2023年经济学人 工作中的朋友

Business

商业版块

Bartleby

巴托比专栏

Friends at work

工作中的朋友

Why it is a bad idea for managers to attempt to engineer office friendships.

为什么经理们试图策划办公室友谊不是一个好主意。

Scholars of happiness have found that close relationships are one of the critical ingredients of a contented¹ life.

研究幸福的学者发现，亲密关系是生活美满的关键因素之一。

What is true in general is also true of the workplace, according to research by Gallup.

盖洛普的研究显示，这一普遍法则也适用于职场。

The pollster finds that having a “best friend at work” is closely associated with all manner of good things, from greater employee engagement to higher retention² and better safety records.

这家民调机构发现，拥有“工作中的密友”与各种益处密切相关，包括更高的员工参与度、更高的留任率和更好的安全记录。

At some level, that is unremarkable.

在某种程度上，这并不令人惊奇。

Spending time with people you like makes most things more appealing, including work.

和你喜欢的人待在一起会让大多数事情变得更有吸引力，包括工作。

If a job is sufficiently³ humdrum⁴, camaraderie⁵ among colleagues can be the main draw.

如果一份工作已经足够乏味，那么同事之间的情谊可能是工作的主要吸引力。

The support of friends can also encourage people to try new things.

朋友的支持也可以鼓励人们尝试新事物。

A study from 2015 by Erica Field of Duke University, and her co-authors, looked at the impact of business training given to Indian women.

杜克大学的埃里卡·菲尔德和她的合著者在2015年进行了一项研究，考察了印度女性接受商业培训的影响。

Women who attended the course with a friend were more likely to end up taking out loans than those who came alone.

与朋友一起参加课程的女性比独自前来的女性更有可能获得商业贷款。

The reverse also applies.

反之亦然。

Antagonistic⁶ relationships with co-workers are always likely to make working life miserable⁷.

与同事的敌对关系总是可能让职场生活变得痛苦。

A study conducted by Valerie Good of Grand Valley State University found that loneliness has an adverse⁸ effect on the performance of salespeople⁹.

大峡谷州立大学的瓦莱丽·古德进行的一项研究发现，孤独对销售人员的业绩有不利影响。

Among other things, they start spending more on wining and dining their customers.

除了其他方面的不利影响，他们还开始在和客户吃饭方面花更多钱。

The only thing worse than a salesperson¹⁰ who sees you as a way to make money is one who wants your company.

比销售人员想要你的钱更糟糕的，只有这个销售还想要你陪他。

So friends matter.

所以朋友很重要。

The problems come when managers see the words “higher employee engagement” and leap to the conclusion that they should try to engineer work friendships.

当经理们看到“员工参与度更高”的字眼，并马上推导出他们应该策划工作中的友谊时，问题就来了。

In a report published last year Gallup gave the example of an unnamed organisation¹¹ which has a weekly companywide meeting that spotlights¹² one employee’s best friend at work.

在去年发布的一份报告中，盖洛普举了一个匿名组织的例子，该组织每周召开一次全公司会议，重点关注某一名员工在工作中最好的朋友。

It’s not known if, in the Q&A, others pop up to sob¹³: “But I thought we were best friends at work.”

目前还不清楚在问答环节，是否会有其他人突然哭起来，说：“我还以为我们才是工作中最好的朋友。”

Startups also offer services to encourage work friendships.

初创公司也提供服务来促进职场友谊。

One monitors the depth of connections between people in different teams.

一种服务是监测不同团队中人员之间的联系深度。

It identifies shared interests (gluten-free baking, say, or workplace surveillance) between employees who don’t know each other and arranges meetings between them.

它能识别互不认识的员工之间的共同兴趣(比如无麸质烘焙或工作监控)，并安排他们进行聚会。

You thought life was bad?

你觉得生活很糟糕？

At least you are not making crumpets with a stranger in finance.

但至少你不会和一个财务科的陌生人一起做烤面饼。

It is a mistake for managers to wade¹⁴ into the business of friend-making, and not just because it royally misses the point.

经理们干涉交友是错误的，这不仅仅是因为他们完全没有抓住重点。

The defining characteristic of friendship is that it is voluntary.

