Office English vocabulary: 12 words for the working day
A2–B212 words
Office life has its own small dictionary: the words people use for schedules, absences and admin. They rarely appear in coursebooks, yet you hear them on your first day in an English-speaking workplace.
Where you will use it: Workplace conversation, HR admin and schedules.
Office English — The word list
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| handover | Passing work to another person.“She wrote a handover before her holiday.” |
| overtime | Hours worked beyond the normal schedule.“He worked overtime all week.” |
| appraisal | A formal review of your performance.“My appraisal is in March.” |
| headcount | The number of employees.“We increased headcount by five.” |
| workload | The amount of work to do.“My workload doubled this month.” |
| sick leave | Time off work because of illness.“He's on sick leave until Friday.” |
| day off | A day when you do not work.“Tuesday is my day off.” |
| line manager | The person you report to.“Ask your line manager first.” |
| shift | A set period of working hours.“I'm on the early shift.” |
| minutes | The written record of a meeting.“Could you take the minutes?” |
| expenses | Work costs the company repays.“Submit your expenses by month end.” |
| remote work | Working away from the office.“We allow remote work two days a week.” |
How to study this list
Add five or six of these words a day rather than all twelve at once, keep the example sentence on the card, and review them when they come due. WordNest schedules each word across seven growing intervals — same day, then 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 and 60 days — so the list is still with you months later. Read how spaced repetition works if you want the reasoning behind those numbers.
Studying office english pairs well with our business email phrases, business English vocabulary and job interview word list, or browse all free English word lists.
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