HANDOUT 5

• An opposite number has the same position or does the same job as me.
• A working relationship is the way of communicating and working together.
• Collaboration is working together to achieve shared goals.
• A counterpart is a more formal equivalent of an opposite number.
• Rapport is the communication or relationship.
• To take the initiative is to make decisions without being told what to do.
• A hierarchical structure has a structure with important and less important people.
• A pecking order is a system where some people have the right to get benefits or promotions before others.
• A job share is an agreement where two people each share the same job.
• Hot desking is a policy of sharing desks in an office, so people sit at whichever desk is free on a particular day.
• Workmates are colleagues you are friendly with, especially in non-professional occupations; informal.
• A talk shop is where you talk about work; informal.
• Mundane means ordinary, not interesting.
• To meet a deadline is to have something finished by a fixed day or time.
• To volunteer is to offer to do something without being asked or told to do it.
• Rewarding makes you feel satisfied that you have done something important or useful, or done something well.
• Stimulating encourages new ideas or new thinking.
• Workload is the amount of work I have to do.
• Mechanical means you don’t have to think about what you are doing.
• Repetitive means the same thing is repeated every day.
• Knocking off is finishing work; informal.
• Monotonous means boring because it never changes.
• Satisfying does (not) make me feel pleased by providing what I need or want.
• Glamorous means very exciting, which everyone admires.
• Anti-social does not enable one to have a normal social life.
• Stuck behind a desk means sitting at a desk all day.
• Mind-numbing means extremely boring.
• Tight schedules means very strict or severely limited timetables.
• Stuck in a rut means stuck/trapped in a job they can’t escape from.
• Dead-end means with no prospects of promotion.
• Technician means a person whose job involves practical work with scientific or electrical equipment.
• Went in with means formed a business partnership with.
• Start-up means a small business that has just started.
• Freelance means works freelance.
• Programmer means someone who writes computer programs.