Learn Advanced Vocabulary From The BBC | Learn English with the News

In this lesson, you're going to  learn English with the news. We're  

going to read a news article together  so you can learn advanced vocabulary,  

advanced grammar, and improve your  pronunciation. Let's get started.

Welcome to our article. This is  a lighthearted article about pets  

in the workplace. So let me read the headline.  

Pet Perks, temp Staff back into the Workplace. There's already some great vocabulary in this  

headline right here. For example, the  word perk. Do you know what a perk is? 

A perk. This is a noun and it's an advantage  or something extra. This can be money or goods,  

and you're given because of your job. So of course you get your salary,  

but perks are additional. For example, I could say  if I want to recruit you to work for my company,  

I could say our company offers amazing perks. Now what are those perks? Free lunches. So you  

get your salary, your paycheck, but you also  get free lunches, so that will save you money. 

So it's like you're getting paid more free  lunches, free gym memberships, and free language  

classes. Those are some amazing perks, right? What about you? Do you get any perks from  

your company? If you do, share  some examples in the chat below. 

Okay, so pet perks. So these are perks related  to pets, <laugh>, pet perks, temp staff back into  

the office. So let's take a look at this temp. This is a verb tempt, And this means to make  

someone want to have or do something. So in our  specific topic, they're talking about wanting the  

staff, the employees, to come back to the office. So to not work at home and to work physically in  

the office. So how are they going to tempt you? How are they going to make you want to? It's  

another way of saying convince. Tempt  you, convince you make you want to. 

Well, they can offer you some perks, and in  this case, some pet perks. Do you have any  

pets? Do you think pet perks would be a good  way to tempt someone to come into the office? 

Let's continue on with our article. Mr. Griffin,  who I assume is this man in the picture with  

these two adorable dogs, Mr. Griffin, who is head of it  

for marketing agency, rise at seven, turns  up at its Sheffield headquarters with his  

furry friends, Jesse and Oscar. So furry friends. This is a cute  

and casual way of saying the word  pet. So you could say, I have pets. 

I have two pets, I have two furry friends,  and those are your pets, of course.  

So I'll write that here. Pets and the names of his  

dogs are Jesse and Oscar. I don't know which one  is which. Okay, now let's take a look at this. 

He turns up at its Sheffield headquarters. So a  headquarter is the main office of a a company. For  

example, Google's headquarter is in California. I don't know if that is true or not, it's just  

an example. So this company's headquarters  is in Sheffield. I don't know where that is. 

Now. He turns up at its Sheffield headquarters.  The location of the office turns up. This is  

another way of saying arrive. It's a casual way, but a very  

common way. And the verb turn up is a  fra verb. This is very commonly used. 

For example, what time did you turn up at the  party last night? What time did you turn up? You  

can use this in more casual situations, but here  they're using it in a more professional situation. 

But this is a more casual, informal  article. This isn't a scholarly article  

or an academic article, so that's why  they're using this casual, frail verb. 

Turnup, let's continue on. Rise, allowing  dogs. Remember his company is called Rise  

at seven. So they're just shortening it to Rise. Rise, allowing dogs. The company allowing dogs  

in the office has meant that I've been  able to take both my Collies Collies. 

This is a type of dog. So this is the breed.  The breed. So we use that specific word breed,  

breed of of dog, and that means the type of dog. And here the breed is Collies, which is actually  

short for, what are they? I believe their  border Collies. Border Collies is the long name. 

And then people just commonly call them Collies.  So I just Googled it to make sure, and yes, the  

breed is border collie, but I spelled it wrong. So I need to correct that <laugh> and notice  

Border Colley dog breed. And then you  can look at the different pictures for  

this breed or find out more information. So I just corrected the spelling here. Now,  

what's your favorite breed of dog? I really love  labs, which is short for Labrador retriever,  

but everybody just calls 'em  the short form, which is labs. 

What's your favorite breed of dog? Feel free  to share that in the comments. Okay, so here,  

this man, Mr. Griffin, he can take his two dogs,  Jesse and Oscar into the office so that his  

company allowing him to do that, that is a perk. So here I could say our cough, our company  

offers amazing perks. Like you can  bring your dog into the office. 

That is an example of a perk for this company.  Let's continue on. They get to meet new people. In  

this case, the they is the dogs <laugh>, they get  to meet new people, have new experiences, and I  

get to spend more time in work with my colleagues. So there's some benefits for the dogs. They get to  

socialize, meet new people, <laugh>,  and there's some benefits for him. 

Mr. Griffin, which is he gets to  interact with his colleagues, he  

gets to work with his colleagues. So do you think  bringing a pet into the office is a good idea? 

Is that a good perk? Would that  tempt using our vocabulary? Would  

that tempt you to return to work if you were  allowed to bring your furry friend your pet? 

Okay, let's continue on. It's  a complete win-win situ. Now,  

I already explained what the win win is.  Remember, he listed some benefits for the dogs. 

The dogs, when they get to socialize,  he wins because he gets to work with his  

colleagues and the company wins because  the company has the employees at work,  

which is what the company wants. So it's a win-win. Everybody gets what  

they want. So this is a good expression to have,  especially when both parties have an advantage. 

