Human Resources

MARKET

MARKET LEADER
LEADER
Human Resources is one of a range of new specialist titles
designed for use on its own or with the Market Leader series. Human Resources
Ideal for students who need to learn the language of more
specialised areas of business English, the book focuses on

MARKET

Human Resources
the reading skills and vocabulary development required for
human resources.

It includes:
• authentic reading texts from the Financial Times©

LEADER
and other sources
• a glossary of specialised language
We recommend the Longman • two ‘Check Tests’ designed to help assess progress
Business English Dictionary to
accompany the course. Other titles in this series include:
• Accounting and Finance
• Business Law
• Marketing
Business English Sara Helm and Rebecca Utteridge
• Logistics Management
• Working Across Cultures

For more information on the Market Leader series go to:

www.market-leader.net

Helm
Utteridge

B1-C1

www.pearsonlongman.com www.ft.com

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 Contents
Recruitment
1 E-recruitment 4
2 Social networking 8
3 The war for talent: Generation Y 12

Training
4 Executive education 16
5 Evaluating training programmes 20
6 Apprenticeships 24

Pay and reward

7 Executive pay 28
8 Benefits 32
9 Bonuses and incentives 36

Diversity
10 Ethnic diversity 40
11 Gender equality 44
12 Hiring locally or abroad 48

Strategy
13 Building a strong HR brand 52
14 E-firing 56

HR documents
15 Job advertisement 60
16 Letter of appointment 64
17 Performance appraisal record 68
18 Staff satisfaction survey 72

Check Tests 76
Answer key 80
Glossary 90

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 unit
10 Ethnic diversity

This unit looks at the business benefi ts of having an ethnically diverse

workforce.

before you read

Discuss these questions.
1 D
oes your country or city have many different ethnic groups, or is it relatively monocultural? Has this
changed much over the last few years?
2 T hink of a company or educational establishment you know well. How many different nationalities or
ethnic groups can you fi nd there?

reading
A understanding the main points
Read the article on the opposite page and choose the best option to complete each statement.
1 Canada is becoming one of the world’s most .
a) profi table countries
b) multicultural societies
2 For the last few years, the largest number of immigrants have come from .
a) China and India
b) India and Vietnam
3 Professor Richard Florida suggests that successful cities are ones which .
a) attract talented employees from all around the world
b) have the largest immigrant populations
4 The population offers the best source of growth for some companies.
a) local
b) immigrant
5 Some US companies have moved their operations to Canada because .
a) it can provide employees from diverse backgrounds who speak diverse languages
b) the food at the company parties is much more interesting
6 T he immigrant population in Canada still has to overcome obstacles in fi nding the best jobs because
they .
a) fi nd it hard to achieve a high-level English language qualifi cation
b) have diffi culty getting local employers and professional bodies to recognise qualifi cations they have
obtained overseas
7 The other advantage of employing people from overseas is their .
a) broader cultural understanding and experience
b) better technical knowledge and skills

40

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 unit 10 •• Ethnic DivErSity

The united much easier if it’s a Hindu speaking to

a Hindu. The company is among a
Immigrants offer one of the few sources
of domestic retail growth for Canada’s

colours of
growing number that have come to five big banks. The banks pay special
20 appreciate the benefits of one of the attention to China, where they compete
world’s most multicultural societies. 65 to sign up customers before they even
C ‘Our people and our organisation are set foot in Canada.

