Work-life balance is the holy grail, but a lazy approach to work doesn’t necessarily lead to ultimate rewards. Your employees should know that.
WORD FORMATION: Change the word in CAPITALS to fill in the blanks.
I’ve been seeing a lot about “Lazy girl jobs,” which are well-paying jobs that allow for so much 1. ………….[FLEXIBLE], someone doesn’t have to work too hard. It’s all about focusing on work-life balance. It’s a TikTok trend. It’s not limited to young female employees either–it’s basically quiet quitting.
For employees that can get away with this, fantastic. But what if these aren’t just people on TikTok? What if these are your employees? What do you do with ones that want the “lazy girl” job and lifestyle that comes with it?
Let them know that hours worked make a 2. …….. [DIFFER] in their income.
Most likely, if you have multiple employees, the ones who opt for the “lazy girl” approach won’t perform as well as those who put more into it. And you don’t need to feel guilty or worry about promoting and rewarding those who perform better.
You do need to document 3. …………. [PERFORM], including attitude. While exempt employees earn the same amount whether they work five or 60 hours a week, you can accomplish more with the latter. (Non-exempt employees only get paid for the number of hours worked.)
Explain that people with a lazy approach–better not call it “lazy”–to work won’t likely advance in their careers as quicky. If that’s what they want, fine! The theory behind these “lazy person jobs” is that you don’t need to work yourself to death to have sufficient income and live a good life. (…)
I predict a lot of 4. ………. [WHINE] in years to come about how others are getting promoted ahead of the lazy people. Just document the heck out of everything. (…)
The upshot then and now? You need to let employees know that there are consequences. They won’t see the 5. ………. [FINANCE] rewards or the growth rewards.
Remember, you need B players.
While your first instinct might be to fire the 6. ……. [ADMIT] lazy employees, remember you need a B team. If your team is all type-A 7. …….. [PERSON] fighting to get to the top, that can be 8. ………. [EXHAUST]. Someone who is happy to stay in a relatively low position for years and years can be an asset.
If they meet their objectives and get their work done, you don’t need to care that they are not 9. …….. [ENTIRE] dedicated to the job. However, if they are not doing everything you expect, you need to approach this as you would with any underperforming employee. First, it’s a discussion, then a Performance 10. ………. [IMPROVE] Plan, and then a pink slip.(…)
In order to read the whole article/check your answers, go to: https://www.inc.com/suzanne-lucas/what-to-do-about-your-lazy-girl-employees
Key: 1. flexibility; 2. difference; 3. performance; 4. whining; 5. financial; 6. admittedly; 7. personalities; 8. exhausting; 9. entirely; 10. improvement
Glossary
- holy grail – something that you want very much but that is very hard to get or achieve
- to be whining – to be complaining in an annoying way about something unimportant
- a heck of – used to emphasize how big something is or how much of it there is
- the upshot – something that happens as a result of other actions, events, or decisions
- pink slip – a notice from an employer that a recipient’s employment is being terminated
Practice makes perfect
The paragraphs of this article have been jumbled. Put them in the right order.
A. But researchers from Germany and the U.S. have found that sloths might not be the slug-a-beds we think. Using equipment designed to monitor the brain waves of animals in the wild, the scientists found that sloths actually spend less than 10 hours a day asleep in the trees. Their results appear in the current issue of the Royal Society journal, Biology Letters.
B. In the wild, on the other hand, the animals need to keep an eye open for potential predators, like snakes or birds. And they also spend time foraging for food. Because nobody’s bringing a sloth any breakfast in bed.
C. Picture a sloth and what do you see? Some slow-moving, hairy beast, just hanging around, maybe even catching some Zs. And that’s just your husband.
D. Why the discrepancy? Well, the earlier estimate comes from work done with animals in captivity. And maybe in the sloth sleep lab, there’s not much to do besides snooze.
E. Ok, seriously. We’ve all seen films of three-toed sloths, odd-looking creatures that spend their days hanging upside down in the rainforest canopy. They move so slowly that mossy looking algae actually grows on them. And legend has it they sleep like 16 hours a day.
In order to read the whole article/check your answers, go to: https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/4954b486-ffe5-5661-d8812638acf1ccfd/
Key: 1C; 2E; 3A; 4D; 5B
Fill in the gaps with the words from Glossary:
- Well, the ……. is that we’re moving abroad.
- We spent a ……… of a lot of money on holidays.
- I just told them to stop ……… and get on with it.
- I was thinking of resigning when they gave me a …….. .
- A cure for the common cold has always been the medical ……… .
Key: 1. upshot; 2. heck; 3. whining; 4. pink slip; 5. holy grail
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Who Speaks For the Lazy?
Read:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/04/26/who-speaks-for-the-lazy
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