English Language used in Human Resource Management

English Language used in Human Resource Management

Hire and fire

If you 'hire' someone, you employ them.

·         We hired him on a six month contract.

·         I hear that they are not hiring people at the moment because of budget problems.

If you 'fire' somebody, you dismiss them from their job, usually because of something they did.

·         I had to fire Sally because she kept on making mistakes.

·         If you don't improve, they may decide to fire you.

If you 'make somebody redundant', you dismiss them from their job for economic reasons.

·         They are closing down the factory and making 500 people redundant.

·         I was made redundant from my last job.

If you 'recruit' people, you persuade them to work for you.

·         We need to recruit more young engineers.

·         It's difficult to recruit people because our pay is so low.

If you 'headhunt' someone for a job, you approach them because you think they are well-qualified for the job and offer them the job.

·         We need to look at the people doing similar jobs in other companies and headhunt the best one.

·         He was headhunted at great expense but the job didn't work out and he left.

If you 'hand in (or give in) your notice', you tell your employer that you are going to leave the company.

·         She handed in her notice this morning and is leaving at the end of the month.

·         He gave in his notice and they told him he could leave straight away.

If a company 'gives someone notice', they tell them that they are going to lose their jobs.

·         The company only gave me three days' notice that I was being made redundant.

·         We have to give her two months' notice that we are letting her go.

If an employer 'sacks' someone, they fire them.

·         They sacked me without notice after ten years with the company.

·         I hear they intend to sack him because of his bullying.

If you 'get the sack' or are 'given the sack', you are fired.

·         He was given the sack because he kept arriving late.

·         If I keep making mistakes, I'm going to get the sack.

'Severance pay' is money paid to workers when they are made redundant.

·         The redundant workers were given 26 weeks' severance pay.

·         After ten years, I got three days' notice and no severance pay.

If you take legal action against your employer for 'unfair dismissal', you claim that they dismissed you for no good reason.

·         He is suing them for unfair dismissal as he says he was only ever late once.

·         Dismiss me and I'll take you to court for unfair dismissal. I've done nothing to deserve this.

If you take legal action against your employer for 'constructive dismissal', you claim that you were forced to leave your job because of the actions/behavior of your employer.

·         She is making a claim for constructive dismissal because she claims her immediate boss bullied her.

·         I'm sure you have the grounds for a complaint of constructive dismissal.

Pay

'Pay' is money that you get from your employer, either as a wage or as a salary.

·         What are the pay and conditions for the job?

·         Pay rates in the industry are very poor.

'Back pay' is money owed to you by your employer for work done in the past which has not yet been paid.

·         I'm still owed 3 months back pay for the overtime I did before Christmas.

·         The company cannot afford to give you the back pay it owes you.

A 'pay cut' is a reduction in the amount of pay you are given.

·         We are asking you all to accept a pay cut of 10% to keep the company going.

·         He has the stark choice of accepting a pay cut or losing his job.

A 'pay rise' is an increase in pay.

·         We are looking for a pay rise in line with inflation.

·         I'm going to ask my boss for a pay rise.

A 'pay rate' is the amount per hour (or some other period) that you pay.

·         The pay rate is $12 an hour.

·         The industry cannot attract good quality workers because of the low pay rates.

'Net pay' is the amount earned after deductions (usually for social security and pensions and perhaps for tax.)

·         The gross pay is $12 an hour but net pay is only $9.50 an hour.

·         He said he is only earning $5 an hour but that is his net pay, not his gross.

'Equal pay' means that men and women get the same pay for doing the same job.

·         The women workers are asking for equal pay with the men.

·         In this country, if you don't give the women equal pay, you could go to jail.

An 'itemized pay statement' contains a detailed breakdown of the pay you have earned and the deductions taken from it.

·         The bank want me to give them my itemized pay statements for the last six months.

·         The law states that employees must receive itemized pay statements.