友谊的决定性特征是它是自愿的。

Employees are adults; they don’t need their managers to arrange play-dates.

员工都是成年人，他们不需要经理来安排玩耍聚会。

And the workplace throws people together, often under testing conditions: friendships will naturally follow.

而职场往往在考验人的条件下将人们聚集在一起：友谊自然会随之而来。

The bigger problem is that workplace friendships are more double-edged than their advocates allow.

更大的问题是，职场友谊比其倡导者所认为的更具双刃性。

They can quickly become messy when power dynamics¹⁵ change.

当权力动态发生变化时，职场友情可能很快就会变得一团糟。

The transition from friend to boss, or from friend to underling, is an inherently awkward one (“This is your final warning. Fancy a pint¹⁶?”).

从朋友变成老板，或者从朋友变成下属，这在本质上就很尴尬(“最后警告你一次。下班去喝一杯吗？”)。

And friendships have the potential to look a lot like cronyism¹⁷.

而且友谊有可能看起来很像任人唯亲。

A clever study by Zoe Cullen of Harvard Business School and Ricardo Perez-Truglia of University of California, Berkeley, found that employees’ social interactions with their managers could give their career prospects¹⁸ a boost relative to others.

哈佛商学院的佐伊·卡伦和加州大学伯克利分校的里卡多·佩雷斯-特鲁利亚进行了一项巧妙的研究，并发现相比与其他人，员工与经理进行社交互动，可能会给他们的职业前景带来助力。

The researchers looked at promotions¹⁹ of smokers²⁰ and non-smokers who worked for a large bank in South-East Asia, hypothesising that sharing smoking breaks with managers who also indulged might give workers a leg up.

研究人员研究了在东南亚一家大型银行工作的吸烟者和不吸烟者的晋升情况，假设是与同样吸烟的经理在休息时间一起吸烟可能会给员工带来晋升机会。

And so it did.

事实的确如此。

Smokers who moved from a non-smoking boss to a puffer were promoted more quickly than those who moved to another non-smoker.

一些吸烟者的老板从不吸烟的人换成吸烟的人，另一些吸烟者换了一个不吸烟的老板，结果前者比后者晋升得更快。

The authors found that social interactions did not just help smokers; socialising between male managers and male employees played a large role in perpetuating²¹ gender²² pay gaps.

作者发现，社交互动不仅帮助了吸烟者，而且男性经理和男性员工之间的社交活动也在固化性别薪酬差距方面起到了很大作用。

If firms are going to make friendship their business, they should worry about its downsides, too.

如果公司打算做职场友谊的生意，他们也应该考虑这些不利之处。

Companies should facilitate interactions between employees, particularly in a world of hybrid²³ and remote working.

公司应该促进员工之间的互动，尤其现在有了混合办公和远程办公。

Social gatherings²⁴ and buddy²⁵ systems are reasonable ways to encourage colleagues to meet each other and to foster a culture.

社交聚会和伙伴制度是鼓励同事见面并培养企业文化的合理方式。

But a high-quality work relationship does not require friendship.

但高质量的工作关系并不需要友谊。

It requires respect for each other’s competence²⁶, a level of trust and a desire to reach the same goal; it doesn’t need birthday cards and a shared interest in quiltmaking.

它需要尊重彼此的能力、一定程度的信任，以及实现相同目标的愿望。它不需要生日贺卡，也不需要有缝被子的共同爱好。

Firms should do what they can to encourage these kinds of relationships.

公司应该尽其所能地鼓励这种关系。

If individuals want to take it further, it’s entirely²⁷ up to them.

如果员工个人想让关系更进一步，这应该完全由他们决定。

1 contented   

adj.满意的，安心的，知足的

参考例句：

• He won't be contented until he's upset everyone in the office.不把办公室里的每个人弄得心烦意乱他就不会满足。
• The people are making a good living and are contented,each in his station.人民安居乐业。

2 retention   

n.保留，保持，保持力，记忆力

参考例句：

• They advocate the retention of our nuclear power plants.他们主张保留我们的核电厂。
• His retention of energy at this hour is really surprising.人们惊叹他在这个时候还能保持如此旺盛的精力。

