WORK-LIFE BALANCE

EXERCISE 1

a regular journey between work and home

• Correcta commute

to be allowed to decide what to do by yourself

• Incorrecta freelancer

to record the time you begin work

• Correctto clock in

a period of time a woman takes off work due to the birth of a child

• Correctmaternity leave

calculated according to how many hours you work

• Correctpaid on a pro-rata basis

to make someone very tired

• Correctto wear someone out

to give or allow something in order to end an argument or conflict

• Correctto make a concession

talk that is informal and irrelevant to work

• Correctidle chit-chat

a person who sells their services or work by the hour or day

• Incorrectto be left to your own devices

to share ideas with someone in order to get feedback on them

• Correctto bounce ideas off someone

Total score is 8 out of 10 (80%)

EXERCISE 2

 

Ronan would prefer it if he …

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wasn't left to his own devices.

could spend more time commuting and less time in the office.

Correctcould work from home and be judged based on task performance.

could trust his boss more.

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Jo wanted to reduce her working hours because she …

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thought she would be more efficient and productive when she was at the office.

wanted to bring her work home.

wanted to go on maternity leave.

Correctwanted to spend time with her children.

Jo is unhappy with her three-day work week because …

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she didn't realise how much the change would affect her economically.

she now has to spend more time looking after her children and her family.

she has more deadlines to meet.

Correcther workload has remained the same although she’s reduced her hours.

In Marcus’s opinion, which of these is a disadvantage of working from home?

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You spend a lot of time in the house.

It's easy to get distracted by your family.

CorrectYou tend to work later.

You end up eating more as you have access to the fridge all day.

Why did Lily not like working from home?

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She found it lonely.

Her family didn't like her working.

She didn't have a good Wi-Fi connection.

CorrectThere were a lot of distractions.

What solution did Lily find most suitable for her working needs?

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CorrectRenting an office space to work from.

Working from a café.

Working for an employer.

Working for other freelancers.

Total score is 6 out of 6 (100%)

EXERCISE 3

1. Ronan's boss thinks his employees will not be as productive if they work from home.

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CorrectTrue

False

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2. Ronan thinks that the performance of employees should be judged according to how much time they spend in the office.

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True

CorrectFalse

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3. Jo is paid the same for a five-day work week as she is on a three-day work week.

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True

CorrectFalse

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4. Jo feels exhausted trying to manage both a five-day workload and childcare.

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CorrectTrue

False

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5. Although Marcus sees the benefit in not having idle chit-chat, he misses interacting with his colleagues.

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CorrectTrue

False

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6. Lily didn't like working from the café because the coffee wasn't very good.

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True

CorrectFalse

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Total score is 6 out of 6 (100%)