Company life vocabulary | TCF Vocabulary

Workplace and company vocabulary is one of the most reliable topic clusters in TCF tasks. Dialogues about hiring, job descriptions, office routines, and professional relationships appear at every level, and at B1 the items expect you to distinguish between similar words: un poste and un emploi, une réunion and un entretien, démissionner and être licencié. Getting these distinctions right is what separates a correct answer from a plausible distractor. This lesson organizes the key vocabulary by sub-theme and shows each group in realistic sentences.

What you’ll learn

Recognize core French words for company structure, roles, and hierarchy.
Distinguish between similar workplace terms that appear as distractors in TCF items.
Use key verbs for employment events: hiring, resigning, dismissing, promoting.
Understand workplace condition vocabulary: schedules, contracts, and tasks.

Company structure and roles

TCF texts and dialogues mention the kind of company and the people in it. Knowing the right noun for a role stops you from choosing an answer that describes the right activity but assigns it to the wrong person.

l'entreprise (the company, firm); la société (the company, organization)
la PME (petite et moyenne entreprise, small or medium-sized company)
le siège (social) (head office)
le département / le service (department)
le directeur, la directrice (director, manager of a unit)
le PDG (président-directeur général, CEO)
le chef de service / le responsable (department head, line manager)
le cadre (executive, manager-level employee)
le salarié, la salariée (employee on a payroll)
le stagiaire, la stagiaire (intern, trainee)
le collaborateur, la collaboratrice (colleague, team member)

Le responsable du service commercial a organisé une réunion pour présenter les nouveaux objectifs.
The head of the sales department organized a meeting to present the new targets.

Employment events: hiring, leaving, and changing jobs

These are the verbs and nouns you need for the most common narrative events in workplace dialogues and short texts.

recruter (to recruit); le recrutement (recruitment)
embaucher (to hire, to take on); l'embauche (hiring)
postuler (to apply for a job); une candidature (an application)
un entretien d'embauche (a job interview)
être engagé(e) (to be hired)
démissionner (to resign); la démission (resignation)
licencier (to dismiss, to lay off); le licenciement (dismissal)
être mis(e) à la retraite (to be retired, to be pensioned off)
partir à la retraite (to retire)
être promu(e) (to be promoted); une promotion (a promotion)
une mutation (a transfer to another post or city)

Après dix ans dans cette entreprise, elle a décidé de démissionner pour créer sa propre société.
After ten years with the company, she decided to resign in order to set up her own firm.

Démissionner vs. licencier: a common trap

"Démissionner" means the employee chooses to leave. The action comes from the employee.
"Licencier" means the employer ends the contract. The action comes from the employer.
TCF items sometimes describe one situation in the text and offer both verbs as options. Read carefully to see who initiates the separation.

Contracts, conditions, and schedules

Short workplace texts often mention the type of contract, the working hours, and the pay. These details frequently appear in the correct answer option.

un CDI (contrat à durée indéterminée, permanent contract)
un CDD (contrat à durée déterminée, fixed-term contract)
le temps plein (full-time); le temps partiel (part-time)
les horaires (working hours, schedule)
le salaire (salary, wages)
la rémunération (pay, remuneration)
les avantages (benefits, perks)
les congés payés (paid holiday)
un arrêt maladie (sick leave)
le télétravail (remote working, working from home)
une prime (a bonus)

Le poste est proposé en CDI à temps partiel avec des horaires flexibles et dix jours de télétravail par mois.
The position is offered as a permanent part-time contract with flexible hours and ten days of remote working per month.

Workplace tasks and communication

Day-to-day workplace vocabulary covers what people do at work: meetings, reports, deadlines, and professional relationships.

une réunion (a meeting)
un compte rendu (a meeting report, minutes)
un rapport (a report)
un délai (a deadline, a time limit)
une tâche (a task)
gérer (to manage, to handle)
assurer (to ensure, to carry out)
traiter (to deal with, to process)
résoudre (to solve)
former (to train); la formation (training)
évaluer (to assess); une évaluation (an appraisal)

Il doit rédiger un compte rendu de la réunion avant la fin de la journée.
He has to write up the meeting report before the end of the day.

La direction a décidé d'organiser une formation pour tous les salariés du service.
Management decided to organize training for all the department employees.

Watch for "assurer" in exam texts

"Assurer une tâche" means to carry out or be responsible for a task, not just to assure someone.
Example: "Il assure la coordination des équipes" means "He is responsible for coordinating the teams."
This verb is frequently used in job descriptions and often appears in TCF reading extracts.

How to practise this

Workplace vocabulary appears in job ads, HR letters, and professional dialogue transcripts. All of these are freely available online in French.

Effective practice routine

Read three short job ads in French (on a site like Indeed.fr or Pôle Emploi). Circle every vocabulary word from this lesson that appears.
Write ten sentences using the employment-event verbs: one for démissionner, one for licencier, one for être promu(e), and so on. Keep them about real or imaginary people.
In TCF practice items about work, before reading the text, scan the four answer options and underline the key workplace word in each. This forces you to compare by meaning and slows down hasty guessing.

Key takeaways

Company structure vocabulary comes in role pairs: directeur / salarié, cadre / stagiaire. Know both.
The most common error is mixing up "démissionner" (employee leaves by choice) and "licencier" (employer ends the contract).
Contract types CDI and CDD appear very frequently in TCF workplace texts and answer options.
"Assurer" in a professional context means to be responsible for something, not just to assure someone.
Read French job advertisements regularly to meet this vocabulary in authentic, varied sentences.