the money paid by a company to an employee who cannot work due to illness.

·         If you are absent from work due to illness, you may be able to claim sick pay.

·         To claim sick pay, you have to have medical certificate from your doctor stating that you are unable to work.

a public holiday = a day when almost everybody does not have to go to work (for example in the US July 4th or January 1st).

·         We have 25 days paid holiday plus 10 public holidays.

·         When there is a public holiday on a Thursday, many people take the Friday off too.

Time off

Learn the vocabulary to talk about being absent from jobs in English:

to take time off = to be absent from work, at home or on vacation.

·         I'm going to take a few days off to visit my parents.

·         I'm taking Monday off to go to the dentist and do some jobs at home.

to take a vacation = to take time away from work, especially when you travel for pleasure.

·         I'm taking my vacation next month. We're going to Spain.

·         I have to take my vacation during the school holidays because of my children.

to take a sabbatical = to take time away from work to study or travel, usually while continuing to be paid.

·         He's on a sabbatical while he does his MBA. He'll be back next month.

·         She's on a sabbatical from her job while she does research for her thesis.

to take unpaid leave = to have an authorized absence from work but without salary.

·         She's taken some unpaid leave while she moves house.

·         I don't have any paid holiday left so I'd like to take unpaid leave.

to be off sick = to be absent from work due to illness.

·         When you are off sick, you must provide a doctor's note.

·         He has been off sick for a few days now. I think he'll be back at work on Monday.

sick leave = the time that you can be absent from work, often while being paid part or all of your salary.

·         She is having an operation and so will be on sick leave for the next two months.

·         When you are on sick leave prescribed by your doctor, you get paid your full salary for the first three months.

maternity leave = the period a mother is legally authorised to be absent from work before and after the birth of a child.

·         Her maternity leave finishes next week but she is not coming back to work.

·         Statutory maternity leave is paid for up to 26 weeks and can start 11 weeks before the baby is due.

parental leave = the time that a parent is allowed to spend away from work to take care of their baby.

·         He has taken parental leave to look after the baby while his wife returns to work.

·         You have to work for an employer for one year to qualify for parental leave to look after your children.

statutory sick pay = the money paid by a company to an employee who cannot work due to illness.

·         If you are absent from work due to illness, you may be able to claim sick pay.

·         To claim sick pay, you have to have medical certificate from your doctor stating that you are unable to work.

a public holiday = a day when almost everybody does not have to go to work (for example in the US July 4th or January 1st).

·         We have 25 days paid holiday plus 10 public holidays.

·         When there is a public holiday on a Thursday, many people take the Friday off too.

Useful phrasal verbs 1

Learn the most common phrasal verbs used in Human Resources in English:

'close down' = to shut

·         We have closed down the small local branches and created bigger regional offices.

·         The factory closed down in the 1970's because it was too expensive to produce here.

'fight against' = to make an effort to stop something happening

·         All the workers fought against the closure but the plant was no longer profitable.

·         The unions have been fighting against the proposed changes as they think it will mean job losses.

'go back on something' = to change an agreement

·         We had come to an agreement but now she has gone back on it.

·         The company promised to review the situation but went back on its word and didn't.

'put back' = to postpone, delay in time

·         They promised to make a decision today but it has been put back until next week.

·         My visit has been put back until a later date when it will be easier to plan.

'fall behind' = not risen as fast as, fail to do something as fast as required

·         We have fallen behind schedule. It won't be completed on time.

·         Our salaries have fallen behind the national average with the small increase we have had.

'turn down' = to refuse, not accept

·         We offered a two per cent increase but it was turned down.

·         We offered him a much higher salary but he turned it down and didn't join our team.

'fill in for someone' = to replace someone during an absence

·         I need to brief the person who will be filling in for me while I am on maternity.

·         I filled in for Jamie while he was on holiday.

'back someone up' = to support or to help

·         Whenever there is a dispute with someone in my team, my manager always backs me up.

·         Nobody backed him up when he said he had been discriminated against.

'work out' = to calculate

·         I don't know how much holiday I have left. I need to work it out.

·         We need to work out how much this is really going to cost.

'drag on' = to last a long time, go on longer than anticipated

·         The negotiations are dragging on. I think we'll never reach an agreement.

·         The meeting dragged on and on. I thought I'd never get home.

Common Phrasal Verbs 2

In English, we use a lot of phrasal verbs. These are verbs with more than one part; the verb and one or two particles. Let's continue looking at some of the most common in the area of Human Resources:

'get on' = to have a good relationship

·         I don't like my boss. We just don't get on.

·         The atmosphere is terrible. He doesn't get on with his co-workers.

'follow up' = to find out more about or take further action on something.

·         Before we offer her the job, we need to follow up on her references.

·         The training is followed up by regular refresher courses over a six-month period.

'set up' = to arrange for an activity or event to happen

·         I'd like to discuss it further. Can we set up a meeting?

·         I've set up interviews with the remaining three candidates.

'make up' = do or pay extra to cover a difference.

·         I'd like to leave early on Friday. I'll make up the time next week.

·         There was an error in your expenses. We'll make up the difference next month.

