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For a while, working from home was the hip corporate perk. Best Buy got glowing press for its Results Only Work Environment in which corporate employees could work anytime, anywhere. The federal government embraced telecommuting arrangements, in part for the ability to regroup in emergencies, and several studies showed that telecommuting had upsides for performance and retention.
有一段時間，在家工作是一項時髦的企業福利。百思買（Best Buy）的“只看成果工作環境”(Results Only Work Environment)計劃允許企業員工在任何地方、任何時候工作，曾經贏得媒體的盛贊。美國聯邦政府接受遠程辦公，部分是因為遠程辦公可以實現緊急情況下的人員迅速組織。而且，多項研究顯示，遠程辦公有助于提升工作表現和員工留任率。
But over the past year, there's been a shift. Yahoo's (YHOO) new CEO, Marissa Mayer, famously shut down the company's telecommuting arrangements this winter. In an April speech, she acknowledged that "people are more productive when they're alone," but also claimed "they're more collaborative and innovative when they're together. Some of the best ideas come from pulling two different ideas together."
但過去一年，情況發生了變化。眾所周知，雅虎(Yahoo)新任CEO瑪麗莎•梅耶爾已經宣布取消公司的遠程辦公安排。她在4月份的一次演講中承認，“人們獨處時的生產效率會更高”，但她也聲稱“群處時的合作性和創新性會更好。一些優秀點子正是產生于兩種不同想法的碰撞。”
The notion of innovation via serendipitous encounters is gaining popularity: this year's South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas featured panels on the topic, and companies including Google (GOOG) and Zappos are redesigning their office space to spark more chance meetings.
通過碰撞實現創新的理念正在日益流行；今年在得克薩斯州奧斯汀舉行的South by Southwest Interactive Festival嘉年華就有不少關于這個話題的小組討論，而包括谷歌(Google)和Zappos等在內的一批公司正在重新設計辦公室，希望激發更多的不期而遇和思想碰撞。
Needless to say, serendipitous meetings in the elevator require being in a corporate headquarters, not in your pajamas at home.
當然，電梯里的不期而遇需要發生在公司總部的辦公室，而不是穿著睡衣在家中時。
So, is it better to work from home or the office?
那么，在家工作和在辦公室工作，到底哪種更好？
The answer is that it's complicated, with upsides and downsides for both.
答案是，這個問題很難說，因為兩者都各有利弊。
To be sure, many jobs can't be done remotely. Most medical and dental procedures still need to be done in person, and most teachers need to be in their classrooms. But much information work isn't time- and place-specific. The 2013 American Time Use Survey found that on the days they work, 38% of employed Americans with college degrees do some or all of their work from home.
當然，很多工作沒法遠程完成。大部分醫療手術和牙科手術仍然需要現場操作，大多數老師都需要在教室里授課。但有不少信息工作不受時間和地點的限制。2013年美國人時間利用調查(2013 American Time Use Survey)發現，擁有大學學歷的美國就業者有38%會在工作日時在家處理部分、甚至全部的工作。
