Business Partner B2 Extra activities

UNIT 1 Corporate culture

Lesson 1.1 Workplace culture

VIDEO A 1.1.1 Choose the correct option in italics to complete the sentences.
Then watch the video again and check.
1 Its clients are retailers who accept / charge credit card payments for purchases.
2 Gravity Payments … has advanced / grown quickly from a small start-up to a profitable
mid-size operation.
3 … he cut / downsized his own salary from $1,000,000 a year to $70,000.
4 Korinne Ward … used to have a long commute / travel. Now she can afford to live close
enough to walk to work.
5 … Dan Price was praised as ‘America’s best boss’ and the company received a flow /
flood of job applications and new client enquiries.
6 Over / On time, however, Gravity reported a 75 percent increase in revenue …
7 … it also has generated / made a lot of publicity, …
8 … staff feel better about being part of the company, work harder / extremely with their
customers, to me as a vendor, that’s a good thing.
9 They bought Dan a Tesla car valued / worth $90,000.
10 Only time will tell if it is going to be a long-term success or whether other companies
will take the same approach / method.

Vocabulary B Choose a word from each box to complete the sentences.

company dress good minimum open-plan organisational pay

atmosphere behaviour code hierarchy office salary rate

1 When companies have a(n) , all employees earn above a certain amount.
2 Companies with a fixed determine clearly who is at which level in the
organisation.
3 Those who work in a(n) need to share the space with their colleagues.
4 Companies with a strict usually expect their employees to wear more
formal clothing.
5 The study of how people interact in an office is called .
6 The amount people are paid per hour, day, week, etc. is the .
7 If a company is a pleasant place to work, we can say it has a(n) .

Business Partner B2 © Pearson Education 2018

Business Partner B2 Extra activities

UNIT 1 Corporate culture

Lesson 1.2 Employee retention

Reading A Look at the first sentence in each pair. Complete the second sentence with
a phrase from the box so that the meaning does not change. Some phrases
are not used.

business casual career development diverse work humane working environment

job security keep two hours a week for personal business menial tasks
promotions take every weekend off work-life balance

1 In the past, companies often gave little thought to the number of hours employees
spent in the office compared to the amount of free time they had.
In the past, companies often gave little thought to the of
their employees.
2 Moving up in the company took many years.
took many years.
3 There was little thought given to creating a working situation that was pleasant as this
was not considered to be important.
There was little thought given to creating a as this was not
considered to be important.
4 Today companies have different priorities and employees usually don’t work on
Saturday and Sunday as they need time to relax before starting the work week again.
Today companies have different priorities and employees usually
as they need time to relax before starting the work week again.
5 Dressing less formally is becoming part of the business world.
is becoming part of the business world.
6 Many junior employees do not expect to do work which is not meaningful.
Many junior employees do not expect to do .
7 Millennials expect to learn professional skills in the workplace.
Millennials expect in the workplace.
8 Doing different types of tasks makes a job much more interesting and leads to
motivation.
Doing makes a job much more interesting and leads to
motivation.

Business Partner B2 © Pearson Education 2018 1

Business Partner B2 Extra activities

UNIT 1 Corporate culture

Lesson 1.2 Employee retention

Grammar B Choose the correct option in italics to complete the sentences.

1 Many young people will be deciding / will have decided what is important for them in a job
by the time they go to their first interview.
2 Millennials will be looking / will have looked for jobs with more chances of promotion and
more diverse work when they enter the workforce.
3 By the time new employees have had their first appraisals, their bosses will be setting up /
will have set up ways to support and encourage them.
4 Some experts feel that by the end of the next decade, many more companies will be
implementing / will have implemented a policy of business casual in the workplace and
formal clothing will be seen less often.
5 Some banks are worried that rival firms will be offering / will have offered their young
stars jobs in the future if they don’t make an effort to keep them.
6 Proper career development will be replacing / will have replaced huge bonuses completely
over the next few years and training courses will be part of workplace culture.

C Match the sentence halves.