'Performance-related pay' is where the amount you are paid depends on the quality/quantity of your work. 

·         Since we introduced performance-related pay, production has doubled.

·         They may need the incentive of performance-related pay.

A 'pay scale' is a range of different pay rates which people will receive depending on various factors (e.g. their grade in the company, their qualifications, their years in the company.)

·         We have six grades on our pay scale. You will start on the bottom one.

·         Perhaps we need to change our pay scale to take account of the loyalty people have shown us?

Pay 2

We all go to work to earn money. Let's look at more vocabulary to talk about our salaries:

'gross salary' is the salary before anything is deducted for contributions and tax.

·         Her gross salary is £50 000 but obviously she takes home considerably less than that.

·         He earns £40 000 a year gross.

'net salary' is the salary that you are paid after deductions have made

·         My gross salary is around £60 000 but the net is around £48 000.

·         The net salary is the gross salary minus the deductions the employer makes for contributions and tax.

'deductions' are payments made by the employer for an employee to health and pension schemes based on the gross salary.

·         Although my gross salary seems good, after deductions, I haven't very much left.

·         The details of the deductions are on your pay statement. You can see what you are paying.

'income tax' is the tax which is paid on the money you earn.

·         In the UK, income tax is deducted directly from your salary and paid to the state.

·         In some countries, you have to complete an income tax return annually to calculate the tax to be paid.

'rate' is the amount you are paid per hour, week or month of work.

·         I don't know what the standard rate is for this type of work.

·         Some people are paid on piece rate. They are paid by their output, not by the time it takes.

The 'basic state pension' is the money paid on retirement to everyone who has paid contributions for the required number of years.

·         Although I contribute to the state pension fund, I also pay into a private one too.

·         The basic state pension is very low, too low for a decent standard of living.

The 'national minimum wage' is the minimum an employee can be paid per hour of work.

·         Everyone here is paid a rate that is better than the minimum wage.

·         The national minimum wage varies according to age. Young people are paid less than adults.

The 'equal pay' law states that employers must pay the same to men and women who are doing the same or similar jobs.

·         Equal pay for women is the law but many are still paid less than their male colleagues.

·         Each year, there are many cases where women take their employer to court to fight for equal pay.

'overtime' is a higher rate of pay for working more than the usual hours or unsocial hours.

·         When I work on Sundays, I am paid overtime.

·         I do a lot more hours than in my contract but I don't get paid overtime.

A 'bonus' is an extra amount of money paid as a reward on top of your fixed salary.

·         We usually get a bonus at Christmas depending on how well the company has done.

·         Every year, usually in January, we receive a bonus. It is a discretionary bonus related to your performance.

More vocabulary on the important topic of money:

'commission' is paid to people in sales based on the amounts of goods sold.

• Working here I get paid a fixed salary and commission based on my sales.
• I get paid a commission on the deals I negotiate.

People who are 'hourly paid' are paid a fixed rate for each hour that they work and not a fixed salary for a year or task.

• He isn't a salaried employee, he is hourly paid.
• For everyone who is hourly paid, wages are paid weekly.

'benefits' are the extras that you are given by your employer on top of your salary. These may include private health insurance, a private pension, company car.

• Although my gross salary is not high for the sector, I get a lot of extra benefits.
• He has a very good benefits package including a car and private health insurance.

A 'taxable benefit' is a benefit which is considered as part of your income and therefore included in the income to be declared for tax.

• The value of the company car is included in my income. It is a taxable benefit.
• Meals in the canteen, drinks and parking are generally not taxable benefits.

'expenses' are the costs that you incur doing your job that are reimbursed by the company, notably for travel.

• When I travel, I pay for my tickets and hotels and then claim my expenses back.
• The company is very strict about expenses. We can't spend more than a certain amount on hotels or meals.

In order to claim expenses, you must keep all 'receipts' for payments you have made.

