Hi there, this is Fiona from IELTS.
With Fiona, and in today's lesson I'm going to walk you through a listening part two.
If you're in the Members Academy, I've just uploaded this as a video, so you've got the tape script and the captions and the explanations and the PDF so you can find it there.
You might want to do that first before you listen to the podcast, just to test yourself if you want to.
But if you know me, you know that I use all parts of the IELTS test to focus on improving your language.
So I try not to isolate each skill, because what we're going to do today is really going to up-level your language in general.
As I look at the tape script And I pick out useful expressions, formal language etc.
That you can use in your writing.
But I'll also, you know, go through some of the strategies and techniques that I always go through in the listening, such as signals, signposts and distractors.
This one is about high staff turnover in hotels and how to reduce the high staff turnover and how to improve retention.
Now, let's look at those words before we start.
First of all, the word staff, meaning the people who work there.
There are two ways of pronouncing that in the UK and it's almost like a north-south divide.
I say staff and I think probably 50-60 of the country would use that short a, But in the south they tend to say staff.
It's a long r and it's that difference between bath and bath.
Class and class.
I was at work the other day and I needed a new staff card.
My staff card had expired and I went to the office and it was quite funny because I was saying I need a new staff card.
And she was going, oh, you mean a staff card?
And then I started changing my accent.
I said, can I?
Yeah, please.
Can I get a staff card?
And it just sounded so unnatural for me.
But it reminded me that we do have to learn to change our accents sometimes to adapt.
I certainly have done that.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
You want to fit in.
So I'm not saying change your accent.
Don't.
But sometimes to be understood, you might have to just adopt somebody else's.
Okay.
Okay.
So I'm going to say staff, but in the listening the man says staff, which is, I guess, received pronunciation.
So, that's one thing, the word staff.
Now another thing.
As I was going through the tape script, I counted that he uses the word staff about 30 or 40 times.
Now, what does this teach us?
Well, you know, we're always looking for synonyms, apparently, when we're writing.
And what I tell my students is sometimes they just aren't synonyms.
Don't try to find synonyms.
So there's an essay I talked about this week about school uniforms.
And there was a really excellent article about that how actually school uniforms don't do what they're supposed to do.
All of those claims that school uniforms erase differences and make everybody feel equal.
Apparently that's a myth.
And some research has been done by this, about this, on a place called The Conversation.
Do go and have a look at it, because this is the kind of critical thinking, the kind of academic language that you should be analysing.
And in this article they just say uniforms all the time, because there isn't a synonym for uniforms in that context.
I mean, you could say clothes that everybody wears, but it just doesn't work.
And interestingly, I wrote a model answer on my website about the pros and cons of uniforms.
And somebody very correctly commented and said, but you've repeated uniforms so many times.
And I hadn't noticed it because I hadn't thought about trying to avoid the word, repeating the word.
I just did what comes naturally.
And there is no synonym for, in this context, for staff.
So as we listen, you'll hear he goes high staff turnover, experienced members of staff, if staff are constantly changing, but why do staff leave?
High staff turnover, and and so on.
It's, it's endless, it's repetitive, but it's normal.
So you know you've got to be aware of that that you can't constantly search for synonyms in order to improve your vocabulary or your vocabulary score.
You can do that in other ways And I'll talk about that today.
So that was the other thing.
Yeah, so staff and staff and the repetitive nature of the word staff.
And also maybe those two key words in this listening.
The first one is staff turnover, meaning people come and go all the time.
It's a phrasal verb.
And again, I did do a post about this this week.
I talked about burnout.
You know, when you get exhausted, it's called burnout.
So do look on my daily tips.
I've got a video there for you from Youglish and it shows the difference between the noun where you stress, on the first syllable burnout, and the phrasal verb where you stress the particle.
So you say, I'm going to burn out.
And you can hear it really clearly.
And the same is here with turnover.
It means that the staff turn over, although that's not used very often as a phrasal verb.
But the noun form staff turnover is used a lot and it's a really useful word.
And the opposite retention comes from retain, meaning to keep the staff.
This has obvious benefits for any company.
So, yeah, the topic is kind of work related.
And there's a lot of vocabulary that I think will be useful for you today.
So the listening starts.
It's a multiple choice.
Four multiple choice questions and the listening starts like this.
I'll read the introduction so you can get a feel.
As many of you here today have worked in the hotel industry for some time, I'm sure you have experienced the problem of high staff turnover in your hotels.
Every hotel relies on having loyal and experienced members of staff who make sure that everything runs smoothly.
If staff are constantly changing, It can make life difficult for everyone.
But why do staff leave frequently in many hotels?
So this is a rhetorical advice.
He's asking a question.
He's basically signalling to you.
He's going to answer his own question.
And that will be question 11.
Question 11 says this.
Many hotel managers are unaware... that their staff often leave because of.
So this is interesting.
You've got three options.
A, a lack of training.
B, long hours.