1 Experts feel that in just a few years
companies which implement work-life
balance initiatives
2 Recruiters say that millennials will be
looking for companies
3 By the middle of the next century,
4 The Managing Board has announced that in
order to retain young staff members,
5 This afternoon at our weekly meeting, we
will be discussing
6 By the end of the week we will have finished
our proposals on how
7 We hope our employees care whether or not
8 Investment banks are starting to implement
policies for business casual
a workplace culture will have changed
drastically.
b how to reduce menial tasks for junior staff.
c and in future employees will most likely
be wearing less formal clothes in these
companies.
d will be finding that they can more easily
retain employees.
e to make our work more diverse.
f they will have implemented a scheme for
swifter promotions by the beginning of next
year.
g which offer job security over huge bonuses.
h we will be making a profit in the future as
our success depends on it.

Business Partner B2 © Pearson Education 2018 2

Business Partner B2 Extra activities

UNIT 1 Corporate culture

Lesson 1.3 Communication skills: Building relationships

Functional A Look at the short dialogues involving Richard, director of a leadership training
language organisation, in which he uses different trust building strategies with customers
and internal colleagues. Match the trust building strategies (1–6) with the
dialogues (a–f).
1 Show trust in others
2 Show empathy
3 Share ideas
4 Be open about thoughts and feelings
5 Offer support
6 Focus on common objectives
a Colleague: I’m under a lot of pressure from my partner not to travel so much next year.
Can we rescope my role to work more from home?
Richard: Sure, I understand fully the need to balance home and travel. What did you
have in mind?
b Richard: I’d like to try to sell more in the Arab World next year.
Colleague: I’ve worked a lot in Qatar and Kuwait.
Richard: Have you? Could I pick your brains over a cup of coffee?
c Customer: Overall, we’re happy with the service you provide but we want to look at
ways in which you can deliver more training via webinars next year.
Richard: OK, I’m happy to discuss this. We both want to provide the best content in
the most convenient form for your staff. Do you have any clear ideas on the
number of webinars you want to have?
d Customer: We’re looking to expand our range of management seminars to include
a stronger focus on leading internationally. Do you have anything in this
area?
Richard: I’m very happy to share a few ideas we have developed recently, and also
some feedback from clients we’ve worked with in this area.
e Customer: We need to cut costs next year so can you see a way to reduce your training
fees, perhaps by ten percent?
Richard: To be perfectly open with you, discussions about cost worry me because
sooner or later lower fees will have an impact on quality.
f Colleague: I’m struggling with a lot of client proposals at the moment. It’s good in a
way but a lot of work.
Richard: Do you want me to take some off your hands?

Business Partner B2 © Pearson Education 2018

Business Partner B2 Extra activities

UNIT 1 Corporate culture

Lesson 1.4 Business skills: Presenting yourself

Functional A Match the beginnings with the endings to make sentences which can be used to
language make a personal introduction to a new team.
1 The sales department is located a pretty much all of the time.
2 I grew up in Milan because my father b vital to our success in the market.
3 I was recruited c the sales team based here in Chicago.
4 I studied law and worked d working with you guys.
5 Currently, I head up e with a revenue of over $100,000.
6 We handle key accounts f was working there for a while.
7 I’m on the road g the experience and expertise we have around the table.
8 I’m really looking forward to h as an attorney for the first five years of my career.
9 I think this project is i in our downtown office.
10 I’m really impressed by j towards the end of last year.

Business Partner B2 © Pearson Education 2018

Business Partner B2 Extra activities

UNIT 1 Corporate culture

Lesson 1.5 Writing: A company news blog

Functional A Choose the correct option in italics to complete the blog.

language

1
Ever / Have / You thought about working in another country? Then why
not take 2benefit / opportunity / advantage of our new work exchange
programme? The company is 3offering / proposing / recommending staff
the opportunity to work for six months in one of its subsidiaries on another
continent. 4Full / Great / Large salary will be paid in your home country
and all accommodation and board will be covered by the company while
you are away. This scheme gives you the 5luck / chance / likelihood to meet
people from the subsidiaries and learn more about the global business.
The HR department can address any 6troubles / matters / concerns you
may have by giving advice, answering all your questions and 7preparing /
placing / launching a structured re-entry process for return to your usual
job in your home country. If you 8demand / wish / indicate to participate,
then act now! Don’t 9pause / stop / hesitate to contact us or click on the
link below to find out more about this exciting programme.

Business Partner B2 © Pearson Education 2018