Carrot and stick
Meaning: A carrot and stick approach is to offer others an incentive to do something and to punish them if they refuse to do it.
Example: Our company is using a carrot-and-stick approach to solve the late problem.

「食死貓」 Being wrongly accused of
Meaning: You have not done something wrong, but other people claim or believe that you did
Example: John's secretary was wrongly accused of leaking his business plan to the company's competitor.

In the hot seat
Meaning: In a position where one is responsible for making important or difficult decisions
Example: It is a challenge for Mary to be in the hot seat at this company after merging.

「吊鹽水」 Get by
Meaning: To manage to survive or make ends meet
Example: It is hard for Philip to get by on this low salary.

Piggy in the middle
Meaning: Someone who is involved in the dispute between two people or groups but does not want to take sides.
Example: Whenever we have cross-team meetings, the teams always argue and I usually become piggy in the middle.

「跟大隊」Go with the flow
Meaning: Follow what others are doing instead of control what happens yourself
Example: Raymond went with the flow and did not give any opinion in the meeting.

(Something) Gets on top of you
Meaning: Something makes you feel unhappy because it is difficult or it involves more work than you can manage.
Example: June has some family problems and things have been getting on top of her recently.

「收風」 Hear through the grapevine
Meaning: To hear news from someone who heard it from somewhere else
Example: I heard through the grapevine that Jeff is going to resign.

At the top of the ladder
Meaning: In the highest position in an organization
Example: Having worked for many years in the hotel industry, he is now at the top of the ladder.

「大信封」 Pink slip
Meaning: A document given to an employee to terminate his/her employment
Example: The company is cutting the number of staff, and John is the unfortunate one in our team getting a pink slip.

Work your guts out
Meaning: To work very hard or use lots of effort to do something.
Example: Daniel worked his guts out to finish the project.

「篤背脊」 Backbiting
Meaning: Unkind words said about someone who is not present
Example: I resign from this company because I find a lot of backbiting in our office.

Keep your chin up
Meaning: You say this to encourage people to be brave and not to be sad when they are in difficult situations.
Example: Keep your chin up! All in the team are here to help you.

「新丁 」 Rookie
Meaning: Someone who is new to a job and does not have much experience
Example: Mary looks young and is considered a rookie. In fact, she has more than 10 years of working experience in the field.

Go the extra mile
Meaning: To make a special effort to do something
Example: The chairman of this company always goes the extra mile for his colleagues.

「釣魚」 Nod off
Meaning: To fall asleep, especially not intentionally
Example: Carmen is nodding off at the meeting because she did not have enough sleep last night.

Talk Turkey
Meaning: To talk frankly and bluntly
Example: The two teams are prepared to talk turkey in order to solve their problems.

「吞 pop」 Goof off
Meaning: Waste time and not doing any work
Example: They goof off as the manager leaves for a meeting.

Work like a dog
Meaning: To work very hard
Example: Phoebe works like a dog all day because she is going to open her new store tomorrow.

「話晒事」 Call the shots
Meaning: Being in a position telling others what to do
Example: Mr Lee is our manager and he calls the shots in our team.

Monkey Business
Meaning: Silly behaviour or dishonest activities
Example: The boss has discovered some monkey business with the accounts.

「潛水 」 Keep your head down
Meaning: To avoid trouble or drawing attention to yourself at a time of danger
Example: It is better to keep your head down when the boss is in a bad mood.

Jobs for the boys
Meaning: Work that is given to someone’s friends or relatives even if they are not qualified to handle
Example: These jobs for the boys are assigned to the manager’s family members.

「擦鞋 」 Lick someone’s boots
Meaning: To be extremely obedient to someone so as to get an advantage
Example: I will not lick my manager’s boots in order to get pay rise.

Donkey work
Meaning: Less interesting or difficult parts of a job
Example: The boss is unfair and asks Mary to do all the donkey work.

Work against the clock
Meaning: To work very quickly because you have only a little time to finish
Example: The reporters are working against the clock to meet the deadline for publishing the newspaper.

「照肺 」 Chew out
Meaning: To tell someone angrily that they have done something wrong
Example: Peter was chewed out by the manager for not submitting his work on time.