Welcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 1296, Taking a Buyout.
This is English as a Second Language Podcast, episode 1296.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Go to eslpod.com for more information about our website.
This dialogue is between Hector and and Erica, about someone leaving his job because he gets a lot of money from the company.
Sounds weird?
Well, let's find out more.
Let's get started.
So, are you taking the company buyout?
It sounds generous.
Of course it's generous.
The company saves a lot of money by giving buyouts to senior employees with high salaries.
What they get in return is a huge savings.
I've been giving it a lot of thought, but I'm still not sure what to do.
It makes sense for me to take the buyout since I'm only two years from retirement.
It would bridge the gap nicely.
Yeah, but for someone like me?
I'm mid-career, and the job market is tight.
There's no guarantee I'll land another job that pays as well as this one.
It's tempting, though, isn't it, to take a lump sum?
You can take time to consider your options.
My options might be limited.
No, I can't take the risk.
I'm staying.
Well, I'm leaving.
Sure?
Sure, I'm sure.
A chance to say goodbye to the rat race?
I'll be the first one out the door.
The topic of this lesson is about taking a buyout.
Hector starts by saying, so are you taking the company buyout?
A buyout B-U-Y-O-U-T is usually a large amount of money that a company gives an employee so that the employee leaves the company.
Now why would a company do that?
Well, Erica explains why.
It's, of course, to save the company money so the company can hire cheaper employees.
This is especially popular for older employees who are perhaps close to retiring.
Hector says the company buyout where he works sounds generous.
G-E-N-E-R-O-U-S.
Something that is generous is more than what you are required or perhaps expected to do.
It's often used simply to mean a lot.
This is a generous amount of food.
That means it's more than what you expected.
It's a lot of food.
If someone says oh, you're very generous with your time, that means that you give a lot of your time, probably even when you're not being paid.
The buyout, according to Hector, from the company is generous.
Erica says, of course it's generous.
The company saves a lot of money by giving buyouts to senior employees with high salaries.
A senior, S-E-N-I-O-R, employee is someone who is high up in the organization.
Perhaps someone who has been there a long time, but definitely someone who is responsible for parts of the company or who has a lot of responsibility.
And therefore, probably someone who has a high salary.
S-A-L-A-R-Y.
Salary refers to the amount of money that you get paid every year to work for a company.
If you have a high salary, you are getting a lot of money.
If you have a low salary, like me, you're not getting very much money.
Erica continues what they meaning the people who own the company get in return is is a huge savings.
To get something in return means to receive something in exchange for what you have done or have given someone else.
I give you a hundred dollars and I get in return a new phone, for example, or whatever you give me for 100.
Maybe a new iPhone.
That would be nice.
The company is getting in return for its generous buyouts huge savings.
S-A-V-I-N-G-S.
Savings refers to money that you can use in the future that you don't have to spend, or simply money that you decide to keep for a later day or for some other purpose.
The company, by giving a huge buyout or a generous buyout to employees, then doesn't have to pay those employees their salary in the future.
Instead, of course, they hire or employ new workers who receive lower salaries.
I've been giving it a lot of thought, says Erica.
But I'm still not sure what to do.
Erica doesn't know if she wants to take the company's buyout.
Hector says, Meaning it's logical or rational for me to take this buyout, since I'm only two years from retirement.
Retirement is usually the period later in life when you stop working at a regular job and do other things.
The case for Hector is that he is two years from retirement, meaning he would probably normally retire two years from now.
He says this buyout, if he takes it, would bridge the gap nicely.
The expression to bridge B-R-I-D-G-E the gap, G-A-P, means to bridge make up the difference or to cover the difference between what you have now and what you need.
What Hector means here is that it would allow him to survive until he is able to perhaps get his regular retirement pension or retirement salary that he will expect in two years' time.
The buyout would bridge the gap.
A gap is a space in between two things.
In this case, I'm guessing it's the space between now, the space in time, if you will, between now and when he'll get his pension back.
P-E-N-S-I-O-N.
Pension is money that the company, or perhaps the government, gives you to live on when you're not working, when you retire.
Erica's situation is different.
She says, yeah, but for someone like me, I'm mid-career and the job market is tight.