3 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

4 humdrum   

adj.单调的，乏味的

参考例句：

• Their lives consist of the humdrum activities of everyday existence.他们的生活由日常生存的平凡活动所构成。
• The accountant said it was the most humdrum day that she had ever passed.会计师说这是她所度过的最无聊的一天。

5 camaraderie   

n.同志之爱，友情

参考例句：

• The camaraderie among fellow employees made the tedious work just bearable.同事之间的情谊使枯燥乏味的工作变得还能忍受。
• Some bosses are formal and have occasional interactions,while others prefer continual camaraderie.有些老板很刻板，偶尔才和下属互动一下；有些则喜欢和下属打成一片。

6 antagonistic   

adj.敌对的

参考例句：

• He is always antagonistic towards new ideas.他对新思想总是持反对态度。
• They merely stirred in a nervous and wholly antagonistic way.他们只是神经质地，带着完全敌对情绪地骚动了一下。

7 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

8 adverse   

adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的

参考例句：

• He is adverse to going abroad.他反对出国。
• The improper use of medicine could lead to severe adverse reactions.用药不当会产生严重的不良反应。

9 salespeople   

n.售货员，店员；售货员( salesperson的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The shop usually employs additional salespeople for the Christmas toy trade. 这家商店通常雇一些临时售货员来做圣诞节玩具生意。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Under our new system, salespeople sit down with each of our dealers. 根据新的制度，销售人员应逐个地同承销商洽商。 来自辞典例句

10 salesperson   

n.售货员，营业员，店员

参考例句：

• A salesperson works in a shop.售货员在商店工作。
• Vanessa is a salesperson in a woman's wear department.凡妮莎是女装部的售货员。

11 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

12 spotlights   

n.聚光灯（的光）( spotlight的名词复数 )；公众注意的中心v.聚光照明( spotlight的第三人称单数 )；使公众注意，使突出醒目

参考例句：

• The room was lit by spotlights. 房间被聚光灯照亮。
• The dazzle of the spotlights made him ill at ease. 聚光灯的耀眼强光使他局促不安。 来自辞典例句

13 sob   

n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣

参考例句：

• The child started to sob when he couldn't find his mother.孩子因找不到他妈妈哭了起来。
• The girl didn't answer,but continued to sob with her head on the table.那个女孩不回答，也不抬起头来。她只顾低声哭着。

14 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

15 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

16 pint   

n.品脱

参考例句：

• I'll have a pint of beer and a packet of crisps, please.我要一品脱啤酒和一袋炸马铃薯片。
• In the old days you could get a pint of beer for a shilling.从前，花一先令就可以买到一品脱啤酒。

17 cronyism   

n.任人唯亲，对好朋友的偏袒

参考例句：

• Many small town mayor and city official practice cronyism.许多小镇的市长和大城市的官员都有任人唯亲的行为。
• Bringing business people into politics can also produce corruption and cronyism.商人从政也容易带来腐败和任人唯亲。

18 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

19 promotions   

促进( promotion的名词复数 )； 提升； 推广； 宣传

参考例句：

• All services or promotions must have an appeal and wide application. 所有服务或促销工作都必须具有吸引力和广泛的适用性。
• He promptly directed the highest promotions and decorations for General MacArthur. 他授予麦克阿瑟将军以最高的官阶和勋奖。

20 smokers   

吸烟者( smoker的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily. 许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Chain smokers don't care about the dangers of smoking. 烟鬼似乎不在乎吸烟带来的种种危害。

21 perpetuating   

perpetuate的现在进行式

参考例句：

• Revenge leads to a self-perpetuating cycle of violence. 怨怨相报会导致永不休止的暴力。
• It'set out to eradicate heresy, and ended by perpetuating it. 它的目的只是要根除异端邪说，结果却巩固了异端邪说。 来自英汉文学

22 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

23 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

24 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

25 buddy   

n.（美口）密友，伙伴

参考例句：

• Calm down,buddy.What's the trouble?压压气，老兄。有什么麻烦吗？
• Get out of my way,buddy!别挡道了，你这家伙！

26 competence   

n.能力，胜任，称职

参考例句：

• This mess is a poor reflection on his competence.这种混乱情况说明他难当此任。
• These are matters within the competence of the court.这些是法院权限以内的事。

27 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。