The emotion that is most likely to lure workers back to the office is paranoia. The pandemic may have caused managers to realise who is indispensable and who isn’t. Bartleby realises he is entirely dispensable: an amuse bouche between the meaty stuff of structural reform and vaccines. Fail to amuse enough bouches and he will be shuffled into retirement. Millions may reason the same way. When the number of those back at work reaches a critical mass, the rest may be obliged to follow suit.
疑心病這種情緒最有可能吸引員工回到辦公室。這場疫情可能讓管理者意識到誰是不可或缺的，誰是可有可無的。巴托比的專欄作者意識到自己完全是可有可無的，只是一個介于結構性改革和疫苗之間的開胃小菜罷了。如果不能取悅老板們，他將被迫辭職。數以百萬計的人可能也是這樣。當那些重返工作崗位的人數達到工作所需的最低人數時，剩余的人可能也不得不效仿。
The trade-off for employers is rather different. Most companies will be thinking about whether they need all that expensive office space. If they do want to lure back their employees, they may have to spend a lot on contactless, socially distant office design to keep their workers safe, such as doors that open automatically.
雇主需要面對的權衡截然不同。大多數公司都會考慮是否需要租賃那么貴的辦公空間。如果他們真的想吸引員工回來，他們可能不得不花很多錢在無接觸和能夠保持社交距離的辦公室設計上，以保證員工的安全，比如自動門。
Some firms may be worried about security. On July 27th a British standard-setting board issued guidance for financial firms about the security risks of fixed-income and currency traders working at home. Other companies may worry about the long-term impact of home working on productivity. One missing element may be the casual interaction that occurs between employees outside formal meetings—those chats by the fridge may spark ideas or suggest new ways of co-operating. Indeed, employees may find it more difficult to build relationships throughout the company without meeting colleagues in person.
一些公司可能擔心安全問題。7月27日，英國標準制定委員會就經融公司的固定收益和外匯交易員在家辦公的安全風險發布了指導意見。其他公司可能擔心在家工作對生產力的長期影響。其中缺少的一個因素可能是除了正式會議以外，員工之間無法隨意互動，員工們在茶水間聊天可能會激發新想法或提出新的合作方式。事實上，員工可能會發現，如果無法與同事面對面接觸，在公司里要建立同事關系會更加困難。
This will be particularly difficult for new employees. It is not always easy even for those who have been doing their job for a while to perform the same tasks at home. And newcomers must adjust to a firm’s culture, which usually happens by picking up subtle cues from the people around them. Companies may bombard them with training modules and video chats—“onboarding”, in the jargon of human-resources departments. But that may be no more useful than reading a manual as your only preparation for trying to ride the winning horse in the Kentucky Derby.
這對新員工來說尤其困難。即使對那些已經工作了一段時間的人來說，在家辦公并完成同樣的任務也并非易事。新員工必須適應公司的文化，這通常是從周圍人微妙的暗示中獲得的。公司可能會利用培訓模塊和視頻聊天來轟炸新員工，用人力資源部門的行話來說就是“入職培訓”。但是這種做法就如同僅做了閱讀手冊這一準備，就試圖駕馭肯塔基州德比的冠軍馬一樣，對新員工來說沒有多大用處。
Given the state of the global economy it will take time before most companies hire a lot more employees or lower employee interaction weighs on corporate performance. With many employees happy to work from home, that may mean no great rush to repopulate the office. You may not have to resume your morning routine until 2021.
考慮到全球經濟的現狀，大多數公司需要一段時間才能雇傭更多的員工或降低員工互動對公司績效的影響。由于許多員工樂于在家工作，這可能意味著不必急于重新安排辦公室人員。2021年之前，你可能不需要恢復早上通勤的習慣了。
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