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Hi everyone. Welcome back to Highle Listening and to another one of our business English vocabulary and work phrases videos. If you just returned to work after some time off with a full inbox and a list of tasks waiting from your boss, then this episode is for you. >> Yes, it is. Today we're looking at business English for getting back to work. So, after you come back from a break, your team might be discussing things like where do we start? What do we work on first? So, it's important that you also share your priorities, tasks, and deadlines in a professional, natural way in English. >> That's right. So, we're going to focus on one common workplace situation and then teach you some commonly used business English phrases that you'll see in emails, hearings, and that you can use with your colleagues in English, too. >> Yes. And as always, we have PDF transcripts and a full list of today's key phrases in our business English study pack on PayHip that's ready for you in the link below. >> Okay, so here's the situation. You've been off for the holidays and now it's your first day back and you sit at your desk and your inbox is already starting to fill up. >> Yes, some of these emails and messages came in before the break. Others arrived while you were gone and some just need a few quick responses right away. >> Then on top of that, your manager asks for a quick meeting and explains that the team is slightly behind. So, it's important to focus on the right things first. >> Yeah. So, let's help you get through this situation by showing you some useful business English phrases that you can use with your team to organize your workload and get off to a good start. We also want you to sound really professional. So, let's get started with phrase number one. Let's focus on the most timesensitive items first. So, something that is time sensitive and you can put time dash sensitive. Something that is time-sensitive needs to be done very soon. If you wait too long, it could cause a problem or cause you to miss a deadline. So this phrase helps the team decide what to work on first. It sounds more professional and more collaborative than I want to focus on the important things. Right? Let's focus on the most timesensitive items first. So here's a quick dialogue to kind of show you this in action. All right, everybody. Welcome back. Uh I'll be honest, we're running a bit behind after the break. Okay, sure. Well, where do we start? >> Well, uh, let's focus on the most time-sensitive items first. Our first client deadline is Wednesday. >> Okay, got it. I'll start with anything tied to that deadline. >> We've got a few more sentences here for you. This is going to be kind of B2C1 level and nice and formal sounding. Given the deadline, this is fairly timesensitive. We're treating this as time sensitive. >> So, this item here has become timesensitive due to a change in timing. Here's the second phrase you can use to prioritize. Prioritize something. This is the verb of priority. The pronunciation can be difficult. Prioritize. Prioritize it. If you prioritize something, it means you should work on it before other tasks. It's clearly very important. Maybe the deadline is coming very soon. Maybe it's an important client that you want to do a good job for and it's the thing you should focus on the most. There is the noun form priority. This is a top priority and the verb we need to prioritize this. Here's a quick dialogue with this word in use. There are several items waiting, but one needs attention today. >> All right. Uh, should I pause the other tasks? >> Yes. Uh, let's prioritize this client for now. >> Understood. I will prioritize this and come back to the rest later. >> A couple more example sentences that use this word. Everything else can wait. We need to prioritize this. >> Since we're on a tight deadline, let's prioritize the most urgent tasks first. >> Prioritize this client and pull all the files related to their case load. Okay. So, phrase number three, we're working through the backlog. We're working through the backlog. Now, a backlog is a list of unfinished tasks, emails, lists of things to do. This phrase shows the work that it hasn't been ignored, but it is being handled step by step. It's kind of a more professional way than saying, "We haven't done it yet. We haven't finished it yet. We're working through the backlog. So, a quick dialogue that you might hear. Hey, have the messages from last Friday been reviewed? >> Uh, we're working through the backlog now that everyone's back. >> Okay, thanks for letting me know. >> Yeah, I'll follow up once I reach that item. >> And here are another couple of sentences that are nice and professional. B2C1 level. We're working through the backlog from the holiday period. >> The backlog is being worked through in priority order. >> Once the backlog is cleared, timelines will return to normal. >> Okay, here's the fourth phrase. You might see this in very formal situations or written in emails. This can be addressed once higher priority items are resolved. This can be addressed once higher priority items are resolved. This phrase explains that something will be done later after more urgent work is finished. So if you have two tasks, you will do one of them first and the one after that. It's a more professional way than saying, "We'll deal with this later," or, "We'll circle back." This is especially helpful when you've got more than one task on the go and you need to do them in a certain order. Here's a quick dialogue with this phrase in use. Okay. Uh, checking off the list. Can this item be reviewed today as well? >> Not today, unfortunately. Hm. Uh, hard to say, but it it can be addressed once higher priority items are resolved. >> Okay, that works. I'll follow up with it tomorrow. And then a couple more higher level sentences using higher priority. We can come back to this once the higher priority tasks are completed. >> Something kind of similar. Let's handle this once we've dealt with the more pressing items. Okay, our final phrase for today, a quick status update. We are back up to speed. So hopefully when you have finished repprioritizing and finding all these high priority items, you can finally feel like, yes, we finished our work. So a status update is a short explanation of how things are going. Uh quick status update. Here's where we are. This phrase tells someone that work has returned to a normal pace. You're no longer working through the backlog and you did finish the work and you're ready to start on new projects. So, a quick dialogue. Hey everyone, how are things looking after the first few days back? >> Uh, thankfully we're back up to speed on the main items. >> That's great to hear. Yep. And the remaining lower priority tasks have been scheduled. >> All right. And a couple of formal level sentences. We're now back up to speed after the post holiday slowdown. >> It will take a short adjustment period for the team to get back up to speed. >> We've arranged a check-in to support everyone in getting back up to speed. All right. So, there you go. some useful business English phrases to help you deal with that very common back to work situation. Full inbox, shifting priorities, and the need for clear professional language. Yes. And if you are learning business English and you want to practice these phrases more, you can get the PDF transcript for this episode and our other business episodes in our business English study pack in Payip. The link is in the description below. >> Right. Excellent. We will see you next time here on High Level Listening. >> Bye-bye.