• On the 30th of the month, we hand in all our receipts for our expenses.
• When I take someone to lunch I always have to get a receipt so that I'll be reimbursed.

If you use your own car to travel to another location for your work, you may be able to claim 'mileage' ands be reimbursed a fixed rate per mile travelled to cover the cost.

• It is better for the company to pay mileage than provide company cars.
• There is a fixed rate for mileage depending on the size of the car.

a 'pay review' is when salaries are considered for changes.

• The unions are preparing for the negotiations in the annual pay review.
• A lot of changes to pay grades are being considered during the pay review. When the company closed the branch, the redundancy pay was very generous.

'redundancy pay' is given if you lose your job and are made redundant. This is usually related to the time you have worked for the company.

• When I lost my job, I used my redundancy pay to set up my own company.
• When the company closed the branch, the redundancy pay was very generous.

'notice', specified in the terms of your contract, is the time worked between telling your employer that you are leaving your job and actually leaving.

• I have to work out two months notice before I can start my new job.
• When I left, I was paid my notice but I didn't have to work it.
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More vocabulary on the important topic of money. 

When you are ill and unable to work, you may claim statutory sick pay. This is the minimum by law.

• If you have a work contract, you can claim statutory sick pay from your first day of work.
• When I was ill, I claimed statutory sick pay which was much less than my salary.

The time that the doctor signs you off for is the period of that you cannot work.

• The doctor has signed me off for two weeks.
• I was off sick but the doctor didn’t sign me off until the second week.

When you are off work, to claim sick pay, you must provide a sick note from your doctor.

• The doctor gave me a sick note to give to my employer.
• If you want to claim sick pay, you must see your doctor for a sick note.

When you are no longer able to work through illness, you can claim incapacity benefit to replace your salary.

• He will not be able to return to work and should now claim incapacity benefit.
• Stress has now replaced back pain as the main reason that people are unable to work and claim incapacity benefit.

An employer can pay occupational sick pay, that is pay more than the minimum sick pay for a certain time depending on the terms of contract.

• I haven't worked here long enough, so I don’t qualify for occupational sick pay.
• In some companies, occupational sick pay makes up your full salary for up to one month.

The minimum period of service is the time you have to have worked before you qualify for occupational sick pay.

• There is no minimum period of service to qualify for statutory sick pay.
• The minimum period of service to qualify for occupational sick pay is three months.

If you also qualify for occupational sick pay, you may be off on full pay.

• I have excellent fringe benefits. If I am off sick, I am on full pay for one month.
• Unfortunately I am not on full pay now as I have been off work too long.

When a woman is expecting a baby, she can take maternity leave and have maternity pay.

• I can take twenty-six weeks leave with maternity pay and twenty six weeks unpaid.
• To qualify for maternity pay, I have to have worked for twenty-six weeks for my employer when I am expecting my baby.

If a father wishes to stop work to help with a new born child, he may qualify for paternity pay while he is absent from his job.

• After twenty-six weeks working here, you can take two weeks leave with paternity pay.
• To qualify for paternity pay, leave must be taken when the child is born or very soon after.

Salary

A 'salary' is the money you are paid, usually monthly, for doing a job, usually non-manual.

·         I get a good salary but I need more money.

·         What sort of salary are they offering?

A 'competitive salary' is a good one for that particular job.

·         We are offering a very competitive salary so we should get good applicants.

·         We are not recruiting the best people because our salaries are not very competitive.

A person who gets a salary is a 'salaried employee'.

·         We've reduced the number of salaried employees by 50% and replaced them by temporary workers.

·         It is much easier to get a loan if you are a salaried employee.

If you need money, you can ask for 'a salary advance'.

·         Can I have a salary advance? I'm broke.

·         I asked my boss for a salary advance but he refused to give me one.

If you 'undertake a salary review', you look at all the salaries to decide which need changing.

·         The committee are undertaking a salary review and will report back in a few weeks time.

