2020年经济学人 巴托比职场专栏--评级制度对工人的影响(1)

Business

来源于《商业》版块

Bartleby

巴托比职场专栏

I am Number 0.6

我是0.6个工人

How modern workers are at the mercy of ratings

现代工人是如何受评级影响的

A close friend of Bartleby’s just got the news that their department was shedding 2.6 workers. At ?rst sight, the concept of 0.6 of a worker sounds pretty odd. But workers who are freelance, on temporary contracts, or in part-time employment register in the headcount as less than a whole number.

巴托比的一个好朋友刚刚得到消息，他们部门要裁员2.6人。乍一看，0.6个工人的概念听起来很奇怪。但自由职业者、临时合同工或兼职登记在册的工人都按小于1计算的。

Being classed as 0.6 of a worker seems dehumanising. Few people want to be thought of as just a number, let alone a fraction. In “The Prisoner”, a cult¹ British television series from the 1960s, the hero, played by Patrick McGoohan, resigns from his job as a secret agent only to be abducted² and taken to a village. He is only referred to as “Number 6” and his frequent escape attempts are frustrated³.

被归为0.6个工人似乎是不人道的。很少有人愿意只被看成一个数字，更别说是一个分数了。在上世纪60年代风靡英国的电视连续剧《囚徒》中，帕特里克?麦谷汉扮演的主人公辞去了特工的工作，却被绑架并带到一个村庄。他只被称为“6号”，而且频繁的逃跑尝试都失败了。

Although he insists that “I am not a number, I am a free man”, the audience never learns his name. The programme has a very 1960s vibe—it focuses on the individual’s e?orts to assert himself in the face of a repressive, conformist society. At one point, the title character declares: “I will not be pushed, ?led, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed⁴ or numbered. My life is my own.”

虽然他坚称“我不是一个数字，我是一个自由的人”，但观众永远不会知道他的名字。这个项目有一种非常60年代的感觉——它关注的是个人在面对一个压抑、墨守成规的社会时，努力坚持自己的立场。“以后我不要被逼迫、归档、贴上标签；被归为索引、简报、报告或编号。我的生活我做主。”

These days many workers would sympathise. They feel pushed, ?led, indexed and numbered. When they apply for a job, they may be assessed by arti?cial intelligence, which parses⁵ résumés for key words without which an applicant’s odds⁶ of an interview lengthen⁷. Based on works like “Evidence-Based Recruiting” by Atta Tarki, who claims that scores in general-mental-ability tests have a strong 65% correlation⁸ with job performance, ?rms may ask candidates to take an intelligence test.

如今，许多工人会对此表示感同身受。他们感到被逼迫、被归档、被索引、被编号。申请工作时，可能会接受人工智能的评估，人工智能会分析简历中的关键词，如果没有这些关键词，那么求职者的面试机会就会减少。阿塔·塔尔基在著作《循证招聘》中称，总体心理能力测试的分数与工作表现有高达65%的相关性。

When they get a job, employees ?nd the indexing and numbering continues. Workers at warehouses⁹ have to pick a certain number of items per hour; those at call-centres are assessed by software that monitors their hourly number of calls, and the amount of time spent on each one. Fall behind the target and you may feel unable to take a break. When their task is completed, employees are often rated again, this time by the customers.

当找到一份工作时，员工发现索引和编号仍在继续。仓库的工人必须每小时拾取一定数量的物品；呼叫中心的工作人员通过软件进行评估，软件会监控他们每小时的通话次数和每次通话的时长。落后于目标，你可能会觉得连觉都睡不着。当任务完成后，员工通常会被再次评估，这次是由客户进行评估。

1 cult   

n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜

参考例句：

• Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书，但有一定的崇拜者。
• The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。

2 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

3 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 debriefed   

v.向（外交人员等）询问执行任务的情况( debrief的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was taken to a US airbase to be debriefed on the mission. 他被带到美国空军基地汇报执行使命情况。
• We debriefed our pilot after he had flown over the enemy's land. 我方飞行员飞越敌境之后，我们向他询问情况。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 parses   

v.从语法上描述或分析（词句等）( parse的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Parses structure of melody and automatically recognizes its key and harmony. 2. parses结构的旋律并自动识别其关键与和谐。 来自互联网
• Parses template and sends to standard output (Browser) . 解析范本，并传送到标准输出（浏览器）。 来自互联网

6 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

7 lengthen   

vt.使伸长，延长

参考例句：

• He asked the tailor to lengthen his coat.他请裁缝把他的外衣放长些。
• The teacher told her to lengthen her paper out.老师让她把论文加长。

8 correlation   

n.相互关系，相关，关连

参考例句：

• The second group of measurements had a high correlation with the first.第二组测量数据与第一组高度相关。
• A high correlation exists in America between education and economic position.教育和经济地位在美国有极密切的关系。

9 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。