2022年经济学人 如何正确裁员（1）

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Bartleby: How to do lay-offs right

巴托比：如何正确裁员

It means thinking primarily about the people who are left behind

要优先考虑那些留下的人

It’s not just Twitter.

不仅仅是推特。

The pink slips are piling up at some of the biggest names in tech.

一些科技巨头的解雇通知书也已经堆积如山。

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder¹ of Meta, is eliminating more than 11,000 roles, around 13% of the social-media company’s workforce².

Meta的创始人马克·扎克伯格将裁员超1.1万人，约占这家社交媒体公司员工总数的13%。

On November 22nd HP announced up to 6,000 job losses, which would be around 10% of the IT firm’s staff.

11月22日，惠普宣布裁员6000人，约占该信息技术公司员工总数的10%。

Amazon’s boss, Andy Jassy, has warned of more cuts next year, on top of those already unveiled in the retailer’s devices and books businesses.

亚马逊的老板安迪·贾西警告说，除了已经公布的设备和图书业务部门的裁员外，明年还会有更多的裁员。

Stripe revealed that 14% of the staff at the digital-payments firm were being let go.

Stripe透露，这家数字支付公司有14%的员工被解雇。

Snap and Shopify announced their own rounds of lay-offs earlier in the summer.

今年夏天早些时候，Snap和Shopify公布了几轮裁员计划。

Jobs are disappearing in other industries, too.

其他行业的就业机会也在消失。

Investment banks have started paring staff in anticipation³ of a slowdown in dealmaking.

投资银行已经开始裁员，以应对之后的交易放缓。

Property firms are laying people off as housing markets cool.

随着房地产市场降温，房地产公司也纷纷裁员。

Beyond Meat, which makes plant-based products, cut almost 20% of its workforce in October.

生产植物性产品的Beyond Meat在10月份裁员近20%。

The people who suffer most from lay-offs are those who lose their jobs.

受裁员影响最大的是那些失业的人。

But the colleagues who are left behind also endure lasting⁴ consequences; and for managers, this group is the one that determines success.

但留下的同事承受的余波也很持久；对于管理者来说，这些人是公司成功的决定性因素。

Some suffer a form of survivors⁵’ guilt⁶, asking themselves why they kept their jobs and colleagues did not.

一些人会陷入幸存者内疚，疑惑为什么自己保住了工作，而同事们却没有。

(Only at Twitter do the people leaving feel guilty about those who are left behind.)

(只有被推特裁掉的人才会对那些留下的感到内疚。)

Others must grapple with the practicalities of replacing departed workers and with the stress of heightened job insecurity: if the axe⁷ has fallen once, it may do so again.

其他人则必须努力应对接替离职员工的现实问题，以及工作更加不稳定所带来的压力：裁员的斧子能掉下来一次，就能掉下来第二次。

The results can be depressed⁸ morale⁹, lower productivity and unexpected costs.

这可能会导致士气低落、生产力下降，并带来意外成本。

Research conducted in 2008 by two academics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that, for an average company, downsizing the workforce by 1% was associated with a 31% increase in voluntary turnover¹⁰ rates.

威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的两位学者在2008年进行的研究发现，对于一家普通公司来说，裁员1%会导致自愿离职率升高31%。

That means more disruption as well as additional money spent on filling open positions.

这意味着公司会受到更多干扰，还需要花更多资金来填补职位空缺。

To keep survivors motivated, managers need to get three things right.

为了保持幸存员工的积极性，管理者需要做好三件事。

The first imperative¹¹ is to appear fair.

首先就是要显得公平。

This is a capacious concept.

这是一个宽泛的概念。

Fairness involves treating departing colleagues well: one particular wrinkle with the current tech lay-offs is that they affect lots of immigrant workers, whose eligibility¹² to remain in America is now in doubt.

“公平”包括善待离职的同事：当前科技公司裁员的一个特殊问题是，裁员影响了大量移民工人，导致他们的留美资格存疑。

It means showing sensitivity about executive compensation: saying that downsizing is the hardest thing you’ve ever done is less credible¹³ when profit-related bonuses end up paying for another weekend house.

“公平”意味着要对高管薪酬表现出敏感：当利润相关的奖金最终用来购买另一栋周末度假屋时，“裁员是我做过的最困难的事情”这种说法就不那么可信了。

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 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

3 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

4 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

5 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

6 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

7 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

8 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

9 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

10 turnover   

n.人员流动率，人事变动率；营业额，成交量

参考例句：

• The store greatly reduced the prices to make a quick turnover.这家商店实行大减价以迅速周转资金。
• Our turnover actually increased last year.去年我们的营业额竟然增加了。

11 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

12 eligibility   

n.合格，资格

参考例句：

• What are the eligibility requirements? 病人被选参加试验的要求是什么？ 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望
• Eligibility for HINARI access is based on gross national income (GNI). 进入HINARI获取计划是依据国民总收入来评定的。

13 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？