The Career Ladder

1. Read the article.

People retire when they reach the end of their working life. In order to move up the career ladder, one should be promoted to a senior position with greater responsibility. Unfortunately, some move to a less senior job or be demoted. To leave the company, people resign or hand in their notice.

Due to economic crisis, some companies has to reduce costs, increase efficiency and profits by reducing the layers of management with fewer and more productive employees. This situation is called downsizing or delayering. Other organizations outsource many jobs to freelancers in temporary contracts. Companies expect flexibility from these people, but to many employees, it signals job insecurity.

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2. Vocabulary

retire
--- to leave your job or stop working because you have reached the age at which you would end your working life

career ladder
--- the progression from low to higher ranking position at work

promoted
--- to raise someone to a higher or more important position or rank

demoted
--- to lower someone or something in rank or position

resign/hand in notice
--- to give up a job or position by telling your employer that you are leaving; to submit a formal announcement of your intention to leave a job

efficiency
--- when someone or something uses time and energy well

profits
--- the money which is earned after paying the costs of producing and selling goods and services

downsizing/delayering
--- the decrease of the number of employees working for a company

outsource
--- a company pays another company to do a part of its work in order to cut costs

freelancers/freelances
--- independent people who may work for several different companies

temporary contract
--- people who work for short period of time

flexibility
--- the ability to move to different jobs when necessary

job insecurity
--- the feeling that someone may not be in his/her job for long