Office and Workplace Vocabulary in English: Words, Examples and Quiz

a person you work with, usually at the same level

I had lunch with two colleagues from the sales team.

a person who is in charge of a team, a department or a business

My manager wants to see the report before Friday.

the person you work for; an informal word for manager

My boss lets me leave early on Fridays.

a person who works for a company and gets paid by it

The company has about two hundred employees.

a person or company that pays people to work for them

Her employer pays for her English lessons.

all the people who work for an organization

All staff must wear their ID cards in the building.

a group of people who work together on the same thing

Our team is small, but we work well together.

a person or company that pays for a service from a business

I have a call with a new client at ten.

a student or young person who works for a short time to get experience

We have two summer interns in the marketing team.

a person who welcomes visitors and answers the phone at the front of a building

The receptionist gave me a visitor badge.

one part of a company that does a particular kind of work

She works in the finance department.

a person who watches and checks the work of other people

Ask your supervisor if you can change your shift.

a table you sit at to work, often with drawers

I keep a plant and a photo on my desk.

a room where people meet to talk about work

I booked the small meeting room for two o'clock.

the area near the entrance where visitors go first

Your visitor is waiting at reception.

a room where workers can rest, eat and make coffee; often staff room in British English

There's fresh coffee in the break room.

a machine that puts text and pictures from a computer onto paper

The printer on our floor is out of paper again.

a machine that makes copies of documents

Can you show me how to use the photocopier?

a small tool that joins pieces of paper with a thin piece of metal

Could I borrow your stapler for a second?

a cover for keeping papers together; also a place for files on a computer

I saved the contract in the shared folder.

a piece of furniture with deep drawers for keeping documents

The old invoices are in the filing cabinet.

a white board on a wall that you write on with special pens

She drew the plan on the whiteboard.

the main office of a company

The company's headquarters are in London.

a time when people come together to talk about something

We have a team meeting every Monday morning.

the latest time or day when you must finish something

The deadline for the report is Thursday at noon.

a piece of work that you have to do

My first task every morning is to check my emails.

a plan that shows when things will happen

My schedule is very busy this week.

a list of things to talk about in a meeting

The first item on the agenda is the budget.

a document that gives information about a subject or about work done

I'm writing the monthly sales report.

a talk that gives information to a group, often with slides

He gave a presentation about the new product.

a planned piece of work with a goal and an end date

The project will take about six months.

the amount of work a person has to do

My workload is heavy at the end of the year.

comments about how well or badly someone did something

My manager gave me useful feedback on my presentation.

to plan and organize something, like a time or a meeting

Can you arrange a call with the client for next week?

to plan or put things in order; organise in British English

She organized the whole conference by herself.

to take action to solve a problem or finish a task

I'll deal with these emails after lunch.

to give a document to someone so they can check or accept it

Please submit your timesheet by Friday.

working all the normal hours of a work week

She has a full-time job at a bank.

working only some of the normal hours of a work week

I work part-time while I study.

a fixed period of work, especially in places open many hours

Nurses at this hospital work twelve-hour shifts.

extra time you work after your normal hours

I did five hours of overtime last week.

a fixed amount of money you earn for a year, usually paid every month

The salary is good, but the hours are long.

money you earn, usually counted by the hour, day or week

The hourly wage went up this year.

a day when you do not have to go to work

I'm taking a day off on Friday to move house.

time away from work, with permission, because you are ill

He's on sick leave until next Monday.

a move to a higher and more important job in the same company

She got a promotion after only one year.

a legal written agreement between an employer and a worker

I signed a one-year contract.

to travel regularly between your home and your work

I commute to the city by train every day.

to do your job at home, not in the office

I work from home on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

to ask formally for a job, usually by sending a form or a CV

I applied for three jobs last month.

to give someone a job; employ is more formal

The company is hiring ten new engineers.

to make someone leave their job, often because of something they did

He was fired for being late every day.

to stop employing workers because there is not enough work or money

The factory laid off fifty workers last year.

to tell your employer officially that you are leaving your job

She resigned to start her own business.

to leave your job, often suddenly; more informal than resign

He quit his job and went traveling for a year.

to stop working because you have reached a certain age

My father retired at sixty-five.