2019年经济学人 缺勤的快乐(1)

 

Ronald Reagan famously quipped that "it's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?"

罗纳德·里根曾说过一句著名的俏皮话，“努力工作不会导致死亡，不过我觉得干嘛要冒这个险呢？”

Beyond a certain level, extra effort seems to be self-defeating.

超过一定水平后，额外的努力似乎会弄巧成拙。

Studies suggest that, after 50 hours a week, employee productivity falls sharply.

研究表明，一周工作50个小时后，员工生产力会急剧下滑。

But that doesn't stop some managers from demanding that workers stay chained to their desk for long periods.

但这也无法阻止经理要求员工长时间守在工位上。

At the blood-testing firm Theranos, Sunny Balwani, then boyfriend of the founder¹, Elizabeth Holmes,

血液检测公司Theranos创始人伊丽莎白·霍尔姆斯当时的男朋友桑尼·巴尔瓦尼

had an obsession² with employee hours, and would tour the engineering department at 7.30pm to check people were at their desks.

痴迷于雇员工时数，并会在七点半的时候巡视技术科，检查在岗人数。

All those hours were wasted when the company eventually collapsed³ (prosecutors have charged Ms Holmes and Mr Balwani with fraud).

当公司最终倒闭，所有这些时间都被浪费了（检察官指控霍尔姆斯和巴尔瓦尼犯有欺诈罪）。

Jack⁴ Ma, the founder of Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce group, recently praised the "996" model,

中国电商集团阿里巴巴的创始人马云近期称赞“996”模式—

where employees work from 9am to 9pm, six days a week, as a "huge blessing⁵".

即员工上班时间为早上9点到晚上9点，一周工作6天— 是一种巨大的福气。

To be fair, Mr Ma said employers should not mandate⁶ such hours. Still, presenteeism is the curse of the modern office worker.

公平地说，马云称雇主不应强制“996”。然而出勤是现代上班族的诅咒。

There will be days when you do not have much to do,

总有些时候你会无事可做，

perhaps because you are waiting for someone else in a different department, or a different company, to respond to a request.

因为你可能在等待其他部门，或其他公司某个人的回复。

As the clock ticks past 5pm, there may be no purpose in staying at your desk.

下午5点后，守在工位上或许没有任何意义。

But you can see your boss hard at work and, more important, they can see you. So you make an effort to look busy.

但你可以看到老板还在刻苦工作，更重要的是，他们也能看见你。所以你努力让自己看起来很忙。

Some of this may be a self-perpetuating cycle. If bosses do not like to go home before their underlings,

其中一些可能是一个自我延续的循环。如果老板不喜欢在下属之前下班，

and underlings fear leaving before their bosses, everyone is trapped.

并且下属害怕在老板之前离开，每个人都被困住了。

Staff may feel that they will not get a pay rise, or a promotion⁷, if they are not seen to be putting in maximum effort.

员工可能觉得如果上级没看见他们付出最大的努力，他们就不能加薪或升职。

This is easily confused with long hours.

这很容易和长时间工作弄混淆。

Managers, who are often no good at judging employees' performance, use time in the office as a proxy⁸.

通常不擅于评判员工表现的经理们会把呆在办公室的时间作为替代。

The consequence is often wasted effort. To adjust the old joke about the Soviet⁹ Union:

结果往往是白费力气。修改一下关于工会的老笑话：

"We pretend to work and managers pretend to believe us."

“我们假装工作，经理们假装信任我们。”

Rather than work hard, you toil¹⁰ to make bosses think that you are.

你不是努力工作，而是努力让老板认为你很努力。

Leaving a jacket on your office chair, walking around purposefully with a notebook or clipboard

把夹克放在办公椅上，故意拿着笔记本或笔记板走来走去

and sending out emails at odd hours are three of the best-known tricks.

以及在空闲时间发送电子邮件是三个最著名的把戏。

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

3 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

4 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

5 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

6 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

7 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

8 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

9 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

10 toil   

vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事

参考例句：

• The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
• Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。