Canada
very reflective of the “globalness” of G Some companies based outside
our industry,’ says Klaus Dohring, Canada see the benefit in its skilled
25 who was born in Germany and who is multicultural and multilingual work-
responsible for the Ontario-based 70 force. Global Crossing, a US-based
by Bernard Simon automotive division of Leggett & Platt, telecoms operator, has set up a call
a US conglomerate. Almost two-thirds centre in Montreal to handle confer-
of Leggett & Platt’s technical ence calls for US companies. The
30 employees in Windsor and 40 per cent Montreal operators can handle
of its sales staff were born outside 75 calls in 16 languages, an important
Canada or have immigrant parents. factor in Global Crossing’s decision to
‘Having a multitude of ethnically locate the centre there. Another com-
diverse people on staff is a real pany has turned to employees with
35 strength of ours.’ Indian, Chinese, South Korean and
D Some 255,000 immigrants arrived in 80 Japanese backgrounds, among others,
Canada in 2005, almost 0.8 per cent of to spearhead sales and investments in
the population, the highest of any their countries of origin.
industrialised country. The leading H Nevertheless, Roger Martin, Dean of
40 sources of migrants to Canada for the the University of Toronto’s Rotman
last few years have been China 85 School of Business, says Canadian
and India. businesses are far from realising
E Richard Florida, Professor of Public the full potential of an ethnically
Policy at George Mason University diverse society. One awkward issue is
A As part of its annual charity drive, CAE 45 in Virginia, believes the world’s most the difficulties faced by immigrants in
Industries encourages 3,000 head- successful cities are those that become 90 gaining recognition for foreign qualifi-
office employees in Montreal to bring ‘global talent magnets’. In his book cations, especially in the engineering,
in a dish that is emblematic of The Flight of the Creative Class, he technical and medical fields.
5 their country of origin. Pasta, curry, cites Toronto and Vancouver as two I Mr Dohring, however, remains con-
enchiladas and chow mein are just a 50 prime examples. ‘What makes these vinced. Such employees ‘are intimately
small sample of the offerings. CAE, cities such formidable challengers to 95 familiar with the country where you
one of the world’s biggest suppliers of US regions,’ he asserts, ‘is that many of want to do business’. At the same time,
flight simulators, has 110 nationalities them, in particular the Canadian cities, ‘they know you, they know your lan-
10 on its payroll. not only boast a high immigrant guage, they know your culture.’
B Such diversity has also proved popu- 55 population, but a diverse one too.’
lar for CAE’s business. An Indian-born F Canada’s strong flow of immigration
Canadian heads up the company’s from many different countries may
Middle East and Indian division, provide one of the country’s most
15 while a Chinese-Canadian is in charge important competitive advantages
of operations in China. It makes life 60 in an increasingly global economy.

B understanding details
Read the article again and answer these questions.
1 How many different nationalities does CAE employ?
2 Where was CAE’s Head of Middle East and India division born?
3 What percentage of Legget and Platt’s sales staff were born outside Canada or have foreign parents?
4 Which two Canadian cities does Richard Florida describe as being ‘global talent magnets’?
5 At which part of the immigration process do some banks register new customers from outside Canada?
6 What type of company in Montreal particularly benefi ts from having a multilingual workforce?
7 How many languages do its employees work in?

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 unit 10 •• Ethnic DivErSity

vocabulary
A Word search
Find words or phrases in the article which fit these meanings.
1 something which represents something else, such as a country or nationality (paragraph A)
e
2 employs (paragraph A)
has o its p
3 variety of backgrounds (paragraph B)
d
4 worldwide nature (paragraph C)
g
5 multicultural (paragraph C)
e d
6 someone who moves to a country from abroad (paragraph D)
i
7 people who go to another area or country, especially to find work (paragraph D)
m
8 cities or companies which attract skilled employees from all around the world (paragraph E)
g t m
9 worldwide economy (paragraph F)
g e
10 speaking a wide variety of languages (paragraph G)
m

B prepositions
Complete these verb phrases from the article using the correct prepositions.
responsibilities in a company

1 to be in charge operations in China

2 to head the company’s Middle East and Indian division
3 to be responsible the Ontario-based automotive division of Leggett & Platt
companies and their activities

4 to have 110 nationalities its payroll

5 to have a multitude of ethnically diverse people staff
6 to sign customers
7 to set a call centre

42

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 unit 10 •• Ethnic DivErSity

C Sentence completion
Use phrases from Exercises A and B to complete these sentences.

1 In this , some CEOs head multinational companies.

2 P
eople who are responsible large companies which deal with many nationalities talk about the
benefits of employing from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds.
3 Some cities are so ethnically diverse that they have become .
4 A
n company can benefit from having a workforce who can communicate with people
from a large number of countries.
5 For these companies, of the workforce is the secret of their success.

D understanding expressions
Choose the best explanation for each phrase from the article.
1 ‘As part of its annual charity drive, …’ (line 1)
a) car race for charity
b) money-raising event
2 ‘Having a multitude of …’ (line 33)
a) wide range of nationalities
b) large number
3 ‘... one of the country’s most important competitive advantages …’ (lines 58–59)
a) better chances of success than one’s competitors
b) better competition
4 ‘… before they even set foot in Canada.’ (lines 65–66)
a) arrive in
b) travel around
5 ‘… to spearhead sales and investments …’ (line 81)
a) lead
b) fight
6 ‘… in gaining recognition for …’ (lines 89–90)
a) winning prizes
b) getting acceptance

over to you

1 V
isit the websites of a few multinational companies and write a short report comparing their policies
on ethnic diversity.
2 G
ive a short presentation on the advantages for multinational companies of having a multicultural
workforce. Include any specific examples you know of.

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