'hand in' = to give something

·         He's leaving at the end of the month. He has handed in his resignation.

·         I haven't handed my time sheet in yet. I must do it now.

'work out' your notice = to continue working through the period after you have resigned.

·         They asked him to leave immediately. He didn't have to work out his notice.

·         He negotiated a deal so he didn't have to work out his notice and could leave sooner.

'sort out' = to resolve

·         We don't know who is going to replace Sue. We have to sort it out soon.

·         I have finally sorted out the error on the time sheets. It's all correct now.

'carry on' = to continue

·         We still haven't found a suitable candidate. We'll have to carry on looking.

·         Until we get the new software installed, we'll have to carry on using the old.

'back out' = to decide not to do something previously agreed.

·         They had agreed to do it but then backed out.

·         He had accepted the post but backed out at the last minute so we're considering other candidates.

'go with' = to adopt or support an idea or plan.

·         I think your idea is a good one. I think we should go with it.

We're not really sure which agency to go with. We don't think any of them are really what we are really looking for.

Learn the vocabulary in English to talk about the many changes that take place in a company or organization

Changes - verbs 1

Learn the vocabulary in English to talk about the many changes that take place in a company or organization :

'to promote' = to move someone up to a higher position in the organization.

·         He handed his notice in last month when he didn't get promoted to senior manager.

·         She wants to be promoted to supervisor but doesn't have the interpersonal skills for that job yet.

'to renew' = to make new, to extend the life or replace something.

·         I originally had a two-year contract but it has been renewed twice.

·         We need to renew the work permits for the foreign workers who have been here a year.

'to lay off' = to make redundant, to stop employing someone

·         When we closed the warehouse, we laid off more than fifty people.

·         Technological advances means that we have had to lay off more and more unskilled workers.

'to demote' = to move someone to a lower level in the hierarchy

·         She was demoted after the terrible changeover to the new accounting system.

·         Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to demote anyone who does not live up to expectations.

'to sideline' = to not promote someone, to move them to a position with less effective power

·         When the new CEO was nominated, he was sidelined to another department.

·         After a period as a very ineffectual head of department, he was sidelined until he retired.

'to replace' = to exchange one thing for another, to put a person in the job of someone else.

·         Ken replaced Tanya when she left to pursue another career.

·         When David left, he was replaced by two people as the job had grown enormously.

'to retire' = to stop working due to ill health or age.

·         Jack suffers from ill health and has had to retire early.

·         The statutory age for retirement is 60 although people often retire early if they can.

'to increase' = to get bigger in amount or size.

·         Contributions that employees pay increased faster than salaries so cutting their net incomes.

·         Even though profits have increased, we are not in a position to increase salaries above the rate of inflation.

'to expand' = to increase in size, number or importance.

·         We have expanded our retail operations very quickly over the last three years.

·         The company expanded very quickly in the 1990s but has since stopped growing so fast.

'to restructure' = to organize a business or system in a new way to make it more efficient.

·         Currently we are restructuring our organization and dividing it into five cost centres.

·         He lost his job when the company restructured the department.

Changes - verbs 2

Learn the vocabulary in English to talk about the many changes that take place in a company or organization :

'to streamline' = to improve the effectiveness of parts of an organization, often by simplifying procedures.

·         We are streamlining the procedure to cut the time it takes to deliver to the customer.

·         Streamlining administration and giving more responsibility to individuals will reduce costs considerably.

'to relocate' = to move to a new place

·         Production is being relocated to Bulgaria next year creating lots of redundancies here.

·         My company paid all the costs when I was relocated to my previous job in Scotland.

'to relax' = to make a rule less strict or severe.

·         Unfortunately we can't relax the no-smoking ban. The law won't permit it.

·         We have relaxed the dress code considerably and now people often wear jeans to the office.

'to enforce' = to impose a rule more strictly or to make people follow a rule.

·         For health and safety reasons, we have to enforce the no-smoking rules.

·         It is extremely difficult to enforce time-keeping rules without some form of electronic system.

'to adjust' = to change something a little to make it correct or suitable.

·         We are adjusting the salary scales so that they reflect present responsibilities better.

·         Salaries are adjusted annually according to the rate of inflation and the financial results.

'to reduce' = to make smaller in size, quantity or importance.

·         We have reduced the number of workers with the introduction of more modern technology.

·         In order to reduce expenditure in the department, we have introduced several cost-cutting measures.

'to deteriorate' = to become worse

·         Morale has deteriorated since the rumours of closure began.

·         Sales figures have continued to deteriorate despite the launch of the latest version.

'to downsize' = to make a company or organization smaller by reducing the number of people working for it.

·         The organization has a plan to downsize in order to reduce costs.

·         Many organizations downsized during the 1980s when new technologies were introduced.

'to phase in' = to introduce something in stages over a period of time

·         The changes in pay scales will be phased in over the next three years.

·         The new organization will be phased in gradually starting here in head office.

'to phase out' = to remove or stop doing something gradually over a period of time.

·         That line of products has been phased out and replaced by the new range.

·         It has taken us six months to phase out the old software and introduce the new.