• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Currently we are restructuring our organization and dividing it into five cost centres.
• He lost his job when the company restructured the department.

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• When I was a student, I had a part-time job in a bar.
• We are looking for a part-time receptionist to work mornings.

to be punctual = to start or arrive at the specified time

• She’s very punctual, always here on time.
• Please be punctual. I don’t want to have to wait for late arrivals.

home working = to work from home rather than going into the office

• Home working misses the social element of going to work.
• Modern technology means that home working has become a real possibility for many people.

time sheet = a record of the numbers of hours worked by an employee

• Fill out this time sheet every day and hand it to your manager on Fridays.
• We no longer have time sheets as this is done automatically by the electronic ID badges.

unsocial hours = hours outside of the normal working week

• Although the hours are rather unsocial, I don’t want a nine to five job.
• Lots of professions work very unsocial hours and don’t necessarily get compensated for it.

to take a break = to stop work for a short time to relax

• You can buy tea or coffee when you take a break.
• Sometimes it’s a good idea to take a break and come back to a job refreshed.

to clock in/out = to record the start or finish time of work on a special machine

• The staff clock in when they arrive and clock out as they leave.
• Flexitime means that everyone has to clock in and out to keep a check on the hours worked.

public holidays = national holidays that are not generally worked

• Your holiday entitlement does not include public holidays like Christmas Day.
• If a public holiday is on a Thursday, many people take the Friday off and have a long weekend.

hourly rate = the salary that is paid per hour of work

• We are paid a considerably higher hourly rate for Sundays or evening work.
• The part-time employees are paid an hourly rate but the permanent staff are paid a fixed salary.

fixed hours = the working hours of an employee do not change or cannot be varied

• The admin staff work fixed hours; nine to five, five days a week.
• As a freelancer, I don’t have any fixed hours but work when the work is there.

• We aren’t paid when we work overtime, we can take time off in lieu.
• We had to work overtime to get the project finished on time.

• In today’s twenty-four hour society, more and more people work shifts.
• We get paid more when we work shifts to compensate for the irregular times.

• The irregular rhythm of shift work can be very hard on family life.
• Production keeps going non-stop so we have a lot of people who do shift work.

• It’s very hard on the night shift because I can’t sleep very well during the day.
• Some people prefer to be on the night shift because they are at home when the children come home from school.

• As we work flexitime, I take the children to school and arrive at nine thirty.
• With flexitime, as long as I have done my seven hours, I can leave at four thirty.

• The weekly roster is put up on the board so that you can see who is working.
• Look on the roster to see what job you are doing.

• I’d like to have some time off next month. I need a break.
• If you want to have time off, you have to fill out a request form and give it to your line manager.

• I had two days off last week so I have a lot of work to catch up on.
• I’d like a day off next week to deal with some family matters. Friday if that is convenient.

• At the moment I only work two days a week but I would like to work full-time.
• After the birth of my son, I didn’t want to go back full-time so do three days a week now.

• If you are interested in the job, could you fill out this application form, please?
• I have completed the application form for that job and sent it back to the personnel department.

• We have your contact details so we will be in touch soon.
• If you give me your contact details, I’ll call you to set up an interview.

• I have already held similar positions as you can see from my employment history.
• There are gaps in her employment history. I would like to know what she was doing during these periods.

• As you can see from my CV, I have all the relevant experience you require.
• This candidate doesn’t have the relevant experience in our sector but is very well qualified in every other aspect.

• I don’t think that my job description includes all the task I am currently doing.
• We are currently writing job descriptions for the new jobs being created in the sales team.

• We hope to make a formal job offer as soon as we have had replies from your referees.
• I turned down the job offer I received from them because the salary wasn’t as good as my present one.

• The holiday entitlement is only 20 days a year but that doesn’t include public holidays.
• Although the holiday entitlement is very generous, holidays have to be taken at certain times of the year.

• I have to work out my notice in my present job so can we put back the starting date?
• Originally they wanted me to start next week but as I was available, I suggested an earlier starting date.

• They let him go at the end of the probation period.
• She is still on her probation period. We have another two weeks to make a final decision.

• Larry’s move to London has created a vacancy in Marketing if you are interested.
• We don’t have any vacancies at the moment but we will keep your CV on file.

• Although the post was advertised last month, we promoted someone internally.
• We advertised the post in the national press last week and have received lots of applications.

• Ten people have applied for the job just from advertising it internally.
• I’ve applied for that job in Glasgow even though I don’t really have enough experience.

• I’ve written letters of application for four different jobs but had no reply yet.
• We have received letters of application from a wide range of candidates.

• The number of applicants is very high. There are a lot of people with the right qualifications and experience.
• We do a pre-selection of the applicants based on their previous experience.

• We use a recruitment agency to advertise the post and do a pre-selection.
• There are several recruitment agencies who specialize in our sector so we can find highly qualified candidates quickly.

• We have written new job descriptions for all the jobs in our department.
• I don’t think making the coffee is in my job description!

• For a post at this level, we consider experience to be more important than academic qualifications.
• For this post, we give full training. The only qualification necessary is a high school diploma.

• I have a lot of experience managing a small team and would now like to manage a bigger one.
• The best candidates are those who have previous experience in the food industry.

• Although the starting salary is not very high, the benefits include health insurance.
• We pay very competitive salaries and provide some of the best benefits in the sector.

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

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• His aggressive management style has upset a few people.
• We need some aggressive management to wake up this sleeping giant.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• The company is riddled with inefficient management. Don’t work with them.
• If we replaced the inefficient management, we could turn this company around.

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

• This company needs some strong management to take on the unions.
• We need strong management in this company, but not too aggressive.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• This contract is not valid until it is signed by both parties.
• This letter is not a valid contract. I want a proper one.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• We need to spend a few minutes going through your contract.
• Make sure you go through your contract carefully before you sign it.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• His colorful career has taken him to many exciting locations.
• As an accountant, you won’t have a very colorful career.

• 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.

• 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?

• I have spent my entire career working for the one company.
• I don’t want to spend my entire career doing nothing but research.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.)

• 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.

• 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.