It's a win-win. It's a win-win situation.  I like this as far as I'm concerned,  

this is a great way to express an opinion. Let me share an opinion as far as I'm concerned,  

and then you can list your opinion. Perks  are a great way to tempt <laugh> people to  

return to work, to return to in-person work, of  course, in person work as far as I'm concerned. 

And then this is simply my opinion. Now you can  put our expression at the beginning or you can add  

it at the end so you can state your opinion. Perks are a great way to tempt people  

to return to in-person work as far as I'm  concerned. And then you can just add it. 

So you can add it at the beginning or at the  end. So feel free to practice sharing your  

opinion related to perks or pet perks. <laugh> in the comments and use this  

expression. As far as notice, we have our verb  to be, I'm concerned. So if you were gonna talk  

about a group opinion, you could say as far as  we're concerned, as far as he's concerned, Mr. 

Griffin, right? As far as I'm concerned. So don't  forget your verb to be and to conjugate that.  

Let's continue on like millions of other people. Mr. Griffin got his dogs during the pandemic.  

Did you get any pets during the pandemic?  Actually I did. I got a cat during the pandemic  

and then I got a second cat a year later. So now I have two cats. But bringing cats  

into the office is not a good perk because  cats are not meant to go into the office. 

They wouldn't enjoy that at all. <laugh>, okay,  with most of us, home working, home working,  

to be honest, I don't see it written like this. When I saw this homeworking, I thought of doing  

homework. This is not an expression  I commonly see. What I commonly see  

is working from home, working from home. Now this is an article from the B bbc. So  

perhaps this expression homework is common  in British English. I don't know if that is  

true or not, but in American English,  honestly, I have never seen homework. 

I I thought doing homework. <laugh>  For me, I would say with most of us  

working from home, working from home. So if you are learning American English,  

I would recommend using working from home. With  most of us working from home at the time as a  

result of lockdowns, there was a huge surge. Surge. Surge is an increase. And when you say  

surge, it generally represents a sudden  a quick increase and a a big increase. 

An increase quickly, and in the amount of the  increase is quite large. So it would go from  

10 to 80 in two hours. That would be a surge. We see this a lot with  

gas prices, right? Gas PI prices have increased  quickly, but the amount of the increase is a lot. 

It didn't just increase by a couple cents,  it increased by a couple dollars increase.  

So gas prices have surged, gas prices have surged. There was a huge surge in pet ownership. So during  

the pandemic, many people bought pets. So the  amount of people buying pets increased quickly  

and the number was quite large as people wanted. Increased companionship. Companionship,  

while having dogs in the workplace is likely to  remain a rarity, a rarity, a rarity. This comes  

from the ad verb of frequency, rare, rarely,  which means not, not a lot, not frequently. 

So they're saying that dogs in the workplace is  not going to be common. It's going to be a rarity,  

something that doesn't happen a lot. This example is part of a wider trend.  

Companies introducing new incentives. An incentive  could be a perk. An incentive is just something  

to try to get you to do something specific. And a perk is a type of incentive. So a perk  

is a type of incentive to try to make staff  happier to come into the office more often. 

Job search engine at Zuna, I'm not familiar  with this site at Zuna, says that the number  

of adverts, this is another difference probably  between British English and American English. 

We don't say adverts in American English,  we just say ads. The number of ads,  

which is short for advertisement. Advertisement. So we just take ad from that advertisement. The  

number of ads that highlight in-office  perks has now more than doubled. 

So we could probably see has surged has  surged since before the start of the pandemic.  

So now people are searching for in-office  perks as part of their job search criteria. 

They want perks. <laugh>, the increase incentives  range from free exercise and language classes.  

That would be a great perk for you, right? If your company offered free English training  

to complimentary food and subsidized childcare,  okay, so they range from two. From two. 

When you use the word range from, you're  going to have one end from this to this,  

and you're going to have a range, right? So you could say our prices range from $100,  

so that is the lowest price to $500.  That's the range of the prices from two. 

Let me write that for you. Our prices range from  $100 to $500. So here they use range from two.  

Now notice this word complimentary food. Complimentary food. What does that mean?  

It means free <laugh>. It's just another  way of saying free, free food subsidized.  

If your childcare is subsidized, it is not free  because that would probably be very expensive. 

It is not free, but it is reduced. So the  the cost is reduced, which means likely the  

employer will pay some of the childcare,  but you still have to pay the majority  

of the childcare that would be subsidized. So in this case, it's reduced, but complimentary  

that means free. Let's continue on. Employees  aren't in a rush to return to the office,  

which means they're not doing it quickly. Because if you're in a rush,  

it means you're moving quickly. So rush  moving quickly. But notice <laugh>, they  

are not in a rush to return to the office. So what about you? Are you in a rush to return  

to the office or no? After enjoying the improved  work-life balance that came from remote working. 

Remote working of course is another  way of saying working from home.  

But remote is a broader category because home,  I'm home right now, I'm working from home. 

