評論
打印
Ever-smaller offices
緊縮的辦公室
Pressed suits
正如縮水套裝
Feeling a bit cramped? Blame management theory
擠？都是管理學惹的禍
“PROJECT gold” and “Project Nexus” sound like plans for bank heists or military assaults. In reality, they are the names for KPMG's ongoing attempt to squeeze its 6,700Londonemployees into ever smaller spaces. Since 2006 the professional-services firm has reduced the number of offices it uses inLondonfrom seven to two. By the spring of 2015 everybody will be crammed into one building inCanaryWharf.
“金牌項目”和“聯通項目”聽上去像是搶銀行或軍事打擊的計劃。事實上，這是畢馬威公司計劃中的項目名稱，他們打算縮小全倫敦近6700名員工的工作空間。自2006年起，這家專業咨詢公司-畢馬威就把開設在倫敦的7家事務所減少到了2家。而到2015年春，所有員工都只能擠在倫敦金融區的一棟大樓里辦公。
According to data from the British Council for Offices (BCO), an industry club, the average office tenant now uses around 11 square metres per worker, 35% less than in 1997. A new building in Ludgate Hill, inLondon's financial district, will allocate just eight square metres to each employee. In many offices, rows of “hot” desks have replaced individual offices and even cubicles. “Nowadays it's almost frowned on to have your own office,” claims Nick Wentworth Stanley, of i2 Offices, a big serviced property firm.
英國辦公室協會是一家工業俱樂部，該協會的數據表明，現如今，普通寫字樓的承租戶分配給每名職員約11平方米，與1997年相比少了35%。在倫敦的金融區路德門山街，有一棟新落成的大樓，樓中每名雇員僅能分到約8平方米。在許多寫字樓中，獨立辦公室甚至是小隔間代替了連排的公用辦公桌。一家大型產權服務公司i2 Offices的尼克·溫特沃斯·斯坦利說“如今很難擁有自己的辦公室了”
Firms have long known that only about half of all desks are in use at any moment, as employees work odd hours or disappear to meetings, but it was difficult to fill the spares. Better IT systems now mean that people need not be tied to a particular desk. They need not even be in the office at all: as cloud computing and virtual offices take off, more people are working from home or from other places, further reducing the need for desks.
許多公司很早就知道，由于雇員要倒班或者去開會，大約只有一半的辦公桌一直處于使用狀態，但是很難填補那些辦公桌閑置的空當。更優化的信息系統意味著員工不必拘泥于某個特定的桌子。他們甚至都不必在辦公室里：隨著云計算與虛擬辦公室的興起，越來越多的人居家辦公，或者在其他地方辦公，這更加縮小了辦公桌的用武之地。
Aside from cheapness, there is a motive behind this squashing. Inspired bySilicon Valley, firms are trying to make their offices into “collaborative spaces”, where people bump into each other and chat usefully. KPMG's redesignedCanaryWharfoffices will include lots of “breakout spaces” where employees can relax, and quiet rooms where people can get away from hubbub, says Alastair Young, who is planning the move. He thinks this will both improve productivity and save money.
除了追求低成本，“擠壓”戰略的背后還有一個動機。受硅谷啟發，各公司正試圖把自己的辦公室變成“協同空間”，職員們可以隨意地與他人會面并且有效地交流。計劃搬遷的阿拉斯泰爾·楊說，畢馬威重新設計過的倫敦金融區的寫字樓還將包含許多的“超脫空間”，員工可以在那兒略作小憩，以及遠離喧囂的靜音房。他認為這是提高生產力與節約成本的雙贏戰略。
In this happy new world, offices are not just places to work but also a way of expressing corporate identity and a means of attracting and retaining staff. At the offices of Bain & Company, a management consultancy, inspirational quotes on walls help workers to identify with Bain's brand, explains Sam Axtell, the company's operations director. Games rooms and relaxing spaces help them “release alpha waves”.
在這個愉快的新時代，辦公室已不僅僅是處理案牘之所，還是樹立企業形象與吸引新員工、留住老員工的地方。貝恩是一家咨詢管理公司，其運營主管薩姆·阿克斯特爾解釋道，公司墻上的勵志名言有助于員工認同本公司的品牌形象。游戲室與放松空間有助于員工“釋放α波”（即“釋放壓力”）。
This flummery has a practical consequence: it means more workers can be crammed into the middles of cities. Fewer firms now require suburban back offices, says Sandra Jones of Ramidus, a property consultancy. Between 2001 and 2012 the number of workers employed by large firms in Croydon, on the edge of London, declined by almost a quarter, to around 34,000. In Manchesterand Birmingham, too, new office jobs have been created in rejuvenated city centres at the expense of suburbs. This may be one reason commutes are lengthening.
這樣的道貌岸然導致一個很實際的后果：這意味著在城市中心會擠入更多的職員。地產咨詢公司Ramidus的桑德拉·瓊斯稱，如今越來越少的企業還要地處郊區的辦公樓。在倫敦郊區，大型公司Croydon的職員在2001年至2012年間少了近四分之一，目前為止還剩約34000人。曼徹斯特和伯明翰的情況類似，重建后的老城中心取代了郊區創造了新的工作崗位。這也許是上下班時間變長的原因之一。
Not everyone is delighted by the rise of cramped hot desks. At Broadcasting House, the BBC's new offices inLondon, a shortage of good desks has led to frantic morning scrambles. A manager at a financial firm in the City complains that since his firm redesigned its office, there are only enough phones for one between two. KPMG has seen crushes at lifts and in the canteen; the crowds have also put pressure on the air-conditioning system.
并不是每個人都對擁擠的公用辦公桌的數量上升感到滿意。倫敦的廣播大廈是BBC新的辦公樓，高質量辦公桌的短缺直接導致了早晨慌亂的“搶桌大戰”。倫敦某金融公司的經理抱怨道，自從公司重新設計了其辦公室后，辦公室電話只夠一兩個人使用。畢馬威公司已經領略了電梯和餐廳滿當當的人群；人群還給空調系統施加了巨大的壓力。
A modest backlash is under way, in an unexpected quarter. Google's new offices in King's Cross will have all sorts of collaborative space. But workers will still get their own private desks. Where that company leads, others tend to follow.
溫和反彈正以一個讓人意想不到的方式進行。谷歌在國王十字街的新辦公樓會涵蓋各種協同空間。但員工仍將擁有自己的私人辦公桌。但無論谷歌走向何方，他人還將亦步亦趨。譯者 周雨晴 校對 衛婷婷
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