English in Madrid

Image created with Chat GPT Feeling nostalgic for summer? How to beat the back-to-work blues The alarm wakes you with a shock, the summer holiday is over and it's time to face that inbox full of unread emails. This time last week, life was very different. You enjoyed late nights, lazy mornings balancing family fun and you time. Even if you enjoy your job, the transition from holiday to work can be hard, particularly in September as the days begin to shorten . Here are some ways of making the transition a little bit easier. Tick off small tasks It can be tempting to launch straight into tackling the hardest task first. But careers coach Sarah Robinson says it's better to " ease back in " by starting with small, manageable tasks and "quick wins". "It's about trying to build momentum, because I think sometimes it can just feel overwhelming when you've got a massive inbox," she says. Counsellor Susan Carr agrees. She says it isn't po...

Here are seven Phrasal Verbs that are worth learning: #CAE #speaking #PV Where do you see yourself in five years time? I COULD WELL BE in the same job I have now. I wouldn't RULE OUT workING abroad AT SOME POINT THOUGH. I MIGHT HAVE SETTLED DOWN and have a wife and two kids BY THEN. Who knows? https://t.co/kFYY298Keh — English in Madrid (@madteacher72) November 30, 2022 Spanish PM refuses to RULE OUT suspending Catalonia's autonomy https://t.co/VmxFV1YW2M #PV to rule out = not to consider (descartar) — English in Madrid (@madteacher72) October 8, 2017   #PV PULL OUT (OF STG) - to stop being involved in an activity e.g. The favourite PULLED OUT OF THE COMPETITION due to injury. e.g. After a long war, the Soviets PULLED THEIR TROOPS OUT OF Afghanistan in the 1990s. e.g. Lack of funding meant he had to PULL OUT. — English in Madrid (@madteacher72) January 14, 2020 As a child I used to watch it. Now it's just hyped up trash. I reckon the UK should pull out of the event...

Source:   Louis Hansel en Unsplash ‘A certain stigma’: Spain’s hospitality sector hit by waiter shortage  Despite huge national unemployment, restaurants owners are struggling to fill vacancies. Why? After a two-year drought, tourists are flooding back to Spain, but just as the hospitality industry begins to recover from the pandemic, it faces a new crisis – a shortage of waiters.  From Mallorca to Madrid, restaurateurs are crying out for waiters with tens of thousands of jobs waiting to be filled. The Hard Rock hotel in Ibiza is so desperate it is offering staff a €200 (£170) bonus to find suitable employees.  The paradox is that unemployment in Spain is running at 13.4% – more than double the EU average of 6.2% – yet there are more than 100,000 job vacancies, with as many as half of those in hospitality, even though the national statistics office says 85,000 bars and restaurants closed permanently in the first year of the pandemic.  “People come to me for i...

Source:  Imani Bahati en Unsplash Spain plans menstrual leave in new law for those with severe pain  Spain is plan ning to introduce medical leave for women who suffer from severe period pain, media reports suggest .  A draft bill says women could have three days of leave a month - extended to five in some circumstances.  But politicians warned that the draft - leaked to Spanish media outlets - was still being worked on .  If passed, it would be the first such legal entitlement in Europe. Only a handful of countries around the world have such legislation in place .  The Spanish legislation is part of a much wider reproductive health reform which will include changes to the country's abortion laws.  Media outlets who have seen portions of the law report that it is due to be presented to cabinet early next week.  Three-day sick leave for painful periods will be allowed with a doctor's note , the draft says, potentially extending ...

Source:  Foto de  Oleg Magni  en  Pexels Calling a man ‘bald’ is sexual harassment , employment tribunal rules   Tony Finn, who worked at West Yorkshire manufacturing firm for 24 years, is in line for compensation Calling a man “bald” is sexual harassment, an employment tribunal has ruled.  Hair loss is much more prevalent among men than women so using it to describe someone is a form of discrimination, a judge has concluded. Comment ing on a man’s baldness in the workplace is equivalent to remarking on the size of a woman’s breasts, the finding suggests.  The ruling – made by a panel of three men who in making their judgment bemoaned their own lack of hair – comes in a case between a veteran electrician and the manufacturing firm where he was employed.  Tony Finn – who is in line for compensation – had worked for the West Yorkshire-based British Bung Company for almost 24 years when he was fired in May last year. He took the company...

Source: Ave Calvar on Unsplash In Spain, remote work makes comeback amid surge in coronavirus cases   Telecoms and large banks are leading the way and experts hope smaller businesses will follow suit , despite the lack of official government guidelines   The swift spread of the new coronavirus variant is forcing Spanish companies to go slower with their return-to-the-workplace policies .  Telecoms in particular have been the first to give employees the option of 100% remote work, as they did in the early days of the pandemic. Other large companies, such as the banks BBVA and Banco Santander and the insurance group Mapfre, are offering more work-from-home time during the holidays as case numbers continue to soar across Spain.  Government agencies are following suit: the Tax Agency has told its employees to work from home at least until January 10, and the government of Catalonia has made remote work “a priority” for its own workers.  A growing chorus o...

Source:  Hansjörg Keller on Unsplash Spain to trial four-day week in response to Covid pandemic - will the UK do the same?   Under plans backed by the country's treasury, firms who cut their week to 32 hours with no loss of pay will get financial backing from the government.  The pilot, which is set to cost the country €50million (£44million), could be rolled out further if successful . Íñigo Errejón, the leader of, Más País, confirmed on Thursday that the country's finance ministry had accepted the plan.  "The eight hour working day was unrealistic a century ago," he said, responding to criticism.  Maria Alvarez, a businesswoman and founder of the 4 Day Week Campaign in Spain, said the pilot represented "a sensible idea that should be in every government's toolbox coming out of this crisis". "What this pilot reveals is that the four-day week has never been a moonshot . Quite the opposite ," she said.  UK based think-tank Auton...

Source:  RAPHAEL MAKSIAN on Unsplash   Spanish court rules workers can have pay deducted for smoking breaks A company that stopped paying its employees for smoking breaks has won its case in Spain's high court. Energy company Galp says it was implementing Spanish law when it began deducting time spent off premises from employees' working days. A quick coffee break or breakfast with a colleague is also included in Galp's policy, which began in September last year. The trade union that brought the case to court plans to appeal the decision. Recent changes to Spanish law require companies to record employees' entrances and departures from the workplace. The monitoring was supposed to prevent workers' exploitation and increase flexibility in working contracted hours. It was also supposed to address Spain's problem of unpaid overtime work - in 2019 nearly three million of hours worked overtime were never paid. But the requirement has had unf...

Source:  Pablo Varela on Unsplash What to do if you hate your boss "I actually loved my job but when you have a boss that hates what you do - or is just trying to undermine you - it really does kill your enthusiasm," says Craig (not his real name). At first , he liked his manager but that changed when he saw her shout at an assistant on the team. And things only went downhill from there. She would shout at him in the office and publicly undermine him at industry events. "At first it was the snide remarks ," he says. ' Soul destroying ' " Slowly and surely things started to change and the remarks became less snippy and more out-and-out aggressive, hostile and condescending." He says it became "soul destroying" going into work every day. "Your personal relationships suffer too," Craig adds. "When you work for a bad boss - someone who's just constantly belittling you - it lowers your self esteem...