Employment

Work plays a major part in most people’s lives. People of all sorts work in business, and the terms businessman and businesswoman reflect this, referring to a wide range of individuals, from the rich and famous to small company owners, from people in large organizations to those who work for themselves.

Businessmen and women are referred to together as businesspeople.

Many people choose to be self-employed (to have their own business) or to work freelance for several employers.

An entrepreneur is someone who starts their own company.

As the labour market becomes more flexible, many employers respond by increasing the number of fixed-term contracts and part-time workers. We can also speak about permanent or temporary job.

In large organizations, administration of people is done by the personnel department, although this expression is now sometimes rejected. Companies talk instead about their human resources or HR.

The Human Resources department of a company is responsible for planning, recruitment of new people, staff training and development, staff appraisal, welfare, pensions administration and industrial relations. It works to ensure that the right people are available to meet the company’s needs.

Some companies move their workers regularly between teams or departments. This is called job rotation. Job security is knowing or feeling that a job will last for a long time.

Exercises in Word Study

Ex.1. Form nouns from the following verbs:

reflect, own, refer, recruit, train, appraise, administer, ensure, rotate, secure, express, develop.

Ex.2. Give the English for:

зайнятість, ділова жінка, власник компанії, відділ кадрів, відповідати за планування, набір нових кадрів, підготовка кадрів, соціальне забезпечення, задовольняти потреби компанії, бригада, зміна робіт, гарантія роботи, строковий контракт, роботодавець, оцінкa роботи, працювати не за наймом, підприємець, постійна робота, тимчасова робота.

Ex.3. Match words from list A with words from list B that have a similar meaning:

Ex.4. Find suitable opposites to the following words and phrases:

employment, rich, full-time worker, employee, famous, regularly.