Page 25 - Perfect Phrases ESL Everyday Business

The Global Workforce

Flextime: a structure that allows employees to work a
flexible schedule instead of everyone working a set
time (e.g., from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M.)
Fostered: helped develop
Gas: short for the gasoline that fuels vehicles and other
machinery
Get the ball rolling: start a process
Hobbies: what you like to do in your leisure time, after-
work activity (e.g., playing soccer, stamp collecting,
dancing)
IT: the abbreviation for Information Technology: using
electronic processes for handling information
Lunch and learn: casual brown-bag lunches with
presenters speaking off the cuff on various issues
Mentor: person who has the expertise to counsel a less
experienced person
Mirror: copy, imitate
Off the cuff: something said without first thinking about it
Pick up on: notice
Pinpointed: showed the position of something
Protégé: a person who is taught or helped by someone
more experienced
Quasi: sort of, partly
Rapport: understanding, agreement between people
Reciprocal relationship: a relationship in which both
parties benefit
Seasoned: has a lot of experience
Shadow: to follow a colleague doing his or her job in
order to better understand that job and how to
perform it
Shake a leg: hurry up
Small talk: talk about unimportant subjects
Step on it: hurry up
Stick to it: keep to the schedule, don’t deviate

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