·         We need to undertake a salary review as our salaries are not very competitive.

'A salary scale' is the range of salaries available.

·         When you start, you will be at the bottom of the salary scale but you will not stay there for long.

·         Our salary scale is not very competitive compared to our competition.

If a salary is good, we can say that it is 'attractive'.

·         We are offering a very attractive salary for the job.

·         It is an attractive salary but I will have to work on Saturdays.

Everybody hopes to get a 'salary increase'.

·         We had no salary increase this year because the company was in trouble.

·         If you offer me an increase in salary, I will stay.

The 'basic salary' is the salary before any extras such as bonuses.

·         The basic salary is quite low but there are large incentive bonuses.

·         I prefer to have a large basic salary as there is more security.

When you start a job, you will receive your 'initial salary'.

·         The initial salary is quite low but you should get promoted to a better job quite quickly.

·         If we want to recruit better people, we will have to offer a more competitive initial salary.

Jobs & related verbs

If you 'apply for' a job, you ask a company for a job.

·         I've applied for six jobs in the last week and haven't heard back from any of them.

·         We were expecting a lot of people to apply for the job but not as many as this

If you 'are out of' a job, you do not have any work. If you are 'put out of a job', you are made redundant.

·         I'm out of a job at the moment but I'm hopeful I'll get something soon.

·         My biggest fear is being put of my job. At my age, I would struggle to find another one.

If you are 'sacked from' your job, you lose it for disciplinary, not economic, reasons.

·         He was sacked from his job for stealing.

·         I wouldn't employ somebody who had been sacked from a previous job.

If you 'create' a job, you establish a new job which didn't previously exist.

·         We've created ten new jobs in the Production Department.

·         I think we need to create a new job specifically to look after this project.

If you 'find somebody' a job, you use your contacts to get them a job.

·         I'm sure I can find your son a job in our warehouse for the summer.

·         Can you find me a job in your company?

If you 'give up' a job', you resign from it.

·         I'm giving up my job and devoting all my time to my song writing.

·         If you give up your job, you won't find it easy to get another one in this economic climate.

If you 'hold down' a job, you keep it.

·         I've held down this job for over three years now.

·         She manages to hold down two jobs.

If you 'hunt for' a job, you actively look for one.

·         She's been hunting for a job for two months without any success.

·         You need to hunt for a job more systematically; not just when you feel like it.

If you 'resign from' a job, you give it up. (see number 6!)

·         He resigned from his post because he couldn't stand the long hours.

·         I resigned from my previous employer because I thought some of their sales techniques were unethical.

If you 'take up' a job, you start it.

·         I'm leaving here at the end of the week and I take up a new job with OUP next month.

·         It's quite difficult taking up a new job and having to learn all the ropes again.

If your job 'is at stake', it is at risk of being lost.

·         There are 500 jobs at stake if we don't get the contract.

·         If I make a mess of this, my job will be at stake.

If your job 'is in jeopardy', it is also at risk.

·         The fall in demand puts all our jobs in jeopardy.

·         With their jobs in jeopardy, you would have expected the unions to have been more cooperative.

