0 木 Lesson18 Office Perks (2)
Ueda describes the perk that he likes best. And Grace advises him not to be too vocal about his enthusiasm as it might offend their customers. Ueda agrees but adds that such programs are commonly known. The conversation then turns to pet insurance with Salmans saying that veterinary care has become much more expensive.
So tell me what would motivate you most.
I personally enjoy A&A's generous employee discounts. It's great how both part-time and full-time employees are eligible for discounts of up to 40 percent on our consumer products. That includes necessities like detergents, foods and healthcare products.
Yes, our in-house discount program is a major drawing card for many professionals. But management doesn't want you to go shouting it from the rooftops. Our customers, who pay retail, might not necessarily appreciate that.
Of course not. But it's common knowledge that many companies offer ther employees perks like that. Airlines and hotel chains, for example, are well-known for giving employees and their families discounts, especially when there are empty seats or vacancies.
I bet Chuck would like to see pet insurance added to the list of perks here at A&A.
I'm aware of all the buzz around pet insurance, but why should companies offer it as a benefit?
Well, it's worth noting that the cost of veterinary care has skyrocketed. That's because the quality of care available for pets has risen to nearly the same level that we humans enjoy.
generous 気前のいい Ueda says, “I personally enjoy A & A’s generous employee discounts.” Abundant, ample discounts. Like, they offered him a generous severance package. Or, this restaurant serves very generous portions. So quite large portions. There’s often a nuance of more than usual or more than necessary. They paid me a generous amount for this translation.
be eligible for -, 〜の資格のある / If we’re eligible for something, we’re allowed by the rules or the laws to get it or to do it. We also say, “eligible to with verbs.” So things like, single people are not eligible for that tax break. Or, people who buy solar panels are eligible for a subsidy.
eligible bachelor 結婚相手として望ましい男性/ Yes. Sometimes like a very rich young man or a handsome young royal will be described as the most eligible bachelor in Europe or in Spain or whatever.
necessities 生活必需品
detergent 洗剤 /Soap we use for cleaning things like laundry and dishes. And sometimes we say “laundry soap, dish soap.” I might ask my husband, “Can you pick up some laundry detergent on your way home?” Or, do we need to buy dish soap?
in-house discount program 社内割引制度
drawing card 人気商品、呼び物
This often means a person or a feature that draws a large crowd that brings in a large audience.
And you can also say just “a draw.” Our profit sharing program is a big draw for job seekers. Or, the fantastic view from that hotel is one of its biggest draws.
drawing card 人に関しても、人寄せパンダ
shout it from the rooftops 世間に言いふらす、吹聴する
To enthusiastically share information with a lot of people. Like we’re standing on the top of roofs, yelling it out to everyone. We also say, “shout it from the housetops.” For example, she’s so happy about her promotion she’s been shouting it from the rooftops. Or, why didn’t you tell us your book is being published? You should shout it from the housetops.
pay retail 小売価格で払う /Pay the regular retail price, without a discount. I used to work at a clothing store. And we got 20% off? Or was is 30%? but that was just for us. Friends and family had to pay retail. And sometimes people will say, “I can get it for you wholesale.” Meaning the price a business pays to get an item before the retail markup.
retail 反対 wholesale/ buy wholesale and sell retail. 卸値で買って小売価格で売る
appreciate うれしく思う、感謝する
empty seat or vacancy 空席や空室
Ueda says, “Airlines and hotel chains are well-known forgiving discounts, especially when there are empty seats or vacancies.” A vacancy is an unoccupied available room or apartment. American motels have signs outside saying “vacancy” or “no vacancy.” And that lets people know whether they should get off the road or not. If there’s no vacancy, there’s no point in pulling over, and we also use vacancy about job openings. There’s a vacancy in my department. You should send a resume.
I bet -, 〜でしょうね。〜に違いない、きっと〜だろう/ I’m fairly sure of this. “I’ll bet” is also okay. like, I bet she’ll be late again. Or, I’ll bet this product becomes a top seller.
buzz around -, 〜をめぐる噂
It’s worth noting that -, 〜は注目に値する
This point is worthy of notice. It deserves attention. There were several proposals worth noting at the meeting. Or, it’s worth noting that we’re getting more repeat customers.
skyrocket 急騰する、物価や、売上、名声などが急激にあがる/名詞、ロケット花火
Food costs are skyrocketing./Prices are skyrocketing. 物価が急騰している
実践ビジネス英語 2018/12/19 (1)給与以外の社内特典 19 水 Lesson18 Office Perks (1)
Grace asks the A & A staff for feedback regarding office perks. She gives some examples including ping-pong tables and says some can actually interfere with employees’ work. Grace goes on to describe the main purpose of office perks. And Salmans says companies are competing to offer the most attractive ones.
