Nice work if you can get it

All these words are used in front of ‘job’ and ‘work’:

§ satisfying, stimulating, fascinating, exciting: the work is interesting and gives you positive feelings.

§ dull, boring, uninteresting, unstimulating: the work is not interesting.

§ repetitive, routine: the work involves doing the same things again and again.

§ tiring, tough, hard, demanding: the work is difficult and makes you tired

C

Nature of work

My work involves ...	+ noun human contact long hours team work
+ -ing solving problems travelling a lot dealing with customers

2.1. Which person (1-5) is most likely to do each of the five things (a-e)?

1. A software designer in an Internet company. Has to be in the office.

2. An office worker in a large, traditional manufacturing company.

3. A manager in a department store in a large city. Lives in the country.

4. A construction worker on a building site where work goes on 24 hours a day.

5. A technical writer for a city computer company. Lives in the country.

a work in shifts

b work under a flexitime system

c telecommute

d commute to work

e clock on and off at the same time every day

2.2. Look at the words and expressions in B and C opposite.

Five people talk about their jobs. Match the jobs (1-5) to the people (a-e) and put the words in brackets into the correct grammatical forms.

1. accountant

2. postwoman

3. attendant flight

4. software developer

5. teacher

a. Obviously, my work involves …………..(travel) a lot. It can be quite physically ………..(tire), but I enjoy…………… (deal) with customers, except when they become violent. Luckily this doesn’t happen often.

b. I like …………….. (work) with figures, but my job is much less ……………..(bore) and routine than people think. The work …………….(involve) a lot of human contact and teamwork, working with other managers.

c. Of course, it involves getting up quite early in the morning. But I like ……………(be) out in the open air. And I get a lot of exercise!

d. You’ve got to think in a very logical way. The work can be mentally…………….(tire), but it’s very satisfying to write a program that works.

e. I love my job. It’s very …………………. (stimulate) and not at all …………(repeat): no two days are the same. It’s good to see the children learn and develop

Over to you

If you work…

Do you have a nine-to-five job?

Do you have to clock on and off? Is there a flexitime system in your organization? Are there people who do shiftwork in your company?

Could you do your job working from home? If so, would you like to?

If you don't work ...

What sort of working hours would you like to have if you worked?

Would you like to work from home?

EMPLOYMENT

Answer these questions.

Have you ever worked in any of these places? If not, would you like to?

A a shop B a restaurant C a hotel D an office

Listen and match the speakers to the correct industry. Write your answers in the second column. In the third column, write the adjectives the speakers use to describe their job.

Speaker	Type of industry	Adjectives used to describe work

Advertising Building Hospitality Retail

Complete the sentences with words from the recording. If necessary, listen to the speakers again.

1. I’m employed on a casual basis, so my ___________ are paid at the end of each week.

2. Over 100 members of staff were made _____________ when the new machines were installed in the factory.

3. It is important to have experience in the ____________ as well as academic qualifications.

4. I do ___________ so I often have to sleep during the day.

5. The owners had a meeting with all of the _____________ to discuss the takeover.

6. The government may decide to raise the age at which people ___________ from work from 65 to 70.

7. My boss has asked me to work _____________ tomorrow, so I won't be home until late.

8. Our junior staff ___________ $12 per hour.

9. If they don't increase my ____________ this year then I'm going to look for another job.

10. Many young people today value __________ ____________over a big salary.