Jobs & related adjectives An 'absorbing' job is one that is very interesting and claims all your attention. ·         My job is so absorbing that I sometimes forget to have lunch. ·         I get bored in my job. I need one that is much more absorbing. A 'badly-paid' job is one where you receive less income than the average. ·         The hotel industry has a lot of badly-paid jobs. ·         My salary may sound high in absolute terms but I am comparatively badly-paid for the job I do. A 'boring' job is dull and without interest. ·         I think that being an accountant would be a really boring job. ·         Would you stay in a boring job if you were really well paid? A 'casual' job is one which is not regular or fixed. ·         We offer a lot of casual jobs during the Christmas rush. ·         The unions want us to have fewer casual jobs and more permanent employees. A 'challenging' job is one that is very difficult and tests a person's ability. ·         It is a very challenging job and we need to find somebody who is tough mentally. ·         I don't find my job very challenging any more and I need a fresh challenge. A 'dead-end' job is one with no hopes of promotion or advancement. ·         I was in a dead-end job with no hope of further progress so I left the company. ·         If people think they are in dead-end jobs, they lose their motivation. An 'exacting' job is one that requires a lot of care, effort and attention. ·         Being a surgeon is a very exacting job – you can't afford to lose your concentration. ·         Research jobs are very exacting – you must get every detail right when you are running tests. A 'demanding' job requires a lot of effort from you. ·         I have a very demanding job. I don't have much spare time. ·         My job is very physically demanding. I get very tired. A 'part-time' job is one where you do not work 'full-time'. ·         I only want a part-time job as I have to look after my children. ·         The company is trying to replace full-time jobs with part-time jobs to save money. A 'menial' job is one with a low social value. ·         I can only find menial jobs such as cleaning. ·         He thinks that making the coffee is a menial job and he won't do it. A 'prestigious' job is one that gives the person a lot of respect. ·         Being Prime Minister is a prestigious job but the salary is not all that good. ·         Running our New York office is the sort of prestigious job I am looking for. A 'secure' job is one that is safe from redundancy etc. ·         There are no more secure jobs in this company. Everybody's job is at risk. ·         I want to make sure that the next job I get is really secure. I'm fed up with all this job insecurity.

Careers

Learn the vocabulary in English to talk about the evolution of your jobs since you began working:

If your 'career has its ups and downs' , it has good moments and bad moments.

·         My career has had its ups and downs but I'm doing very well at the moment.

·         His career has its ups and downs but he remains as enthusiastic as ever.

If your 'career has blossomed', it has done very well.

·         She started out as an office junior but since then her career has blossomed .

·         Since I improved the level of my English, my career has blossomed.

If you have had a 'brilliant career', you  have a very good one.

·         She's had a brilliant career with top jobs in several Wall Street firms.

·         When you look back on your brilliant career, you must be very proud.

If you have had a 'colorful career', it has been interesting and exciting.

·         His colorful career has taken him to many exciting locations.

·         As an accountant, you won't have a very colorful career.

A 'demanding career' is one which takes a lot of effort and/or time.

·         He has had a very demanding career in finance with little time to spend with his family.

·         I don't want a very demanding career. I want plenty of time for my hobbies.

A 'distinguished career', is one which is respected for its extremely high standard.

·         He had a distinguished career in the Ministry of Finance before moving to the private sector.

·         You haven't had a very distinguished career so far, have you?

If you spend your 'entire career' doing something, that is all you have done.

·         I have spent my entire career working for the one company.

·         I don't want to spend my entire career doing nothing but research.

If you have a 'flourishing career', it  has grown and developed successfully.

·         She has had a flourishing career as a designer of children's clothes.

·         I don't seem to be having much of a flourishing career in this company.

A 'glittering career' is one which causes excitement and admiration.

·         His glittering career as an actor has brought him wealth and fame.

·         The boss began her glittering career with the firm as a humble receptionist.

A 'modest career' is one where there are no notable achievements.

·         He has had a very modest career in our auditing office with no real successes or failures.

·         You've had a very modest career so far with very little in the way of achievements.

(Notice though that to 'be modest about your career' means that there are notable achievements but that you tend not to talk about them.)

A 'promising career' is one which promises great success in the future.

·         She has started a very promising career in the City and we are sure she is going to do well.

·         I seemed to have such a promising career when I was starting out but it has all gone badly wrong.

If you have a 'varied career', you have done lots of different jobs.

·         I've had a varied career so far, from policeman to actor.

·         We're looking for a candidate with a varied career as this job requires a range of skills. 

Contracts

Learn the vocabulary in English to talk about job contracts:

A 'binding contract' is one which cannot be legally avoided or stopped.

We have a legally binding contract and you must supply us with these services.

