Term

Explanation

Use in a sentence

Employer

Someone who provides work to someone in exchange for money

My Brazilian friend, Carlos, has an IT firm. He employs 20 people

Employee

Someone who works for an employer.

Li Jie, from Beijing, China is an employee. She works for Amazon.

Seasonal work

Work that only happens for a season (winter, spring, summer, autumn).

Ski instructors in Germany only work in winter. It is seasonal work.

Casual labour

Casual labour is usually employed for a short time to do a specific job.

In Japan I sometimes washed dishes in restaurants. This was casual labour.

Self-employed / freelance

Working for yourself rather than for an employer

Adriana, a Brazilian friend, is a free-lance journalist.

Shift work

Work that happens outside 7am to 6pm.It can included evening, night and early morning shifts

My Chinese flatmate, Chen, is a nurse. She hates shift work

Part-time work

Someone who works less than full-time. Usually less than 35 hours a week.

My brother is living in Germany. He has a part-time job in a bar from 1 – 4 pm.

Work-life balance

Giving yourself enough time for both work and personal activities

Sakura worked 15 hours a day in Japan. She didn’t have a good work-life balance.

Perks/Benefits

Something extra such as a phone or medical cover that is given in addition to a salary

Marcia says that when she worked in Brazil her company paid for her phone.

Basic salary

The amount of money one earns before any additions or deductions to one’s salary.

Banko from Japan has a basic salary of €1 000 a month, but earns double with commission.

Gross salary

Total salary before any deductions.

Stephan earns a gross salary of €2000 a month, but only takes home €1000 after tax.

Net salary

An employee’s take-home pay after all deductions have been taken.

Stephan from Germany has a gross salary of €2000 a month, but his net salary is only €1000

Fired / sacked

To dismiss an employee because of misconduct, bad behaviour or a criminal action.

Zhang Wei was fired from his job in China for stealing money.

Made redundant

To be dismissed from one’s job because of automation, or the company needs to cut costs.

Pedro was made redundant in Brazil when a robot was brought in to do his job.