20+ Useful Words and Phrases to

Use at Work in English

by Patricia Iglesias
Words and phrases to use at work! The following lesson provides some English
words and phrases using at workplace with meaning and useful examples and
ESL images.

Contents

Working Hours Expressions

Here is the list of words and phrases to use at work you should learn to improve
your English vocabulary:

 Part – time
Meaning: Go to work a part of the day or week.

E.g. When I was a student I had a part-time job in a bar. I worked weekends
only.

 To be punctual
Meaning: To start or arrive at the specified time.

E.g. She is very punctual. She’s always on time.

Home working

Meaning: To work from home rather than going to the office.

E.g. Modern technology means that home working has become real possibility
for many people.

Time sheet

Meaning: A record of the numbers of hours worked by an employee.

E.g. We no longer have time sheets as this is done automatically now.

Unsocial hours

Meaning: Hours outside of the normal working week (such as night).
E.g. Lots of profession work very unsocial working hours and don’t necessarily
get compensated for it.

 To take a break
Meaning: To stop work for a short time to relax.

E.g. Sometimes it’s a good idea to take a break and come back to work
refreshed.

 To clock in/out
Meaning: To record to start/finish time of work on a special machine.

E.g. Flexi time means that everyone has to clock in and out to keep a check on
the hours worked.

 Public holidays
Meaning: National holidays that are not generally worked.

E.g. If a public holidays is on Thursday, many people take a Friday off and have
a long holiday.

 Hourly rate
Meaning: The salary that is paid per hour of work.

E.g. The part-time employees are paid an hourly rate but the permanent staff
are paid a fixed salary.

 Fixed hours
Meaning: The working hours of an employee do not change and cannot be
varied.

E.g. As a freelancer, I don’t have any fixed hours but work when the work is
there.

 Across the board

Meaning: Including everyone or everything

E.g. The company is expected to increase salaries across the board.

A tough break
Meaning: When something unfortunate happen
E.g. It was a tough break for us when Sarah quit. She was one of our top
performers.

 Ace up your sleeve

Meaning: If you have an ace up your sleeve, you have something in reserve with
which you can gain an advantage.

E.g. Our new product is an ace up our sleeve.

 At a loss
Meaning: If something is sold at a loss, its price is lower than its cost.

E.g. Thanks to competition, companies are often forced to sell products at a loss.

Bang for the buck


Meaning: When you get bang for the buck, you get value for the money spent.

E.g. I think you will get much bang for the buck if you start advertising on the
internet.

Banker’s hours
Meaning: Banker’s hours are short working hours. People working hour

E.g. If you want to banker’s hours, you shouldn’t apply for a job in sales and
marketing.

Bigwig
Meaning: An important person, a leader

E.g. Some of the bigwigs of our company came to visit our factory.

 Bring (something) to the table

Meaning: To have something to offer during a negotiation

E.g. We were able to bring a new offer to the table during the negotiations.

 Call it a day
Meaning: To decide to stop working for the day.

E.g. Well, John, it’s 7:00 and I’m getting hungry. How about we call it a day?

Fifty – fifty

Meaning: Means something is divided equally.
E.g. My business partner and I split everything fifty-fifty.

 Business as usual
Meaning: After an unpleasant or unexpected event, this expression means that
everything is continuing in a normal way, in spite of the difficulties.

E.g. It was business as usual at the supermarket the day after the hold-up.