Hi, everybody. We've just finished a series of employee focus group discussions on the subjetct of office perks. I wanted to get some additonal feedback from you to fine-tune my recommendations to management.
Office perks are always a hot topic in the business world.
That's right. They include everything from ping-pong tables and company-sponsored birthday cakes to employee stock ownership programs. But some of those perks can actually be distracting and detrimental to productivity. To thoroughly reap the benefits of our perks, we want to find out what really motivates the workforce here at A&A.
Mind if I ask you a fairly fundamental question? Just what is the purpose of office perks , anyway?
Well, with the tightest U.S labor market in two decades, the main aim of perks is to attract and keep top talent. They also play an important role in nurturing the next generation of managers from within a company. Perks can do a lot to boost morale and develop a healthy esprit de corps.
Yes, it's a seller's market these days for people with the right talents. And that's causing talent-hungry companies to out-perk each other, so to speak.
office perks 給与以外の社内特典 /perquisite [pə́ːrkwizit]
〔通常の給与に加えて受け取る〕手当、特典、役得〔特定の個人や団体のみに与えられる〕特権、恩恵
employee focus group discussion 従業員のフォーカスグループディスカッション、会社に対する意識、満足度などを調査するためのグループ・インタビューでファシリテーターを中心として議論すること
And here, with focus group and there are many different types of focus groups, of course, not just employees. /It’s because it focuses it, concentrates on a certain issue, certain topic or product.
feedback フィードバック、反応、意見、感想
fine-tune 微調整する /Adjust something ah, delicately, in small amounts, so that it performs as well as it can or so that it’s most effective./You could say, “We need to fine-tune the language in his speech.” Or, we fine-tune our consulting services to each customer’s needs.
company-sponsored 会社が提供する /Grace says, “They including everything from ping-pong tables and company-sponsored birthday cakes to employee stock ownership programs.” Here it’s company-sponsored. So it’s paid for by the company, funded by the company. /Likewise, there are government-sponsored programs to boost employment. Or, the city-sponsored fair will be held from Friday through Sunday. スポンサード sponsored スポンサー付きの
distracting 気を散らせる、気を妨げる
Pulls our attention away from something else. I’d say “distracting” refers to undesirable situations. Like, it’s very distracting when people are humming. Or, to use the verb, there are too many pictures in this pamphlet. They distract from a content.
detrimental to productivity 生産性に有害な
reap the benefit 成果を得る、恩恵を受ける
“Reap” originally means to cut grain and such for harvesting. Grace means gain something as a result of your own actions or someone else’s actions. The company has reaped enormous rewards from its research and development, for example. And there’s also the saying, “reap as you sow.” This means “Good things happen to us if we do goodthings and bad things if we do bad things.” Sow s-o-w means to plant seeds.
So what we plant, good or bad, is what we get.
You must reap what you have sown. 蒔いた種は刈らねばならぬ
what motivates the workforce 全従業員のやる気を引き出すもの
Encourages, inspires a person to do something. You could say, “Seeing Carl exercise so much motivated me to start jogging.” Or, his encouragement motivated her to start her own business.
tight labor market 逼迫した労働市場
boost morale 士気を高める In the workplace, “morale” is how employees feel about a job. How enthusiastic they are, how committed. You could say, “Our profit sharing program has really boosted employee morale.” Or, morale has been very low since the salary cuts.
boost productivity 生産性を高める
esprit de corps チームスピリット（team spirit）、団結心
talent-hungry 人材不足の
out-perk each other 特典合戦をする
Outdo each other, do better or do more in terms of perks for employees.
We put lots of words after “out.” Some will have hyphens. Others won’t.
I can’t outrun him. He is too fast. Or, older people outvoted younger ones in the election.
outrun 追い越す
outvote より多数の票を得て勝つ
outspeak 言い負かす
so to speak いわば、言ってみれば
In a manner of speaking. One might say it this way. It’s often used with puns and metaphors, that kind of thing.For example, sales of refrigerators are experiencing a series chill, so to speak. Or, sports article might say, “The racers are revved up, so to speaks and ready for Friday’s race.
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seller’s market 売り手市場 /Down at the bottom, Salmans says,“it’s a seller’s market these days for people with the right talents.” There’s more demand than supply in a seller’s market resulting in higher prices and better terms for sellers.In this case, the sellers are the job seekers. They’re selling their talents.
