臉書母公司Meta以及由馬斯克新接管的Twitter都大刀闊斧大裁員，有消息傳出，繼這兩家知名科技巨頭後，Amazon也將於近期裁員萬人，會是近三十年來史上規模最大的一次人力資源重組。我們藉此來學習解雇、裁員等英文，也是TOEIC測驗常出現的單字喔！
裁員 1 : lay off
一說到「裁員、解雇」，多數人會想到fire這個動詞，但其實lay sb. off／lay off sb. 也是常見的動詞片語。名詞layoff或lay-off則是「資遣，解僱」的意思。
Photo courtesy of Pixabay 圖片來源:Pixabay
Due to the pandemic, several airlines have announced massive layoffs.
（因為全球疫情影響，許多間航空公司都已宣佈大規模裁員。）
裁員 2 : let go
另有個與lay off意思相同，但更白話的用法是let go。
Udacity, an online learning platform, is giving free courses to US workers who have been let go due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
（線上學習平台 Udacity將提供免費課程給因新冠肺炎疫情被解雇的美國勞工。）
不過let go除了裁員、解雇之外，其實還能表達幾種不同的含意：
1. 放開；鬆手
Andy let go of the woman’s hand when he saw his wife coming toward them.
（安迪一看到他老婆走過來便立刻放開那女人的手。）
2. 放下（想法）
It’s hard to let go of a grudge, but holding it could hurt you even more.
（放下仇恨確實很難，但一直心懷怨恨反而對自己的傷害更大。）
reduce working hours/wages
減班／減薪
有些企業為了節省成本開支，不得不對員工採取減班或減薪措施，這時候我們可以用TOEIC常考單字reduce來做描述。
Some companies experiencing a temporary drop in business decide to reduce employees’ working hours or wages to cut their spending.
（有些業務暫時緊縮的企業決定以減班或減薪的方式來節省開支）
減班就是減少工作時數，通常使用動詞reduce，工作時數則是用working hours或work hours來描述。同樣的reduce也能用來說明減薪的狀況。
wage代表「薪資」，與另一個TOEIC測驗常考的同義字salary有些區別，wage通常指的是短期計薪的工資，如時薪、日薪或每周計薪等；而salary則是較長期計算的月薪或年薪。減薪還有另一個較口語的說法是cut one’s pay，其複合名詞為pay cut。
Affected by the pandemic, many airline employees have experienced wage freezes or salary cuts.
（受到疫情影響，許多航空公司的員工都經歷過工資凍結或減薪。）
unpaid leave 無薪假
若減班或減薪都無法解決公司財務困境，接著恐怕會進入放無薪假的地步。無薪假的英文不會直接用salary或wage這些單字，而是用形容詞unpaid「未付款的」來形容這樣的leave「休假」，也就是unpaid leave。
The manufacturing industry was affected by the fluctuations in the international situation this month, causing about 700 people to take unpaid leave.
（本月製造業受國際形勢波動影響，約有七百人被放無薪假。）
動詞leave是「離開」的意思，當名詞時可用來描述「休假」，像是annual leave「年假」、personal leave「事假」、sick leave「病假」、bereavement leave「喪假」、maternity leave「產假」或paternity leave「陪產假」等。
若想用動詞來描述「放」無薪假，可與平常請假一樣直接用take，也就是take unpaid leave。另外也可以說go on leave without pay。
Jason took leave without pay to care for his pregnant wife.
（傑生請了無薪假來照顧他懷孕的妻子。
【多益模擬試題】
1. More than 1,000 workers in the hospitality sector were asked to __________ unpaid leave in March and more companies in the service industry will be launching unpaid leave programs.
(A) give
(B) obtain
(C) release
(D) take
2. Some experts believe that __________ employees’ long working hours can result in greater creativity and work efficiency.
(A) reducing
(B) reduction
(C) reduced
(D) reduce
【解析】
1. 正解為(D)。題意為「超過一千位餐飲飯店業的員工在三月時被要求放無薪假，而許多服務業的公司也開始準備展開無薪假計畫。」(A)給予，(B)獲得，(C)釋放，(D)採取，而take a leave為「請假」的慣用搭配詞，故(D)為正解。
2. 正解為 (A)。題意為「有些專家認為減少員工長時間的工作時數，能使他們的創造力與工作效率變得更好」。believe後的that子句是用來作為動詞的受詞，而在that子句中，整段reducing employees’ long working hours「減少員工長時間的工作時數」應為名詞片語，以作為此句的主詞，故空格處應選動名詞reducing，正解為(A)。
SOURCE: https://www.englishok.com.tw/toeic/toeic-issue/lay-off
文章由 TOEIC Program Taiwan · Chun Shin提供：
www.facebook.com/ToeicProgramTaiwan
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