Business Free Talk

Chapter 1 Office Basics

Lesson 1 Company Rules

 OUTLINE

1 2 3
Expressions Discussion Further Reading
Useful expressions under Questions for you to discuss An article for you to read
this topic for your reference. freely with your teacher. after class.
 Expressions
1 Useful expressions about company rules.
You can refer to them to provoke your
thoughts in the Discussion part.
 Expressions Glossary
(suggested time: 8mins)
smartphone personal email

Every company has its own rules. In this lunch break strict
part, you are going to study and practice some punch in/out loose
expressions and sentences about company rules.

allow sb. to do sth. / allow doing sth.

In Sentences
• Are we allowed to smoke in the building? Or is there
any smoking area* nearby?
• We have a one-hour lunch break in our company.
• Is there a strict policy on working hours?
• Our company allows telecommuting*. You can work
from home if you like.
• Loose rules help to increase employees' creativity.
 Discussion
2 Discuss questions about company rules.
Use your experience and imagination to
talk about them with your teacher.
 Discussion Discuss these questions in detail with your
teacher. Give reasons and explanations for your
(suggested time: 15mins) opinion and speak as much as possible. You can use
words you learnt in Expressions to help you.

Q1.What rules do you have in your company? Share some of

them with your teacher.
Q2.Some companies have “weird”* rules, for example, all
employees must ask before going to the washroom*, no
office romance*, etc. What do you think of these rules? Do
you know any other examples of weird rules?
Q3.Are you satisfied* with your company rules? If you can
change one of your company rules, which one would you
choose and what change would you make? Why?
Q4.Some companies have strict rules, while some
companies have
rather loose rules. Which kind of company do you prefer to
work at? Why?
 Further Reading
3 An article about weird company rules. You can read
it after class if you are interested.
 Further Reading
1. No water bottles
A store doesn’t allow its workers to have water bottles on shifts, regardless of the
part of the store they’re working in. They can only drink water from small cups and
drink the whole cup immediately then throw away the cup.
2. Leave everything at the door
In Amazon, warehouse workers cannot bring any personal items onto the floor that
the online retail firm actually sells. This weird company rule means they cannot
chew gum or wear lipstick. When it comes to drinks, they can only drink water (no
• shift /ʃɪft/
n. tea, soda, or lemonade) in a clear bottle so the loss prevention cops can look into
• weird /wɪrd/
the container. And, of course, they leave their smartphones in their car and take off
adj.
• prevention /prɪˈvenʃən/ their watches before they start their shifts.
n.
3. No beards
• banned /bænd/
adj. The government of Isesaki in central Japan has banned its male workers from
• complaint /kəmˈpleɪnt/
growing beards. City officials said public servants must look modest and clean. Also,
n.
there were complaints from citizens who found beards unpleasant.
Next Lesson: Copy And Print