Idioms in English for discussing work
It is difficult to imagine the modern world of work and business without English. And modern business English is impossible to imagine without idioms. They are commonly used in business meetings, articles, communication with international partners and colleagues, as well as in podcasts and TV series. Idioms make speech sound more natural, bright, and confident during project discussions, negotiations, meetings, and everyday communication at work.
Most idioms used in business communication come from sports, trade, or everyday life, which is exactly why they add colour and vividness to professional English.
Let’s look at some of the most popular idioms for discussing work and careers.
Idioms About Careers and Work
A cushy number – an easy and comfortable job: Working from the beach sounds like a cushy number.
To be at the top of the ladder – to be at the highest level of career success: Jack is now at the top of the ladder in his organisation.
To get a foot in the door – to get the first opportunity to enter a company or industry: An internship can help you get a foot in the door.
To slog your guts out – to work extremely hard: She slogged her guts out to get promoted.
A sleeping partner – a partner who invests money but does not actively participate in running the business: The company has two active directors and one sleeping partner.
To have a good track record – to have a successful professional background and strong results: Candidates with a strong track record are more likely to get hired.
A golden hello – a bonus paid for accepting a new job: The company offered her a generous golden hello.
A golden handshake – a large payment given to an employee when they retire or leave a company: The CEO received a golden handshake after leaving the company.
Idioms About Business and Companies
To do a roaring trade – to achieve great success in selling goods or services: The company is doing a roaring trade this year.
To corner the market – to become extremely successful and leave competitors far behind: They’ve cornered the market in online education.
To go great guns – to develop quickly and successfully: Her startup is going great guns.
To shut up shop – to close a business: After ten years, the café had to shut up shop.
To be in the rat race – to be involved in constant competition for success and money: It’s absolutely exhausting to be in the rat race all the time.
To go belly up = to go bust = to go to the wall – to go bankrupt or fail financially: Several companies went belly up during the crisis. The travel agency went bust last year. Smaller firms often go to the wall during recessions.
To hit a glass ceiling – to reach a career limit beyond which further promotion becomes difficult: She feels she has hit a glass ceiling in the company.
Idioms for Teamwork and Workflows
To be on the same page – to have a shared understanding of a situation or task:
Before we start the campaign, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page.
To hit the ground running – to start a new activity or task immediately:
With her previous experience in marketing, she was able to hit the ground running.
To keep someone in the loop – to keep someone informed about progress or updates:
Please keep me in the loop regarding any updates from the client.
To touch base (with someone) – to briefly contact or speak with someone to check the status of tasks:
Let's touch base tomorrow morning to review the progress.
To cut corners – to do something quickly or carelessly to save time or money, often reducing quality:
We shouldn't cut corners on safety tests just to meet the deadline.
Other Useful Work Idioms
To pull your weight – to do your share of the work properly: Everyone in the team needs to pull their weight.
To burn the candle at both ends – to overwork and become exhausted: She’s been burning the candle at both ends lately.
To learn the ropes – to learn how a new job or system works: It took me a few weeks to learn the ropes.
Idioms are the “spice” of your speech, but since we are focusing on business communication, it is important to remember that some idioms, such as slog your guts out or rat race, are more informal and are better avoided in formal business communication.
At business English courses at Bubbles English Center, we not only enrich vocabulary learning idioms but also discuss the nuances of using them correctly and naturally in professional communication.
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