实用商务情景口语:商讨合同细节

MB: Hi! Welcome to WebWare.
ST: Thanks, nice to see you again
MB: You too. So, you said you wanted to come in and have a chat before you started...
ST: Yeah, I just wanted to have a look round, and ask a few more questions, if I can... MB: Sure, fire away!
ST: Well, I was delighted to receive the job offer...
MB: Good – we were delighted to offer it to you...
ST: But before I sign the contract there were one or two specifics I wanted to talk about
MB: Ok...’specifics’?
ST: e is a pay scale, instead of a fixed salary...
MB: Yes, as a new employee you’d be at the lower end of the pay scale.
ST: But taking my experience into account...
MB: Well, you haven’t had that much experience – we see you as an investment...
ST: But that salary would only be a little more than I’m making now – so, instead of asking for a higher level on the pay scale, I thought this could be compensated by adding certain bonuses – for instance if I make certain sales targets, or even break them, I would be looking for a good cash payment, or stock options in the company.
MB: Well, that is something we sometimes offer senior members of staff, but to show good faith I’ll provisionally offer you the bonus scheme – but I’ll have to okay it with Philip first.
ST: That’s fine. I also see there are 25 days holiday...
MB: Yes. That’s standard.
ST: it’s not very much for a high pressure job though...
MB: I can’t offer you any more holidays...
ST: No, but I was wondering if I could delay the start date – so instead of starting a week from now, as we discussed, I could start in a month’s time?
MB: You’re a tough negotiator, Sarah!
ST: That’s one of the reasons you hired me!
MB: Yes, of course. Ok, I think we can do that – I’ll look forward to seeing you in a month, and earning those bonuses!
fire away – an informal invitation to ask a question开始说；开始问；开始(常用于祈使句)
I'm ready to start writing down what you're going to say——fire away!
我准备记录下你所要说的话 ——请说吧!

specifics - a precise quality or detail细微问题,细节

a pay scale - a pay range for a particular type of work or for all types of work within a particular organization 薪级；薪级表

a fixed salary – a salary that doesn’t increase over time. 固定工资

compensate - to pay somebody for work done or for something lost
补偿,赔偿;酬报[(+for)]
We compensate workers for injuries suffered at their work.
我们对工人在工作中受伤给予补偿。

bonus - an amount of money given in addition to normal pay, especially as a reward奖金;额外津贴;特别补助
The workers are expecting a large Christmas bonus.
工人们期待着在圣诞节得到一大笔奖金。

stock options – the opportunity to buy shares in a company股票购买权

provisionally - temporary or conditional暂时地;临时地

In this video Sarah meets Marcia to negotiate on some of the details in her contract.
Companies are often used to people negotiating so, as long as you're realistic and polite, and can justify your requests then it's likely that you will get something out of it.
Negotiating is more than just about your salary though, you can also negotiate on, for example, monthly salary, bonuses, car allowance(车补), pension contributions(抚恤金税), healthcare contributions, number of days' holiday or even future salary review dates.
Some companies have fixed policies about benefits(津贴,救济金), depending on the level of the position. This can make negotiation tricky(棘手的，复杂的), as the employer may literally have little say(发言权) over the package. This was the case with Marcia who was unable to offer Sara a higher salary or more days’ holiday.
If this is the case, simply ask them where they could be flexible - and negotiate from there. Sarah was successful in getting added to a bonus scheme and changing her start date through her persistence(坚持不懈).

总结:本集主要讲了如何商讨合同中的细节.商讨过程的关键就是，你要实事求是，以礼待人，对自己的要求可以灵活的改变，就会有所得。