Case study

A

Sandy is a qualified Registered Mental Nurse – which took three years’ training – and now has over seven years’ experience in the field. Sandy says her experience shows how employers’ attitudes to part-time work are changing, as they realise the benefits of being able to keep on valuable, trained and experienced staff. “After I had my first child I had great difficulty trying to negotiate part-time work with my employer. My manager wasn't particularly keen on people job-sharing or working part-time. But I really wanted to spend more time with Nicholas when he was a baby, and I found there were employers who were sympathetic to this and who recognise mothers have valuable skills to bring to the workplace.”

B

When the children are older and are both at school, Sandy’s and Garry’s priorities will change again. “It suits us at the moment for me to work mainly evenings and weekends, because Gary can cover most of the child care,” said Sandy. “But it does mean we are doing a lot of juggling. Eventually I would like to go back to daytime shifts – then we could have some evenings and weekends to spend together as a family!”

C

1

Women now make up nearly half the workforce in Britain. Recent changes which have allowed this to happen include changing attitudes to women – including mothers – working and more flexible work patterns, for example job share, working from home or part-time jobs.

D

While her husband Gary works more conventional full-time hours, Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – Sandy works an average of 20 hours a week on a shift pattern with a three-week rota. This pattern has allowed her to fit in her child care responsibilities around her job. “The hours I work are unusual – daytime on Mondays, two evenings in the week, and then Friday evening plus Saturday and Sunday every third week – but at least this means my husband can look after the children most of the time I'm at work. On Mondays they spend the day at a local nursery.”

E

Sandy found a job with Plymouth Community Services Trust which enabled her to develop her skills and experience as a psychiatric nurse, but also meant she could spend time at home.

F

Sandy Sargent, 33, has two children under five – and works part-time as a Community Psychiatric Nurse in Plymouth, south west England. “In my current job I mainly deal with emergency cases. I'm based in an office but I go out on call to visit patients in the community,” Sandy explained.

Ex. 1. Match the words and their definitions.

pattern	to discuss something in order to reach an agreement, especially in business and politics;
current	an unexpected and dangerous situation that must be dealt with immediately;
emergency	a list that shows when each person in a group must do a particular job;
qualified	the opinions and feelings that you usually have about something;
mental	the regular way in which something happens, develops, or is done;
attitude	the thing that you think is most important and that needs attention before anything else;
benefit	to give someone the ability or opportunity to do something;
staff	something that gives you advantages or improves your life in some way;
negotiate	of a type that has been used or available for a long time and is considered the usual type;
sympathetic	happening or existing now but not expected to last for a long time;
workplace	the people who work for an organisation;
priority	after a long time, especially after a long delay or a lot of problems;
eventually	the room, building etc where you work;
conventional	having suitable knowledge, experience or qualifications, especially for a particular job;
rota	willing to try to understand someone else's problems and give them any help they need;
enable	concerned with illnesses of the mind, or with treating illnesses of the mind.

Ex. 2. Use the word in brackets at the end of each sentence to form the word that fits in the space in the same sentence.

1. The treaty was a result of long and complex… . (negotiate)

2. A … uncle paid for her to have music lessons. (benefit)

3. All the arrangements should be completed … to your departure. (priority)

4. Sir Brandon is … occupied writing a book about his Antarctic expedition. (current)

5. I'll never understand the … of his mind. (workplace)

5. Eva had excellent academic … but no work experience. (qualified)

5. The sun … from behind the clouds. (emergency)

Ex. 3. Fill in the gaps with the words in bold from the reading passage.

1. We organised the cleaning on a … basis.

2. The school's … is excellent.

3. Money from her aunt … Jane to buy the house.

4. Peter's … towards women really scares me.

5. He worked so hard that … he made himself ill.

6. Watch for changes in her breathing… .

7. The water purifying system fits neatly under a … sink unit.

8. …patients have to be kept under strict supervision.

9. You're not being very …, John.

Ex. 4. Explain the difference in meaning between the following pairs of words/phrases:

1. an employer/an employee;

2. to win/to earn;

3. a salary/a wage;

4. unemployed/on a pension;

5. to be sacked/to be made redundant;

6. a perk/a bonus;

7. to retire/to resign.