Task 3
In some cases companies inform their employees in advance that lay-offs are coming. In other cases, they come without warning: You arrive on time for work on a Friday, but you are told not to come next week. Ouch! In either case, you may be able to sense some bad signs in advance. Maybe the company has tried very hard to avoid lay-offs; maybe it has been preparing for the worst for quite some time. If you think about the bad omens carefully, you might know as much as or even more than some of the employees in managerial positions with management responsibilities. For example, if you work in sales, you might know that quotas have not been met. If you work in field engineering, you might notice far fewer customer installations. If your company's competitors, suppliers or customers are laying off employees, it's likely your company will too, especially if economic conditions are affecting your industry. Check the lay-off statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Search the Net and your local newspaper too for articles concerning lay-offs in your industry.
Do things like bad sales always mean that lay-offs are coming to your company? Not necessarily. Companies have seasonal and economic sales dips all the time, and are always looking for ways to improve their performance. So, if you see only one or two bad signs, don't jump to a hasty conclusion. But if you see more, especially along the lines of earnings warnings, budget cuts, hiring freezes, restructuring, and massive lay-offs in your industry, it might just be time to get your résumé up-to-date and start looking for a new job. Also, it might be a good idea to cancel your vacation, implement money-saving measures, and become more useful on your job. You should prepare in advance if you think you might get the axe soon.
DCBCA Let's talk Task 1
Voice-over: Fraser likes John's idea of renting a factory, but he still wants to
supply supermarkets. He's done some research and found a factory on the Isle of Bute that he likes the sound of. Fraser likes the factory,
Fraser:
Manager:
Voice-over:Fraser:
Voice-over:John:
but can they meet his desire for supermarket capacity?
Obviously I produce all the products in the kitchen at home, um, and the plan is to, obviously move it into a commercial setting so that we can, um, produce for larger, sort of, retailers. We're probably looking initially maybe, um, between five and, er, ten thousand a month, um... probably growing to, sort of... twenty to thirty thousand within the first six months. That's quite a lot.
Fraser decides against the factory because they can't make his
supermarket quantities. When... when we... when I met... last met John, he thought it would be a good idea for me to, kinda, set up my own factory, and produce the stuff myself, and sell it to just a handful of delis, and then, rack up more delis and, er, grow that way, um... which didn't really appeal to me. It was a bit, kinda, slow and, er... you know I'm happy to kinda jump in at the deep end, as it were, and just go straight for the, kinda, um, the larger retailers.
John's worried. Fraser has not taken his advice. His high-risk strategy
of going straight to the supermarkets could come off, but it's a real gamble. Fraser's a one-man band, and I'm very concerned that he hasn't got the backup and the support to deal with huge supermarkets at this stage in his business development.
Further listening > Task 1
Joblessness can lead to a series of problems, and it is not easy to solve them.
First of all, being jobless often means lacking social contact with fellow employees, and lacking a purpose for many hours of the day. Also, it obviously affects your ability to pay bills and to purchase the necessities of life.
Lack of this ability is especially serious for those with family
obligations, debts, or medical costs, and it is especially true in a country like the United States, where the availability of medical insurance is often linked to holding a job.
Some maintain that jobless people can rely on unemployment insurance, but this is not true. Unemployment insurance in the U.S. typically does not even replace 50 percent of the income one receives on the job, and one cannot receive it forever. Therefore, the unemployed often end up tapping
welfare programs such as Food Stamps or accumulating formal debt to banks or informal debt to friends and relatives.
Some hold that low-income jobs provide a solution to joblessness, but this is not true either. Since it is difficult or even impossible to get unemployment insurance benefits without having worked in the past, job-seekers have to accept low-income jobs. Thus, unemployment insurance keeps a ready supply of low-paid workers. To make things worse, many employers take advantage of this. When they resort to such management techniques as low wages and benefits, as well as few chances for advancement, they bear the unemployment insurance option in mind. Under increasing unemployment pressure, jobless people suffer from a variety of financial, psychological and social problems. Increased unemployment encourages bad health and raises in both crime and suicide rates.
ABCDA Task 2
Barbara: I've really got to think about my future. You've heard of the cutbacks
the management is making, right? Alan:
Oh, yes. I've heard it. But you haven't anything to worry about.
Barbara: Around here you never know from one day to the next whether you can keep
your job. Alan:
Come on, they won't let you go. You've been here for so long. Besides, you're good at your job.
Barbara: That may be, but I feel that I've reached the glass ceiling in this company. Alan:
Glass ceiling? What do you mean by that?
Barbara: I've been working here for 10 years. I haven't gotten a promotion in three
years. I thought I should be vice president by now. If I were a man, I'm sure I would be vice president. Alan:
There's no official company policy, but it's true that they don't promote women to management positions here.
Barbara: I can see the writing on the wall. I think it's time to change jobs, and
maybe even careers, if I want to get ahead. Alan:
Change careers? That's a big jump. If you change careers, what will you do?
Barbara: I'm doing market research here, but I studied public relations in college.
I'd like to do PR for a large multinational company. Alan:
That sounds exciting, and the pay would be better, too. Yeah, if I were you, I would keep an eye on the job postings on the Internet.
Barbara: Thanks, I will.
TTFFF
Viewing and speaking Task 1
Voice-over: It's time for John to make his first visit to see if he can help turn
things around. He really has his work cut out this time, but will Matt be prepared to take on board any of John's suggestions? They meet at Sticmatz HQ, the Aitkenhead's family home. John needs to get a handle on Matt, his business and his expectations. John:
For the forthcoming financial year, how many units are you hoping to sell?
Really, I'd expect to sell very... a minimum of three million units by this time next year. Three million units? Yeah.
Three-million-unit sales next year? That's an awesome target. So what is this business going to do in the current year to fuel that phenomenal expansion?
We're really, really gonna hop on the marketing and sales in a way that we haven't even touched... scratched the surface of. We're looking for two quality salespeople, and we can now more aggressively market the product at trade shows, um, and just generally do a lot of grass roots marketing to really get the brand out there.
Matt:
John: Matt: John:
Matt:
Voice-over: John's read the business plans, seen the product, and met the
entrepreneur. To him, the problems are obvious. John:
They've clearly got some very real challenges. Firstly they must raise some money. And that is not going to be easy. The sales targets for next year are wildly optimistic. Three million units. Now that would be a hard task, even if they had a fully-fledged operational,
functioning sales and marketing department, which they don't have.