評論
打印
Business
商業版塊
Bartleby
巴托比專欄
Back on the chain gang
回到流水線
Employees and employers both face trade-offs as offices reopen
隨著辦公室重新開放，雇員和雇主都面臨著權衡。
Remember the 7am alarm? The rushed goodbye with spouse and children as you dash out of the house? The nervous patting of pockets to check for keys, season ticket, security pass and phone? And the clogged traffic or crowded train carriage?
還記得早上7點的鬧鐘嗎？還記得沖出家門時與配偶和孩子們的匆忙道別嗎？還記得你會緊張地拍打口袋，檢查落沒落下鑰匙、通勤票、門禁卡和手機嗎？還記得堵塞的交通或擁擠的火車車廂嗎？
Most office workers have escaped those familiar rituals for the past four months. But offices are slowly reopening again. And governments are keen to lure workers into the cities, where they can spend their money and help to revive battered economies.
在過去的四個月里，大多數上班族都擺脫了那些熟悉的習慣。但是辦公室又逐漸重新開放了。政府也熱衷于吸引工作人員們進入城市，因為他們在城市里可以進行消費并幫助重振受損的經濟。
A group of academics led by Ethan Bernstein of Harvard Business School has been surveying American workers during the crisis.It found that many felt they could be just as productive at home as they had been at the office. In terms of job satisfaction, a small wobble in the first few weeks of lockdown eased as workers adjusted to new routines. But once that adjustmentwas made, satisfaction increased. Stress levels have fallen by more than 10%. That despite the fact that workers toil for longer: an analysis of one technology company showed that working hours have increased by 10-20% during the pandemic.
哈佛商學院的伊森·伯恩斯坦領導著一組學者對疫情期間的美國工人們展開了調查。調查發現，許多人覺得在家里辦公和在辦公室里一樣高效。在停工的最初幾周里，工人們的工作滿意度有小范圍的波動，但隨著他們適應了新的工作習慣，波動減緩。他們一旦做出了調整，滿意度開始回升。壓力水平下降了10%以上。盡管工人們的工作時間相對增加：一家科技公司的分析顯示，在新冠肺炎疫情期間，工作時間增加了10-20%。
That contrasts with less positive results of previous case studies of homeworking. Mr Bernstein and his colleagues suggest that the main difference this time is that all employees have been forced into the same situation. In the past, those who worked at home were in the minority, often felt excluded from the group, and so were less likely to identify with the company.
這與之前在家辦公不太積極的結果形成了對比。伯恩斯坦和他的同事們認為，這一次的主要區別在于，所有員工都被迫進入在家辦公的狀態。在過去，那些在家工作的人只占少數，他們常常感到被排除在群體之外，因此不太可能對公司產生認同感。
If they were right, then this problem may reassert itself whenoffice work resumes. At the moment, those who have returned to theoffice are in a minority, comprising those who find it most difficult to work at home. But the balance may shift as time goes on, perhaps because people become more relaxed about the virus, or because people will miss the fellowship of their colleagues.At that point those who remain at home may start to feel isolated.
如果學者們分析正確，那么當恢復去辦公室辦公時，這個問題可能會再次出現。目前，那些回到辦公室辦公的人占少數，包括那些覺得難以在家工作的人。但隨著時間的推移，這種平衡可能會改變，也許是因為人們對病毒變得更加放松，或者是因為人們會懷念同事們的友誼。到那時，那些仍然在家辦公的人可能會開始感到被孤立了。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
