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have you ever wanted to work in the UK maybe you already do a recent article in Bloomberg claimed that the UK's Reliance on overseas workers has risen since brexit now I'm not here to get into the politics of it no no no no no I'll leave that to other people but I do want to talk about the work culture in the UK and how different it can be to other places around the world so whether you're an accountant a nurse or a barista and you want to work in the UK here are seven essential things you need to know before you move [Music] welcome EC dreamers my name is teacher Tom and I teach fresh modern British English so that you can communicate with confidence and speak like a local today we're talking about seven essential tips to work in the UK generally speaking people in the UK work for eight hours a day from nine until five now this of course can vary depending on the job you do the company that you work for for example if you work in the hospitality industry you're probably going to have to work at weekends the legal limit that a company can ask its employees to work is 48 hours per week averaged over a 17-week period however it is possible for companies to ask their employees to sign opt-out agreements therefore agreeing to work longer hours ah greetings okay this is a tricky one so as a general rule in the workplace Brits tend to shake hands this is true for colleagues meeting each other for the first time for meeting new clients and it's not gender specific on a daily basis though there's no need to shake hands you can just say hi or hello or how are you now again there are lots of factors to take in so it depends on the company you work for the relationship you have with your colleagues A good rule of thumb is to take your cues from other people observe what other people are doing and go from there lunchtime rituals are a sacred thing in many countries not in the UK for most people it's a very functional thing we usually get between 30 minutes to an hour for our lunch and a lot of people that I spoke to actually eat their lunch at their desks yeah I know that sounds a bit crazy especially to any French or Spanish viewers right now but yeah we do tend to eat at our desks okay so that's the time now what do we eat for lunch well this is not Gourmet Cuisine it's going to be fast and efficient a typical lunch in the UK is a sandwich a soup or a salad there's something we have called a meal deal which is very popular which is a sandwich a drink and crisps for a sort of special price of course again it depends on where you are if you're in one of the big city centers then you can get sushi burritos rice boxes whatever you want but in general sandwich soup salads and of course lots of people make their lunch at home and bring it to work some popular lunchbox to look out for are pretamonte Subway Greg's Tesco Express Sainsbury's local and m s food okay let's move on to holidays so most workers in the UK are entitled to 28 days paid annual leave and that's if they work at 5 day a week this equates to roughly 5.6 weeks a year in England and Wales we have eight bank holidays that's a public holiday here in the UK and they are spread out across the year around Christmas Easter uh we've got a couple in May and then one at the end of August in Scotland and in Northern Ireland there are a couple of extra bank holidays as for holiday destinations the Brits tend to go to France uh south of Spain uh Portugal and the Greek Islands as well but you are seeing people travel further abroad now that the pandemic has ended so the United States has always been popular Dubai is another popular destination and of course southeast Asia for that backpacking route as well perhaps the most important aspect of work culture in Britain is the way that we socialize in many cultures people gather around food when I lived in Hong Kong we used to socialize around big meals so lunchtime dinner time people would gather and it was wonderful I loved it in the UK it's alcohol that's how we gather together usually in a pub or bar after work I know it seems ridiculous right but on a Thursday night after work Friday night because it's the beginning of the weekend Saturday because it's a friend's birthday Sunday for a roast yeah you get the idea Pub life is a big thing here as soon as it hits five o'clock here the pubs around the UK fill up with groups of colleagues chatting about work moaning about the bus discussing love Ireland or Premier League football results you get the idea in truth the pub is how Brits form social bonds it's a way of life here that extends to work that said lots of people don't drink alcohol for various reasons and that doesn't stop them from socializing in a work context indeed these days companies are much more mindful to organize events that are more inclusive for everybody and if I had wanted for anyone coming to the UK I would say throw yourself in to work socials and get to know everyone my last tip is all about language we Brits we can be a bit of a complicated Bunch we have very indirect which essentially means well we don't say what we really mean I've had lots of American colleagues in the past baffled by how long it takes us to get to the point I know it can be very frustrating but I guess it's our attempt to be more polite instead of saying open the window we would say something like would you mind possibly if it's not too much trouble opening the window I know it takes longer there are more words but to us it's more polite it's a good thing to be mindful of when you're communicating with the people around you now there's a section in my book a really British guide to business English that gives you lots of phrases to help you communicate politely there's also an A to Z dictionary of 555 modern business English words or phrases from all hands on deck to Zero Hour contracts and everything in between it's all the vocabulary that you'll need to communicate at work plus there are 17 mini lessons to help you communicate in real world situations so if you'd like to get a digital copy of my brand new book the link is in the description below you can also download my free ebook 20 brilliant business English idioms that's also in the link below speaking of idioms here's a video that you can watch right now all about business English idioms or here's another one that you might prefer choose which one you want and I'll see you in the next video