Work Environment: English Vocabulary List

to force one's employee to retire or leave work and give them a payment

"The company pensioned off older workers."

"The company decided to pension off several older employees to make room for younger workers."

to do business with another person or company

"We need to transact the business."

"You can transact most of your banking business online without ever visiting a physical branch."

to reduce the expenses of one's company by dismissing a number of employees from their job

"The company had to retrench staff."

"The struggling company was forced to retrench many workers to avoid going completely bankrupt."

to avoid fulfilling a responsibility by staying away from work

"He skived off work today."

"Some employees try to skive off work by pretending to be sick when they are actually healthy."

(of a company or organization) to become smaller by reducing the number of employees or departments

"The company decided to downsize."

"The corporation decided to downsize its workforce by eliminating several hundred middle management positions."

to dismiss someone from their job

"The manager sacked the lazy employee."

"The manager had to sack the employee for repeatedly coming late to work without a valid excuse."

to record one's arrival at work by using a timekeeping system, usually involving the use of a clock or electronic device

"Employees clock in at nine."

"All employees must clock in when they arrive at work to record their exact starting time."

to integrate and familiarize a new employee or user with a system or organization

"We will onboard new employees today."

"The human resources department will onboard the new employees during their first week at the company."

to record the time of one's departure from work

"She clocked out at five."

"Remember to clock out before you leave the office so your working hours are accurately recorded."

to establish a communication or cooperation which links parties or organizations

"Liaise with the other departments."

"The project manager needs to liaise between the engineering team and the marketing department effectively."

to manually register the time of one's arrival at work by pushing a button on a machine

"Punch in when you arrive."

"Workers are required to punch in at the time clock when they arrive for their shift."

to meet or bring together a group of people for an official meeting

"The committee will convene tomorrow."

"The committee will convene next Tuesday morning to discuss the proposed budget for the upcoming year."

to manually register the time of one's departure from work by pushing a button on a machine

"Punch out before leaving work."

"Please punch out before leaving the building so we can track your total hours worked."

the minimum number of people that must be present for a meeting to officially begin or for decisions to be made

"The meeting lacked a quorum."

"The committee postponed voting because a legal quorum was not present yesterday."

a workplace, particularly one in which people produce clothing items, with poor conditions where workers are paid very low wages

"The sweatshop employed exhausted workers."

"Investigators discovered unsafe conditions inside the overcrowded overseas sweatshop during inspections yesterday."

a list or plan showing assignments or duties for individuals or groups over a specified period

"The roster changed this morning."

"The manager updated the employee roster before the busy holiday shopping season."

a diagrammatic representation of the hierarchical structure of an organization

"The organogram clarified responsibilities clearly."

"The company distributed an updated organogram after restructuring several executive departments internally."

a day of low motivation or sadness, commonly occurring at the start of the workweek due to the weekend ending

"Today feels like blue Monday."

"Many people experience blue Monday feelings after returning to work after a relaxing weekend."

a division within an organization responsible for ensuring that processes, systems, and products meet established quality and compliance standards

"The assurance department reviewed complaints."

"The assurance department investigated recurring product defects before approving international shipments carefully."

a shared workspace in an office, available for use by any employee on a first-come, first-served basis, rather than being assigned to a particular individual

"I reserved a hot desk."

"Employees using hybrid schedules often share a hot desk during office rotations."

a model where employees split their time between working from home and working on-site

"Hybrid working became increasingly popular."

"Many corporations adopted hybrid working to improve flexibility and employee satisfaction levels."

the management of supplying labor and materials as needed for an operation or task

"Logistics required careful planning yesterday."

"Efficient logistics reduced transportation costs and improved international delivery performance significantly."

the division within an organization responsible for the day-to-day management and execution of its core business functions

"The operations department stayed busy."

"The operations department coordinated manufacturing schedules across several overseas production facilities daily."

a discussion with a departing employee to understand their reasons for leaving and gain feedback on their experience with the organization

"She completed an exit interview."

"Human resources scheduled an exit interview before the employee officially resigned yesterday."

to prevent one's employees from working until they accept new policies or conditions

"The company locked out workers."

"The factory owners decided to lock out their workers until a new contract was agreed upon."

to come up with solutions for challenges and difficulties in an organization or company

"He troubleshoots computer problems daily."

"The IT specialist was called to troubleshoot the network problem that was affecting all office computers."

to dismiss employees due to financial difficulties or reduced workload

"The factory laid off many workers."

"The factory had to lay off fifty workers due to a significant decrease in product demand."