And C, low pay.
But look at the question.
It says hotel managers are unaware.
They don't know really why their staff leave.
So there's a kind of trick in there because, of course, you will hear all three of those options.
So which one are they unaware of?
Let's listen.
It says, OK, why do staff leave frequently in many hotels?
Of course, many hotel jobs such as cleaning are low skilled and not well paid.
A lot of managers think it's this and the long hours are the main causes of high staff turnover.
But what they don't realize is that it's the lack of training in many hotel jobs which is a huge factor.
So there was the signal.
A lot of managers think it's the long hours.
And the low pay.
But what they don't realise, this is what they are unaware of, is it's the lack of training.
And that gives you answer A. There's a nice synonym there.
They said it's a huge factor.
And previously they said it's one of the main causes.
So again in the Members Academy in one of the takeaways, if you put in the search bar causes factors reasons, you'll see how the grammar of those is important.
But here it's just a nice synonym, causes and a huge factor.
Now, listen for the signal again.
He says, so what kind of problems does a high turner cause? turnover of staff cause so he introduces the question 12 question 12 what is the impact of high staff turnover on managers so how does it affect the managers not the staff the managers a an increased workload B, low morale, a good work word, low morale when all the staff or people in the company feel negative about their workplace.
C, an inability to meet targets.
So all of those could be correct, couldn't they?
So let's see what they say and let's listen for the distractors.
So what is the impact on managers?
He says, what kind of problems does a high turnover of staff cause?
Well, having to recruit new staff all the time can be very time consuming and managers may have to cover that some duties while waiting for new staff to arrive.
So it's time consuming and the managers may have to cover some of the duties themselves.
So the answer is an increased workload nice formal word there workload, noun form uncountable, and an increased workload is a fixed expression.
So what were the distractors?
We've got B, low morale.
That looks like moral, but it has an E on the end, morale.
And C, inability to meet targets.
So he continues.
He says this means they don't have time to think about less immediate problems, such as how to improve their service.
So that is a kind of distractor, inability to meet targets.
Well, just says they don't have time to think about what they could do to meet targets.
When staff leave, it can also severely affect the colleagues they leave behind.
It has a negative effect on remaining staff, who may start to feel that they too should be thinking about leaving.
So yes, it has a low morale effect, negative effect on the staff, but not on the managers, according to this man.
Nice language there.
Look at our task two elements.
We've got hedging.
Go to my website and review hedging.
It can be time consuming.
They may have to cover.
This means that.
That's the result, the so what sentences.
It can also affect the colleagues and the collocations here severely affect and it has a negative effect.
So synonyms there, the verb affect with a affect and then the noun form.
It has a negative effect on staff who may start.
There's the hedging again.
Question 13.
What mistake should managers always avoid?
The speaker again starts with so and a question.
So what can be done to change this situation?
Firstly, managers should stop making basic errors errors, mistakes which leave their staff feeling upset and resentful.
And here are the three choices.
A, failing to treat staff equally.
B, reorganising shifts without warning.
And C, neglecting to have enough staff during busy periods.
I'm going to read this to you.
You choose which one you think is correct.
So, when organising shifts, for example, make sure you never give certain staff preferential treatment.
All staff should be given some choice about when they work and everyone should have to work some evening and weekend shifts.
If you treat staff fairly, they'll be more likely to step in and help when extra staff are needed.
There's two staffs I missed there.
Let me just highlight those.
Sorry, there's another two I missed, adding to the staff count.
In that paragraph, there are five mentions of staff.
Interesting.
So what was the answer?
You shouldn't give anybody preferential treatment.
Preferential treatment meaning you favour one and that means you fail to treat staff equally.
That's A. There were distractors talking about shifts, but they didn't match the options.
14.
Last one.
What unexpected benefit did Dunwich Hotel notice after improving staff retention rates?
Unexpected benefit.
Now, this is tricky.
A, a fall in customer complaints.
B, an increase in loyalty club membership.
Or C, a rise in spending per customer.
So, remember we're looking for an unexpected benefit.
He says, keeping staff happy has other benefits for the business.
Take the Dunwich Hotel as an example.
It had been experiencing a problem with staff complaints.
And in order to deal with this, invested in staff training and improved staff conditions.
Not only did the level of complaints fall, but they also noticed a significant increase in the amount each customer spent during their stay.
They have now introduced a customer loyalty scheme which is going really well.
So all three things are mentioned fall in complaints, loyalty club membership, rise in spending.
But which was the unexpected benefit?
Well, I think the grammar will help you here.
It says, not only did the level of complaints fall that's the yeah.
Well, that was expected but they also noticed a significant increase in the amount each customer spent during their stay.
And that is the unexpected benefit.
And they've now introduced a customer loyalty scheme.
That's the destructor.
It's mentioned, but it wasn't an unexpected benefit.
So again, in terms of language, let's look at the task two language.
It says, There's like a topic sentence for each paragraph.