·         You can't walk out on your binding contract just because you have received a better offer elsewhere.

An 'exclusive contract' is one which prevents the person from working with other people.

·         You have an exclusive contract to work with us and you cannot take on work for anybody else.

·         I think we should offer her an exclusive contract so that she only works for us.

A 'renewable contract' is one which can be continued after it has finished by a new one. The opposite of this is a 'non-renewable contract'.

·         To work on this project, we can offer you a non-renewable contract of one year.

·         The contract is for one year, renewable for a second year if we are satisfied with your work.

A 'temporary contract' is one that is not permanent.

·         We can give you a temporary contract for six months.

·         You'll start on a temporary contract and we may then offer you a permanent one.

A 'valid contract' is one that has legal force.

·         This contract is not valid until it is signed by both parties.

·         This letter is not a valid contract. I want a proper one.

A 'breach of contract' is when the person does something which breaks the terms of the contract.

·         If you don't agree to move to Paris, you will be in breach of your contract.

·         If you refuse to work on Sunday, that is a breach of contract and we will dismiss you.

The 'terms of contract' are the conditions contained within the contract.

·         Under the terms of your contract, you have to work on some Sundays.

·         You are asking me to do something which is not in the terms of my contract.

If you 'draw up' a contract, you prepare it.

·         I'll draw up a contract for you and you can sign it tomorrow.

·         I'll get a new contract drawn up including the new terms and conditions.

If you 'get out of' a contract, you are no longer bound by it.

·         I'm not happy in my job and need to find a way to get out of my contract.

·         I think she's being difficult because she wants to get out of her contract with us.

If you 'go through' a contract, you look at it in detail.

·         We need to spend a few minutes going through your contract.

·         Make sure you go through your contract carefully before you sign it.

Management

The top people in a company can be called 'senior management'.

·         We need to get approval for this from senior management.
With my qualifications and experience, I should have a job in senior management.

Of course, another term for this is 'top management'.

·         He rose quickly through the company and had a top management position before he was 30.

·         The top management of this company have no imagination or drive.

Not surprisingly, the opposite of 'senior management' is 'junior management'.

·         He was promoted from the shop floor into a junior management position.

·         I feel I'm ready to move up from this junior management job.

Between 'senior' and 'junior' management is 'middle management'.

·         It's time I was promoted from junior management to middle management.

·         He rose rapidly to middle management but was then never offered a senior post.

The group of managers can be called the 'management team'.

·         We have a strong management team, full of high quality people.

·         We need to improve our management team to bring new life to the company.

'Aggressive management' means being determined to do well and using strong methods to achieve success.

·         His aggressive management style has upset a few people.

·         We need some aggressive management to wake up this sleeping giant.

'Day-to-day management' is concerned with the ordinary and regular issues of a company.

·         I spend so long on the day-to-day management of my department that I have no time to look at the long-term.

·         You will deal with the day-to-day management of the company while I work on the strategy.

'Strategic management' is concerned with the long-term of the company.

·         This company lacks good strategic management and is just drifting.

·         You need to spend more time on strategic management and less on day-to-day issues.

'General management' is concerned with all aspects of the company, not a specialist area such as Research or Marketing.

·         You've spent your whole career in Sales and you need some experience of general management.

·         You need some time in general management to get an overview of the company.

If there is 'inefficient management', a company will not use its resources as well as it should. The opposite of this is 'efficient management'.

·         The company is riddled with inefficient management. Don't work with them.

·         If we replaced the inefficient management, we could turn this company around.

'Weak management' lacks the determination to carry out difficult decisions or actions.

·         This department has suffered from weak management for the last ten years.
There is a culture of weak management in this organization.

The opposite of this is 'strong management'.  Notice that you can be 'strong' without being 'aggressive' – the first is reactive to events and the second is proactive.

·         This company needs some strong management to take on the unions.

·         We need strong management in this company, but not too aggressive.