Erica says she's mid, M-I-D, hyphen career, C-A-R-E-E-R.
To be mid-career is to be in the middle of your professional working life.
Normally, I would guess for most people somewhere between, say, 40 and perhaps 55 years.
Although people are working more years than they used to, so mid-career might, for some people, be even older than 55.
I hope I'm in my mid-career now.
Erica says the job market, M-A-R-K-E-T, is tight, T-I-G-H-T.
The job market refers to the number of jobs there are or, more generally, to the number of companies looking to hire people and the number of employees or the number of potential employees looking for work.
The job market is tight, Erica says.
That means that there aren't a lot of jobs that she could go and get if she quit the job she has now.
She says, in fact, there's no guarantee I'll land another job that pays as well as this one.
A guarantee, G-U-A-R-A-N-T-E-E, is basically a promise that something will happen in the future.
Erica says there's no promise, it's not for sure, that she will land L-A-N-D another job.
To land something means to get something, especially something that is difficult to get.
We often use this verb when talking about a job.
I'm going to land a job at this company.
That means I'm going to get a job at this company.
Hector says, it's tempting though, isn't it, to take a lump sum?
You can take time to consider your options.
If something is tempting T-E-M-P-T-I-N-G, it's attractive, it's interesting, it makes you want to do it.
If I see a piece of chocolate cake, I may say wow, that is tempting, meaning it makes me want to eat the chocolate cake, which of course I know I shouldn't.
A lump, L-U-M-P, sum, S-U-M, is a large amount of money that you get all at one time.
The word sum here refers to an amount of money.
A lump sum is a large amount of money.
The comparison here would be between a lump sum and payments of that same amount over a period of time.
If I want to give you 500, I could give you 100 every month for five months, but Or I could give it to you in a lump sum, all 500 right now.
Erica says, my options or my choices might be limited.
That is, I might not have the freedom to do what I want to do.
Then she says, deciding against taking the buyout, no, I can't take the risk, R-I-S-K.
A risk is the possibility that something bad will happen in the future.
Erica says, I'm staying, meaning she's not going to quit her job.
She's not going to leave.
Hector says, however, I'm leaving.
Erica says, sure, which is a short form of, are you sure?
In this case, are you sure you are leaving the company?
Hector says, sure, I'm sure.
Notice there's another use of the word sure here to mean yes.
So when he says sure, I'm sure, he means yes, I am sure, I am certain I am going to leave the company.
I have decided.
He says, a chance to say goodbye to the rat race?
I'll be the first one out the door.
The rat R-A-T race.
R-A-C-E is an expression we use to describe the difficulties and the unpleasantness of trying to make money, especially when you are competing against other people in the same company or perhaps even in different companies.
The rat race is the unpleasant aspects of the not-so-attractive things about working in a job, especially one where there's a lot of competition, in order to make money.
Hector says he wants to say goodbye to this rat race.
He wants to be the first one out the door, meaning the first one to leave the company.
Interestingly, my father took a buyout from the school district where he was working when he was 59 and a half years old.
He decided he was going to take a lump sum and retire early.
And he lived a long and happy life, retiring at the age of 59.
I hope I am as lucky as he was to retire early.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
So, are you taking the company buyout?
It sounds generous.
Of course it's generous.
The company saves a lot of money by giving buyouts to senior employees with high salaries.
What they get in return is a huge savings.
I've been giving it a lot of thought, but I'm still not sure what to do.
It makes sense for me to take the buyout since I'm only two years from retirement.
It would bridge the gap nicely.
Yeah, but for someone like me, I'm mid-career, and the job market is tight.
There's no guarantee I'll land another job that pays as well as this one.
It's tempting, though, isn't it, to take a lump sum?
You can take your time to consider your options.
My options might be limited.
No, I can't take the risk.
I'm staying.
Well, I'm leaving.
Sure?
Sure, I'm sure.
A chance to say goodbye to the rat race?
I'll be the first one out the door.
I guarantee you that if you continue listening to the wonderful scripts by our wonderful script writer, your English will get better.
That's what you'll get in return for listening.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thanks for listening to me.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2016 by the Center for Educational Development.