It says, keeping staff happy has other benefits for the business.
That's the topic sentence.
Remember our peel paragraph point example.
Link back.
Here's the example.
Take the Dunwich Hotel as an example.
Notice how they introduce that.
They don't say, for example, for instance, it's a more complex, higher level way of giving examples.
And then you've got the not only, but also that high level structure for emphasis, which I again, I've got that on my website.
Just go in the search bar and put not only or inversion only.
You'll get a whole lesson on that.
That one's free on my website.
It's all available.
OK, so let's move on to the second part.
And this is matching hotels.
So there are six hotels mentioned.
They go in order, the same order as the text.
And you have to match them to the strategy they used to reduce staff turnover.
There are three basic strategies.
A, they improved relationships and teamwork.
So that's kind of more about feelings.
B, they offered incentives.
This is a really important word for IELTS.
You can use it, for example, you know, when you want people to drive less.
Well, you have to offer incentives.
You have to make it cheaper for them to park or free bus, public transport, whatever.
An incentive encourages you to do something.
So this one is incentives and financial benefits.
So those are more like practical financial things.
And then C, providing career opportunities.
So.
A, relationships, teamwork, B, incentives, financial benefits and C, career opportunities.
But it is quite hard to distinguish between them sometimes.
Let's have a look.
So the first one he says the Sun Club received feedback which showed that staff thought managers didn't value their opinions much.
They weren't made to feel they were partners contributing to the success of the business as a whole.
This situation changed.
Junior staff at all levels are regularly invited to meetings where their ideas are welcomed.
So, yeah, it's the touchy feely thing, I call it touchy feely stuff.
It means you make people feel better and that's A, improving relationships and teamwork.
They were made to feel welcomed and their opinions were listened to.
The next one is Portland.
It says it recognised the need to invest in staff retention, invest in.
The first step was to introduce a scheme for recognising talent. amongst their employees.
Now, that's a synonym, employees.
The hope is that organising training for individuals notice individuals, meaning just single people, doesn't mean people in general individuals with management potential will encourage them to stay with the business.
Now, this is, I think, tricky because is that an incentive or is that a career opportunity?
Well, they've put the answer is it's a career opportunity.
And I guess management potential is a chance for them to get a job as a manager.
So it's a career opportunity.
But I think there is a thin line there, to be honest.
Blue Water, the next one.
This is 17.
Managers recognised 50 jobs. high achievers from across the company's hotel chain.
As a reward that's the keyword.
They are sent on an all expenses paid trip abroad every year as a reward.
So a reward is associated with an incentive and reward.
That's it.
It's B.
It's an incentive, makes you work harder because you know you will get a reward at the end of it.
Next is Pentlow Hotels identified that retention of junior reception staff was an issue.
In order to encourage them to see that working in a hotel could be worthwhile and rewarding with good prospects, they introduced a management programme.
So again, is it a career opportunity or is it an incentive?
Well, it's a career opportunity.
It's C.
It's a management programme because they can become managers.
Very, very similar to the earlier one, the Portland.
19 is Green Planet wanted to be seen as a caring employer, to make life easier for staff, many of whom had childcare responsibilities.
The hotel began issuing vouchers. to help cover the cost of childcare.
Now vouchers.
Maybe you need to know this, but they do mention cover.
The cost is a financial benefit.
They give you money, basically, to pay for childcare.
So, the answer is B, it's certainly not a career opportunity.
Finally is the Amesbury, where Louise Marsh has one of the best staff retention rates in the business.
Since she joined the company, she has made a huge effort to achieve this by creating a cooperative and supportive environment.
For her, the staff are part of a large family where everyone is valued.
So that is the answer.
Everyone's valued, part of a family, cooperative, supportive.
Then it's A, improving relationships and teamwork.
So that is it.
It's not too bad.
I do think these ones from book 17, they seem to speak much more slowly than other ones.
He doesn't really use any contractions.
Well, maybe he says the first line, he says, I'm sure you have experience.
He didn't say, I'm sure you've experienced.
So he seems to me to speak very clearly.
But it was a bit more difficult to distinguish between those three options.
I thought the multiple choice were OK, actually, not too bad.
But definitely go and have a look at that tape script because as I was reading it I was finding even more examples of staff staff, staff.
And I've highlighted them in pink and I'm going to put them on today's tip of the day.
I'm going to count how many there are and find out, as a percentage of the text, how many times they repeated staff.
I think that would be an interesting endeavour.
All right.
Thank you for listening today.
Make sure you're on my email list because I send about once a week, every 10 days, send an email with updates, all my daily tips.
And daily tips also include little videos and relevant topics and stuff like that that you can use in the speaking test.
I'm also working hard on the new pronunciation course.
I've already got one, but this one is focusing on things which are commonly mispronounced.
So we just look at little things like staff and staff, for example.
So let me know if you've got any questions or any requests.
Thanks for listening.
Chat soon.
Bye bye.
