Workplace EQ — interactive lesson on British workplace communication: introductions, politeness, emails, meetings, difficult conversations and self-advocacy, with a phrase bank, situational quiz, matching, rewriting and glossary.
Interactive lesson · Practical use of English · B2–C1
Workplace EQ
The unwritten rules of professional presence, communication, and career velocity: what British colleagues really mean, and how to say what you mean without sounding rude, cold or junior.
Why this matters
Your grammar can be perfect and you can still sound too blunt ("Send me the report."), too stiff ("Would you be so kind as to furnish me with the report?"), or simply unnoticed. British workplaces run on a set of phrases that are never written down. This lesson gives you the most useful ones in six areas.
The one rule behind all of it: be clear about the message and generous about the person. Blunt speakers forget the second half; over-polite speakers forget the first. Norms here are British, with notes on US and international differences in the phrase bank.
The six areas — each one is a full lesson in the Workplace EQ course
Phrase bank
48 phrases, with audio
What would you say?
Blunt, stiff or just right
Matching
Phrase to real meaning
Rewrite it
Make blunt lines work
My glossary
Save phrases for review
Want to go deeper? Take the Workplace EQ course.
Seven full lessons, one for each area above plus a capstone week-in-London simulation, with readings, listening, speaking tasks, progress tracking and a final test.
Click any card to see what it really does, what not to say instead, and how it works outside the UK. Save the ones you want to your glossary.
Filter by area
Workplace EQ
What would you say?
Eighteen real situations. For each one, pick the version that would work best in a British workplace. At the end you'll see which areas to work on, and where to go next.
Workplace EQ
Matching
Match each phrase to what it really does or means. Click a phrase on the left, then its meaning on the right.
Workplace EQ
Rewrite it
Each line is grammatically fine but too blunt. Rewrite it so it's still clear but works in a British workplace, then compare with the model answer.
Workplace EQ
My glossary
Phrases you've saved for review. This list isn't saved once you leave the page, so print or save it as a PDF before you go.