Here is the reading passage:
The number of people in the US who are quitting their corporate jobs to start their own businesses is growing. One recent best-selling book entitled Fire your Boss! seems to reflect the growing discontent with company life. Why are so many people going into their own businesses?
One of the most frustrating things about corporate life is the bureaucracy. This is the administrative system of paperwork and red tape that keeps track of everything in the corporation. Any decision must be agreed upon by many people in different departments and levels of the company. This can be very frustrating for individual employees who want to have control over their own work. They can become exasperated when their good ideas get tied up for months in the bureaucratic machinery. Employees often long the freedom of being their own boss.
Another depressing aspect of working for a corporation is the lack of job security. Contrary to business owners, employees in a large company can be fired at any time, for almost no reason. If there is a downturn in the economy, layoffs are likely to come. Even if a worker has done his best to serve the corporations, he could find himself fired without warning or explanation. When a person works for himself, however, he cannot be fired.
The traditionally attractive fringe benefits of a corporate position have been decreasing in recent years as well. There was a time when landing a job at a top corporation meant the employee was assured of a good retirement. More and more these days, however, pension benefits are being cut to lower payroll costs. Workers are being forced to worry more about their own retirement plans. In the same vein, health care is another benefit that has started to evaporate. Health insurance premiums are rising, while covered medical conditions are shrinking. This means employees are paying more out-of-pocket expenses than before and getting less care in return.
And here is the lecturer’s speech:
youtube.com/watch?v=5ds7OaBHH-A
And this is my answer:
The reading passage and the lecturer explain pros and cons of starting a small business as compared to working for a company. The passage states that running own business is better than working for a corporation while the lecturer implies that running a small business is quite complicated.
The text argues that when someone works for a corporation he or she has to deal with the huge enterprise bureaucracy machinery. When you want to go to vocation or to start a new project you must adjust everything with corporate authorities. This can take several months. It’s a bit confusing. When you run your own business you don’t have to communicate your plans with someone. You are free and you can do what you want. But the lecturer casts a doubt to this point. He says that to start a small business you have to deal with the bureaucracy which is much worse than the corporate one. You have to achieve business license, to develop a business plan, to apply for a loan. This is also very confusing.
The reading passage claims that when someone works in a company his or her job security is very low. You can be fired during a national depression or even without any serious reasons though you have been doing your job well. When you run your business you cannot fire yourself. You will always have a job. The lecturer, in contrast, states that the entrepreneur’s security is very doubtful. A business owner must be aware of many things in his company to be successful. Anything can occur and the business will crash. For example you might be ill or simply too lazy to work hard and this will have to fail your business. The lecturer states the fact that nearly 75% of newly started small businesses fail in first 6 months.
The text states that when you work in a company you have low social advantages. The health insurance is expensive and the retirement plan is not good. Being an owner of your own business you can have as good health insurance and retirement plan as you wish. No one limits you in this matter. But the lecturer says that though working in a company you have at bad insurance and retirement plan; when you run your own business you have nothing at all. You have to find insurance program and to arrange your retirement plan by yourself. This responsibility is only yours and no one is to do it for you.
TOEFL listening lectures: A lecture from a history class