Working Life in a New Era
I
Lead-in.
a)
What does a typical working day in
an office look like? When does it start
and finish? What can people do in an office?
b)
How did working life change during
the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown? How did people work without going to their
offices?
c)
What problems did people have
working from home?
d)
What was good about working from
home?
II Vocabulary focus. Match
the words to their definitions. Use six words in your sentences.
|
1.
|
employee
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A.
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morally and socially
good enough
|
|
2.
|
shift
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B.
|
to stay away without
permission
|
|
3.
|
to take advantage of
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C.
|
to suffer something
difficult or unpleasant
|
|
4.
|
broadband
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D.
|
to not do something
that you have to do
|
|
5.
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manufacturing
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E.
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to demand something
|
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6.
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power cut
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F.
|
a person who is paid to work for
an organization or for another person
|
|
7.
|
to affect
|
G.
|
believing that you are
more important than other people
|
|
8.
|
acceptable
|
H.
|
a change
|
|
9.
|
to bunk off
|
I.
|
to allow something to
continue
|
|
10.
|
to insist
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J.
|
to make good use of
|
|
11.
|
self-important
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K.
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the business of making
things in factories
|
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12.
|
to stuff
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L.
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a system of connecting
computers to the Internet and moving information at a very high speed
|
|
13.
|
crowded
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M.
|
a period of time when
there is no electricity supply
|
|
14.
|
to endure
|
N.
|
to push something into
a small space and fill it
|
|
15.
|
to sustain
|
O.
|
full of people
|
|
16.
|
downside
|
P.
|
to have influence on
someone or something
|
|
17.
|
to skip
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Q.
|
the negative part of
something
|
IV
Look through the article. Nine sentence fragments have been removed.
Read the article and choose from the sentence parts (A-I) the one which fits
each gap (1-9).
Farewell BC (before
coronavirus). Welcome AD (after domestication)
1________, but people adapted. January and February seemed
like an ancient era – the BC (before coronavirus) to the new AD (after domestication).
The shift may look a lot like great workplace
transformations in the 19th and 20th centuries. In
the past factories were designed around one great power system. Then
electrification allowed individual machines to have their own power source. But
half a century went by 2________.
The current, rapid shift to AD was possible for
several reasons. First, broadband
services are quick enough 3________. Second, advanced
economies revolve around services, not manufacturing. Back in the 1970s, when
Britain adopted a three-day week, there were power cuts and home life was
severely affected as well. The pandemic has not turned the lights off. Not only
that, the lockdown has made remote work seem both normal and acceptable. 4________ had to overcome the suspicion that they were bunking off.
Now those who insist on being at the office sound self-important.
Although
offices will not disappear, 5________that working life will return to BC ways. For more than a
century workers have stuffed themselves onto crowded trains and buses, or
endured traffic jams, 6________, five days a
week. For the past two months they have enjoyed the break.
Another aspect of the AD era may be the
disappearance of the five-day working week. Even before the pandemic 7________. In the AD era the
barrier between home and working life will be even harder to sustain. 8________, with the company video call the only fixture. The
downside, however, is that the rhythm of life has been disrupted and new
routines are needed: as Madness, a British pop group, sang, people are “trying
different ways to make a difference to the days”.
Looking further out, the AD era may bring other
changes. Some may decide to live in small towns where housing costs are lower, 9________. Men will have fewer excuses
to skip cleaning or child care if they are not disappearing to the office. In a
sense, this is a return to normal: until the 19th century most people worked at
or close to their homes. But social historians may still regard 2020 as the
start of a new age.
A. since they have no
need to commute
B. it is hard to imagine
C. In future employees
may work and take breaks when they please
D. many workers took
phone calls or answered emails at the weekend
E. to get into the
office and back
F. In March a lot of
employees left their offices with no date for a return to the workplace in
sight
G. In the past employees
who stayed home
H. before factories were
reconfigured to take advantage of electricity
I. to allow for document
downloads and videoconferencing
V Comprehension check.
Answer the questions.
1.
What meaning can the abbreviations
BC and AD have in the modern world?
2.
What workplace transformation does the shift to working from home
look like?
3.
How
is 2020 workplace transformation different from the changes that happened in the past?
4.
Why were people and economies able to adapt to new
working conditions very quickly?
5.
Did current workplace and working week transformations affect home life?
6.
How
have attitudes to working from home changed because of the lockdown?
7. What may happen
to the five-day working
week and barriers between working life and home after the pandemic?
8. What other changes may life after pandemic bring
to employees?
9.
Is
working close to home a completely new idea? Why or why not?
a) What
are the attitudes to working from home in your country?
b) How has office workers’ life changed because
of the pandemic? How do you see the office of the future? What will a typical
working week look like?
