Business English: The best employers in the world
This text is about the 3 best companies to work for in the world . Useful language is highlighted and explained below. Don’t forget to do the quiz and answer the discussion questions. If you want a print-friendly version of the lesson, click here.
There are good and bad employers in every country. Some companies give their employees long holidays and weekends off. Yet others make their staff work on bank holidays and even on Saturday and Sunday. It is important to find a nice place to work so here is a list of the 3 best employers in the world to work for.
Google is a very famous internet company but it is maybe more well-known because of its amazing working environment. Many employees say working at Google is almost like ‘heaven’ because of the perks. These include free massages, delicious international food, sports facilities and a very relaxed atmosphere. Some employees even take their pets to work with them and are allowed to use skateboards and rollerblades in the office.
Boston Consulting Group
BCG is an international consulting firm which works with clients to create solutions to their problems. The main benefit at BCG is the salary because the average employee earns about $139,000 every year. This does not include bonuses and overtime pay. BCG likes to keep its staff fit and healthy so it organises lots of sports and activities. Another benefit is that employees can do voluntary work for charities like save the Children.
SAS institute
SAS Institute is one of the best providers of business analytics software and services in the world. It helps other companies predict new business opportunities and use them to make money. Their staff receive many benefits like unlimited sick leave and high quality child care. They can also use the onsite fitness and health centres. Female staff who become pregnant receive long paid maternity leave but their partners can also take paid paternity leave.
Loading …Useful language/Business English Vocabulary
- To give/have weekends off
- Do not work on Saturday and Sunday
- Working environment
- How comfortable it feels to work in a place
- Perks
- Extra benefits
- Sports facilities
- Places where you can do sport like a swimming pool
- Relaxed atmosphere
- A very informal way of working
- Consulting firm
- A company that gives advice to others
- Bonuses
- Extra money when you work well
- Overtime pay
- When you are paid for working more than usual
- To keep staff fit
- To help them stay in a good physical condition
- Voluntary work
- Work you are not made to do but you can choose
- Charities
- Organisations that help people who need help like Save the Children
- Business analytics
- Where you look at statistics about a business
- Predict
- To make guesses about the future
- Opportunity
- A chance of making money or doing something good
- Benefits
- Positive things for an employee like free insurance
- Unlimited sick leave
- You can have as many days off work as you need when you are ill
- Child care
- When someone looks after your baby or child
- Onsite
- In the building or grounds
- Maternity leave
- When a women stops working to have a baby
- Paternity leave
- When a husband stops working because his partner is having or has had a baby
Discussion questions
- Why are these the best employers in the world?
- What are the best benefits for employees?
- What can companies do to become better places to work?
Posted by Phil Wade on Apr 5 2012. Filed under Business English.
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These are the best employers in the world because they reward their employes’ hard work with recognition, fringe benefits, above average remuneration and good work/family balance. I really consider that this is all you dream for your job.
I believe that if a company value their staff as their best asset, the workers would feel compelled to put more effort in the completion of their tasks, in the provision of a better service. The worker would certainly have stimulation to be more creative and think outside the box. Furthermore, I consider that if an employee is happy at the work place, he will be happier in his personal life and we would have less absenteeism, less depressions and less familiar problems.
Where I work there are several issues that make the work place less stimulating and interesting, however on a monthly basis we have a General Staff Meeting were the management inform us on managerial updates and they also encourage the expression of your viewpoints. In addition, on a weekly basis we are given 30 minutes to have a shared snack. It isn´t much when comparing with the best employers of the word, but it feels really good to have this kind of opportunities and be acknowledged as an individual, and not just as a worker.
Hi Sandra,
It sounds like you work in a company that does make an effort to improve the working culture.
Google is definitely a good example of creating a good place to work but it may only be suitable for young and relaxed IT professional. I don’t know if that system would work in a big British financial company for instance.
What do you think?
Phil
Yes, I agreed that it wouldn’t work in any financial company around the word. The financial market is a completely different institution, very competitive and aggressive where there isn’t space for feelings, dreams, and hopes. I think that the financial market, although very important in the in our society, it brings up the worst features in human race.
It is never in my imagination that there are companies who value the functional requirement of employees as Google and few other companies were portrayed.
Observation: They are the best companies because they for the well being of their staff. These include Managerial questions like: how could we keep our staff free and fit? What mechanism is needed not to make our staff feel like been employed is another new form of enslavement? How can we engage our employees at work even when they are far away from onsite?
Solving the management questions of this nature, i supposed, ranked these companies as the best ones in the word.
It is really hard to limit the benefits that these employees from the said best companies in the world enjoy – here i mean, we can’t count feelings but just what we see meanwhile, on those that experience it what we see is uncounted. Notwithstanding, they enjoy overtime payment; quarterly, yearly or monthly Bonus; have weekends off; friendly working atmosphere; family benefits and physical and mental development fitness.
I suppose companies consideration of making their onsite a best for work depend greatly on share holders believes about employees. However, if they they are a bit open to their senior management of their companies, they could as well have extra opinion on how to make the onsite best place for every worker. On same vein, i also believe that the size of the company and the nature of its operation contributes to the type of a friendly atmosphere required for employees. However, i fully agree for a company’s provision of meal, some physical activities, pay some Bonus depending on the company’s definition and also create an atmosphere for staff creativity. These i am sure will go a long way with employees’ happiness.
Great comments David.
I know many people who would love to work for Google but a friend did and he said it was not like this and one day the division closed down. Maybe it is different in each country.