But if I were in a hotel room in another  city, but I was recording this lesson,  

I'm not technically working from home  because I don't live in that hotel in  

a different city, but I am working remotely. So working from home is a category of remote work,  

says Paul Lewis, chief marketing Officer at Atuna.  As a result, companies are desperate to find new  

and unique ways to lure employees back. Lure is another way of saying tempt, tempt  

to tempt. The definitions are slightly  different between tempt and lure,  

but they have the same overall meaning. To lure is to persuade someone to do,  

to do something or go somewhere to persuade  someone, is to try to convince someone to  

try to get someone to do something or to go  somewhere usually by offering them something. 

Hey, if you come to the restaurant  with me, I'll buy you lunch. I'm  

trying to lure you to the restaurant with me. I'm trying to tempt you to come to the restaurant  

with me. So they're very similar. Tempt to me is  more common because honestly, when I hear lure,  

we generally use it in a more negative situation. For example, the man lured the child into the into  

his van, and then obviously something negative  happened, right? So when I hear lure, there's  

usually a negative result as that person is  persuaded to go somewhere or do something, or the  

scammer lured me in and then stole all my money. So although the meanings are generally the same,  

I specifically hear tempt more in negative  context, use more when the result is negative. 

And in the news, often the result can be  very negative talking about murder or death  

for example. But temp is generally more neutral. I don't hear it specifically used in negative.  

And when I hear the word temp, I don't  think instantly of negative news stories. 

So because of that, I would  probably just use the word temp  

at Central London based financial  planning firm First Wealth. 

Ooh, that was a mouthful. <laugh>. So at the  company First Wealth, and this is just information  

about them, where they located, they're located  in central London, that's where they're based. 

Based is another word for located,  where a Canadian based company.  

We're a North American based company,  we're a central London based company. 

And then well, what type of company?  A financial planning firm. Firm is  

just another word for company commonly  used with financial services lawyers,  

very specific companies, but it's just another  word for company at Central London based financial  

planning firm First Wealth, that's a mouthful. <laugh> at the company first, wealth workers are  

being tempted back again, tempted back. So they  are trying to convince them to do something,  

attempt to convince someone to do something  back via free sessions at a nearby gym. 

So this is the perk, the free sessions at a  nearby gym. This is a perk. An example of a perk. 

Let me write this here. Perk.  This is a perk. I wrote it as  

a full sentence because this is a noun. So I want you to see that as the singular  

noun. You need the article.  This is a perk. But of course,  

with plural nouns, we don't use the article. So I could say these are perks. Now of course,  

this is just one perk, so we need more than  one, but I'm just showing you grammatically,  

we don't need that article here. But because this is singular,  

we need that article. So how about this as a perk,  would this tempt you to go back to the office if  

you got free sessions at a gym? So free gym membership,  

beauty treatments are another incentive that  companies are booking to get their staff excited  

about coming into the office. So this is another perk.  

This is a perk is a perk. And the perk is  beauty treatments. That's an interesting one. 

I can't imagine what kind of beauty  treatments you would get. I guess  

it's not in the office. It could be after  work on your lunch break you could go get a  

manicure or a pedicure or whatever you want. So beauty treatments are another, you could  

just say are another perk. They're using the word  incentive. Remember, perk is a type of incentive. 

Beauty treatments are another perk that companies  are booking to get their staff excited about  

coming into the office. So you could also say  that companies are booking to tempt their staff  

into the office, tempt  their staff into the office,  

and that's the end of the article. So now what I'll do is I'll go to the top  

and I'll read the article from start to finish,  and you can follow along with my pronunciation.

Pet Perks, temp staff back into the office. Mr. Griffin, who is head of it for marketing  

agency, rise at seven, turns up  at its Sheffield headquarters with  

his furry friends, Jesse and Oscar Rise. Allowing dogs in the office has meant that  

I've been able to take both my colleagues  in. He says they get to meet new people,  

have new experiences, and I get to spend  more time in work with my colleagues. 

It's a complete win-win situation as far as I'm  concerned, like millions of other people. Mr.  

Griffin got his dogs during the pandemic  with most of us home working at the time. 

As a result of Lockdowns, there was a huge  surge in pet ownership as people wanted  

increased companionship. While having dogs in  the workplace is likely to remain a rarity. 

This example is part of a trend. Companies  introducing new incentives to try to make  

staff happier to come into the office more often. Job search engine adzuna says that the number of  

adverts that highlight in office perks  has now more than doubled since before  

the start of the pandemic. The increase incentives range  

from free exercise and language classes to  complimentary food and subsidized healthcare.  

Employees aren't in a rush to return to the  office after enjoying the improved work-life  

balance that came from remote working, says  Paul Lewis, chief Marketing Officer at adzuna. 

As a result, companies are desperate to find  new and unique ways to lure employees back to  

the office. At Central London-based financial  planning firm, first wealth, workers are being  

tempted back via free sessions at a nearby gym. Beauty treatments are another incentive that  

companies are booking to get their staff  excited about coming into the office.

Now I want you to keep improving your English with  this lesson. And if you haven't already, make sure  

you go to my website and get this free speaking  guide to help you speak English fluently and  

confidently. You can click the link right here.  So get started with your next lesson right now.