Directions: Complete this essay with appropriate words and phrases from the box below. You may not use any of the words or phrases in the blank more than once.
blue-collar demanding employees firing hiring incentive job security manufacturing industries pension promotion raise salary self-employed service industries steady job stress sickness benefit unskilled unsociable hours white-collar |
‘Some people live to work and others work to live. In most cases, this depends on the job they have and the conditions under which they are employed.’ In your opinion, what are the elements that make a job worthwhile?
In answering this question, I would like to look first at the elements that combine to make a job undesirable. By avoiding such factors, potential (26) ........ are more likely to find a job that is more worthwhile, and by doing so, hope to achieve happiness in their work.
First of all, it does not matter if you are an (27) ........ worker cleaning the floor, a semi-skilled (28) ........ worker on a production line in one of the (29) ........ , or a (30) ........ worker in a bank, shop, or one of the other (31) ........: if you lack (32) ........, with the knowledge that you might lose your job at any time, you will never feel happy. Everybody would like a (33) ........ in which he or she is guaranteed work. Nowadays, however, companies have a high turnover of staff, (34) ........ new staff and (35) ........ others on a weekly basis. Such companies are not popular with their workers.
The same can be said of a job in which you are put under a lot of (36) ........ and worry, a job which is so (37) ........ that it takes over your life, a job where you work (38) ........ and so never get to see your family or friends, or a physical job in which you do the same thing every day and end up with the industrial disease that is always in the papers nowadays –repetitive strain injury.
With all these negative factors, it would be difficult to believe that there are any elements that make a job worthwhile. Money is, of course, the prime motivator, and everybody wants a good (39) ........ . But of course that is not all. The chance of (40) ........ , of being given a better position in a company, is a motivating factor. Likewise, a free lunch or a company car, an (41) ........ scheme to make you work hard such as a regular pay (42) ........ above the rate of inflation, (43) ........ in case you fall ill, and a company (44) ........ scheme so that you have some money when you retire all combine to make a job worthwhile.
Unfortunately, it is not always easy to find all of these. There is, however, an alternative. Forget the office and the factory floor and become (45) ........instead. When you work for yourself, your future may not be all that secure. However, at least you will be happy.
