In today's Buzzword Mix, our buzzword is Garden Leave.

Garden, leave,兩個詞都非常簡單的詞, but what does it mean?

And if I tell you it is actually a professional word used at workplace, would you be surprised?

如果你是外企, 特別是英聯(lián)邦系的這種企業(yè)的話, 你肯定聽過這個詞.

So first of all, let's look at the word leave, l-e-a-v-e.

In professional context, it simply means that you take time off from work.

這個leave在職場英語里面它是假期的意思. For example annual leave 年假, maternity leave 孕產(chǎn)假.

But hang on, what is garden leave? 花園假期或者園藝假期, really? Does any company actually give that?

01 花園假期真的存在么？

Well, it turns out they do, but it means something very different.

A garden leave refers to the period of time during which an employee is mandated to refrain from attending work usually following their resignation or termination.

對于這種花園假期或者園藝假期, 它的定義是一個員工被強制不能來上班, 通常是在一個人提出辭呈 resignation, 或者是termination, 公司要跟ta解除這種勞動關(guān)系, 也就是要炒掉ta.

Hearing this some of you might think great, so they sent me home and they will still pay me?

Well. There are lots of restrictions.

So throughout the period, the employee maintains their employment status within the company, but is not expected to carry out any work duties.

Oftentimes, they are also not allowed to start any other employment with other companies during the garden leave.

這里面的限制是, 雖然你不用給公司做什么事情, 但是通常來說你也不允許去找別的工作.

It's kind of like you're stuck in between stage of the transition period.

02 為什么要叫做“花園假期”?

And why is it called garden leave?

That's because during this transition period like this, the employee cannot work for other companies, but they also cannot work for their current company.

They are likely to spend their time pursuing things that are not work-related, like hobbies, such as gardening.

Hence the term garden leave.

之所以會叫g(shù)arden leave, 就是因為這個時候他們既不能給自己現(xiàn)在的公司工作, 按照這個規(guī)定他們也不能去找工作, 或給別的公司工作;

所以基本上就是待在家里做點其他的事情. 很多人可能用這個時間去照顧照顧自己的院子, 去做點什么園藝的事, 種點花種點草的, 所以就叫做garden leave.

Salaries and benefits, they will continue until the end of the leave period.

這段時間是要照發(fā)薪酬的.

Garden leave or garden is a term most commonly used in the financial industry in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Although you will also see it in some other countries, while the name "garden leave" may sound pleasant, some of you might think it's a great thing hearing all of these benefits.

And in fact, employee may sometimes prefer to serve their notice time relaxing at home rather than being in the workplace.

While all of these are true, the restrictive nature and negative implications of this leave can make it less than ideal.

雖然 garden leave 是一個看上去很美或者聽起來很美的一個事兒, 等著公司辭退自己, 或者等著跟公司解約錢還可以照拿, 還可以在家里休息;

但實際上因為它的negative implications或restrictive nature, 它的限制性以及它的負(fù)面影響, 對于一個真正想要打拼自己事業(yè)的人來說, 都未必是一件好事.

That's because garden leave is sometimes considered to be a euphemism for being suspended and can be perceived to have negative connotations such as the employee being unfit for anything other than tending to their garden.

這主要是因為garden leave它其實就是一個委婉的說法, 只不過是公司不想直說 “在停你的職”, 所以他們用 garden leave 這樣 “很美麗”的說法, 在你的履歷上看起來一定不是特別光彩的一筆, 會讓人覺得你不能勝任這份工作.

So you've been put on garden leave.

03 為什么人們會被放“花園假”？

Why people are put on garden leave？

The primary reason for doing so is to safeguard against possible detrimental actions or behaviour that the employee might indulge in during their notice period.

當(dāng)一個人他請辭或者說公司要解雇他的時候, 在這種規(guī)矩辦事的公司都會有一個 notice period也就是離職通知期, 有的公司是比如一個月/兩個月/三個月都有, 根據(jù)每個公司的規(guī)章制度不一樣;

Garden leave就是為了保證在 notice period, 這個員工不要給公司有意無意的帶來更多的麻煩.

More specifically, the employer may fear that the employee could become uncooperative or that they may negatively influence the working environment and other employees.

比如說公司可能會擔(dān)心員工在離職通知期的這段期間不合作, 或者說故意搞差公司的工作環(huán)境等等, 影響別的員工.

The employer may also prefer that the employee limit contact with clients for fear that they may persuade clients to follow them to their new employer.

Another reason for implementing a garden leave is that employee may have access to up to date information that could be beneficial to the employers competitors.

So placing an employee on garden leave could help ensure that by the time the employee is contractually free, they would have been out of the loop long enough to reduce any possible threat.

The recent case I've heard about someone being put on garden leave is because of what this employee did cost a huge scandal and subsequent PR crisis for the company and then he's been put on garden leave.

我最新聽到的一個garden leave的案例, 是由于員工鬧出了一場scandal, 鬧出了一場丑聞, 所以導(dǎo)致公司形象受損.

公司出現(xiàn)了一個PR crisis, 一個公關(guān)危機, 為了不要馬上解雇ta讓這件事情鬧得更大, 公司決定冷處理就讓ta garden leave了.

04 “花園假”有哪些利和弊？

Now let's look at some of the pros and cons of garden leave for both employers and employees.

For employers, there's a number of reason why a company may consider implementing a garden leave.

It is ultimately still a defense mechanism, 盡管我們覺得 garden leave這個公司好好, 還給我發(fā)錢, 但實際上公司只是一個自保的行為.

With a garden leave, they can ensure that this employee will be available for any queries or transitional needs.

This will also prevent them from stealing customers from the company ensure proper transition and prevent the employee’s access to certain sensitive information.

The cons are also very obvious. Garden leave is often expensive, especially if you're putting someone in senior management position on garden leave, then you have to pay a lot.

And also this pay will not generate any productivity. It might also require you to adhere to complicated and ever changing laws that may restrict some aspects of garden leave.

而且可能中間的一些法律性的相關(guān)的這些事宜都非常的復(fù)雜.

And this may also negatively impact perception of future prospective employees.也可能影響到公司的聲譽, 讓其他人不太敢來你這個公司.

For employees, the pros are also quite obvious.

You receive paycheck for a period of time and you don't have to do any work for this. Although you are not allowed to find another job, you can still have some initial contact;

and as for the drawbacks for the employees, if this garden leave experience is put on your CV, it’s not really a very positive track record.

It will also stagnate your career development, especially if you're put on a very long garden leave.

And some people, especially people who work for personal satisfaction or they focus on sense of achievement, they might feel like they're not really earning their paycheck.

So that is garden leave. Now let's move on to the sample sentence.

例句示范

Sample Sentence：

-Following the scandal with the client, the senior manager was put on garden leave.