And they can demand better salaries and perks. If I say, “It’s a seller’s market in the housing industry.”
then more people want to buy houses than are available. So the sellers can ask for high prices and such.
buyer’s market 買い手市場
employ stock ownership program 従業員持株制度
employ stock ownership program plan /ESOP
「ESOP」とは、Employee Stock Ownership Plan（従業員による株式所有計画）の頭文字をとった略語で、日本語では「イソップ」あるいは「イーソップ」と発音します。 企業が自社株を企業の拠出（全額負担）で買い付け、従業員に退職・年金給付として分配する制度のことです
21 金 Lesson18 Office Perks (3)
Grace says that an estimated 60% of U.S. companies offer pet insurance as an employee perk and quotes statistic
showing how a great many Americans own pets. She also describes a perk that A & A is considering offering its staff.
And McMillan recommends making the parental leave program more accessible to mothers and fathers.
a peace of mind 安心感、心の平和、平静さ
Native speakers often make a mistake here. They write piece P-I-E-C-E instead of peace P-E-A-C-E. They might be confusing this with “give someone a piece of one’s mind.” Which is basically like “I will tell you what I think about you.”
But here we’re talking about peace, mental tranquility. A person’s calm, untroubled state of mind. Like, I double check everything for my peace of mind, so I won’t worry about it later.
give someone a piece of one’s mind 人に直言する、ハッキリ物を言う
boost employee’s productivity
Odds are -, 可能性は〜だ。おそらく〜だろう。 = Chances are -.
This comes from gambling and it means “something is likely, it’s probable.” Odds are the product will be launched next summer. Or, odds are the client will decide by Friday. Grace could also have said, “Chances are.” Chances are most A & A employees have at least one pet.
賭け事に関しての odds 見込み 公算 日本語ではオッズ
The odds are even. 成功する見込みはは五分五分だ。
against all odds 猛烈な困難にもかかわらず 、抵抗にもかかわらず
tuition aid program 学費補助制度
In the middle, Ueda says, “I also think A & A’s tuition aid program is a great perk.”
cope with -, 〜に対処する
Deal with problems and difficulties. Handle them, overcome them. Like, she coped very well with not getting the job.
She kept looking and sending out resumes. Or, he couldn’t cope with his overly critical boss so he quit.
higher education 高等教育
be in a position to -, 〜する立場にある。状況にある。
Not every company is in a position to do this.
Be in circumstances that allow something, have the ability to do something. You might say, I’m not in a position to buy a new car right now. Or, we’re finally in a position to open a second store.
fortunate 幸運な
Lucky, blessed in some way. He was fortunate to have a good mentor early in his career. Or, to use a slight variation, she was fortunate enough to learn French as a small child.
And you can use “lucky” in both ways as well. He was lucky to have a good mentor. Lucky enough to have a good mentor, etc.
for the benefit of -, 〜の利益のために
interest-free loan 無利子ローン、融資
A loan that doesn’t involve any interest payments. “Free” is put after many different terms. a caffeine-free drink.
Or, he lives with his parents rent-free., likewise, you could say, the new ordinance will make our streets
smoke-free. Or, there’s no such thing as a risk-free investment.
-free のない、hyphen free その hyphen の前にある物質や要因などがない
a smoke-free, risk-free
alcohol-free beer ノンアルコールビール
Salmonella-free egg サルモネラ汚染の心配のない
step-free entrance 段差のない入り口
parental leave program 育児休暇制度
Down at the bottom, McMillan says, “we already have a good parental leave program here at A & A,”
gender-fluid ジェンダーに関して誘導的な、ジェンダーを固定していない
McMillan wishes the program was more adaptable to different genders. He’s saying that you know, men should be able to take off time or more time to be with their babies as well as women. Gender is a more scientific term for sex. Gender-neutral means it doesn’t indicate a specific gender. For example, in English “Alex” is a gender-neutral name. It could refer to a boy or girl.
gender-fluid = gender neutral
non-binary 男か女かといった binary 二者択一性から脱却した考え方
bond with -,〜と絆を結ぶ
To develop a close relationship with. I bonded with one friend over our love of reading. We’re always talking about books together and recommending new titles.
at least 少なくとも,その数字を含んで
Grace says, “Odds are most A & A employees have at least one pet.” This often comes up, his phrase in translations that I see. If we say, “at least” we mean from this number or from this amount on. So, if I say, he’s been to at least 20 countries. Then he’s visited 20 or more. 20 is included in the possible number.
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big-ticket item 高価なもの。高額商品
big- ハイフン
big-name 有名な、大物の
big-name doctor 著名な医師
big-time 大物の、一流の、贅沢な
big-time spender 金に糸目を付けない人
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In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.
ベンジャミン・フランクリン
この世で確実だと言えるのは、死と税金だけだ。