Employees
2] Explain the difference in meaning
between the phrases in each pair:
1. taking early retirement/made
redundant
Taking early retirement is voluntary. Being
made redundant is not.
2. temporary secondment/relocation
Temporary secondment is a short-term
transfer to another position, department
or organization. Relocation is more
permanent and is the transfer of a home
or business to another place, town, etc.
3. Being unemployed/ laid off
Being laid off is the action of the company to
employees (because there isn’t enough work).
Unemployment (having no job to go to) is the
result.
4.a sideways move/ a change of direction
A sideways move means the person may be in a
different part of the company or have a
different job but there’s no progress or
development. A change of direction will bring
new opportunities.
5. transferable skills/ update my skills
Transferable skills are already existing and can be
used in another job. Updating your skills means
learning new skills.
6. a glass ceiling/ opportunity for
advancement
The ‘glass ceiling’ refers to the limit in a company
you can reach in terms of advancement. In other
words you can see higher positions above you
but you will never be able to move into these for
reasons such as gender. Opportunity for
advancement means you have a chance to move
up the company.
7. corporate culture/rules and red tape
Corporate culture refers to the beliefs of the
company or the way things are done at the
company. These things are not necessarily
formally written. Rules and red tape are formal
and may be demanded by government law.
8. personal development/training
Training is a formal situation where a ‘trainer’
works with employees. Personal development
refers to broader ways of learning and
developing, for example being assigned new
responsibilities, reading a trade journal or
attending a conference will all help the
employee ‘develop’.
4] Read the interview with Ian Dickson,
European HR Director for Tesco based
in Prague, and answer questions 1-3:
1. What is Ian’s main message?
2. What steps has the company taken to keep
staff and reduce the number leaving the
company?
What’s your view on dealing with staff
turnover?
I think you can tell quite a lot about a company by
its staff turnover. If it’s very high, it’s probably a
sign that the company’s approach to staff
development and retention isn’t working welland people believe they have to move to get on.
As a leading retailer, with ambitious growth plans,
we give a lot of attention to this area. We invest
heavily in internal development programmes
because we strongly belive we have talent and
potential within our own workforce. If we can tap
into this, it becomes our most effective way of
resourcing for the future.
What opportunities do you provide for
staff?
Wherever possible, when we have a key vacancy,
we fill it by redeploying staff or promoting
them – this is the case at all levels from
departmental managers in our stores to
director positions. We believe in promoting
people on their ability, and wish so many
opportunities for advancement, there’s a lot of
job mobility.
Are there any other ways you try to retrain
staff?
A critical factor is how we communicate the many
ways staff can develop with us. We celebrate
success locally and corporately as internal people
are appointed to key positions or successfully
complete development programs. This helps
develop a culture of opportunities that stops staff
from going elsewhere. It’s very expensive to keep
employing new people – that’s a real cost –
whereas, we see our internal development
programs and appointments as an investment.
1. What is Ian’s main message?
Ian’s main message is that high staff turnover is
expensive and your workforce is your most
important resource.
2. What steps has the company taken to
keep staff and reduce the number
leaving the company?
They invest in internal development
programmes, redeploy or promote staff into
vacancies where possible (offer job mobility)
and celebrate success.
5] Match the words/phrases in bold
in the interview to these definitions:
keep rather than lose something……………
retain
2. an essential job that a company is looking for
someone to do……………….
key vacancy
3. spend money on something you think is
useful………
invest in
4. providing something that’s needed…………….
resourcing
1.
5. choose someone for a job……………..
appoint
6. be able to move easily from one job to
another……………….
job mobility
7. move someone to a more senior job…….
promote
8. move someone to a different job………..
redeploy
9. the rate at which people leave a company and
are replaced by others…….…
staff turnover
10. the way in which companies help workers get
better at their jobs………
staff development
11. be successful in your career…..........
get on
12. level of skill…….
ability