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For Life
2007.03.13(Review of 2001.01.25 edition)

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Today's LessonCATEGORY: 混同しやすい言葉CATEGORY: ジャパニーズイングリッシュ
EMPLOYEE vs. STAFF   従業員 vs.(集合的に)職員、社員

Explanation

  • An employee is someone who works for a person or organization and is paid for that work.

    A staff is the group of people who work for a person or organization.

    Be Careful! The word staff is used to talk about a GROUP. We do NOT call one person “a staff”. Rather, we call him/her “a member of the staff” or “an employee”.
  • employee は、人や組織のために働いて、その仕事の対価として給料をもらう人、つまり、従業員のことです。

    staff は、人や組織のために働く人を集合的に表す言葉です。

    注意:staff は、集団をさします。ひとりの人のことはa staffとは言わず、a member of the staff、あるいは、an employee と言います。

examples

  1. a: How many people work for your company?
    b: We have about 200 employees now.
  2. (two women from different companies)
    a: We met with one of your employees the other day.
    b: Yes, that was Tim Perkins, our director of marketing.
  3. I've been an employee here for over thirty years. I've never worked anywhere else.
  4. We've increased the size of our office staff recently. We hired three new employees last month.
  5. I'm impressed by your staff. They all seem to do their jobs extremely well.
  6. This is Charles Brown, the newest member of our teaching staff.

英会話レッスンTake care!