A UK digital bank moves to a 4-day workweek without cutting pay

admin 2021年11月27日

Beginner

Business & Economy, Business & Economy - Beginner

Pre-reading questions:

I will read each question. Then, please answer them.

講師がそれぞれの質問を読むので答えましょう。

How often do you go to the bank?
Are you usually busy on the weekend?

Vocabulary:

I will read the words, meanings, and sample sentences. Then, repeat after me.

単語、意味、例文を読みます。講師に続いて音読しましょう。

old-fashioned /ohld-FASH-uhnd/

[adjective] – not modern; belonging to or typical of a time in the past
The hotel offers old-fashioned service.

loan /lohn /

[noun] – an amount of money that is borrowed, often from a bank, and has to be paid back, usually together with an extra amount of money that you have to pay as a charge for borrowing
We will ask the bank for a loan next week.

experiment /ik-SPER-uh-muhnt/

[noun] – a test done in order to learn something or to discover if something works or is true
The company’s experiment was a big success.

reduce /ri-DOOS/

[verb] – to become or to make something become smaller in size, amount, degree, importance, etc.
Reducing store hours during the pandemic is important.

attract /uh-TRAKT/

[verb] – (of people, things, places, etc.) to pull or draw someone or something towards them, by the qualities they have, especially good ones
I need to attract new customers to my cafe.

Article reading:

Please read the whole article. Then, I will check your pronunciation and intonation.

記事を音読しましょう。講師はあなたの発音とイントネーションを確認します。

App-based Atom Bank has introduced a four-day workweek for its 430 employees without cutting their pay. Staff now works for 34 hours over four days and get Monday or Friday off. Mark Mullen, CEO of Atom Bank says that “doing 9-5, Monday to Friday is a pretty old-fashioned way of working.” Atom is the United Kingdom’s first mobile bank and offers business loans services. An experiment by Microsoft Japan in 2019, in which staff worked a four-day workweek on full pay, resulted in a 40% increase in sales. According to Ben Willmott, head of public policy at the Chartered Institute of Professional Development, the change is a positive move but the problem of simply reducing people’s working hours without other changes is that you can increase workers’ stress. Meanwhile, Mr. Mullen hopes that the change could attract new workers during the pandemic.

True or False:

Read the sentences and identify if they are true or false based on the article.

文章を読んで、記事に基づいて正誤を答えましょう。

The staff of Atom Bank now works for 34 hours over four days.
According to CEO Mark Mullen, doing 9-5, Monday to Friday is not a pretty old-fashioned way of working.
Atom Bank offers business loans services.
Microsoft Japan did an experiment in 2019 in which staff worked a four-day workweek on full pay.
Mr. Mullen hopes that the change would attract new employees during the pandemic.

Fill in the blanks:

Choose the correct word from the table then fill in the blanks.

適切な言葉を選んで空欄を埋めましょう。

old-fashioned

loan

experiment

reduce

attract

We all believe that doing ______ on animals is wrong.
Mina thinks that knitting is an _______ activity
I am thinking of new ways to ______ customers to the store.
Tina is trying to get a $20,000 ______ to start her own business.
_________ an employees’ working hours is not a good idea.