找一把舒適的椅子:永久的在家工作即將到來

找一把舒適的椅子:永久的在家工作即將到來

Indefinite. Or even permanent. These are words companies are using about their employees working from home.

無期限。甚至是永久性的。這些詞是公司用來形容在家工作的員工的。

It's three months into a huge, unplanned social experiment that suddenly transported the white-collar workplace from cubicles and offices to kitchens and spare bedrooms. And many employers now say the benefits of remote work outweigh the drawbacks.

一場(chǎng)巨大的、毫無計(jì)劃的社會(huì)實(shí)驗(yàn)已經(jīng)進(jìn)行了三個(gè)月，它突然把白領(lǐng)工作場(chǎng)所從小隔間和辦公室轉(zhuǎn)移到了廚房和空余臥室。許多雇主現(xiàn)在都表示，遠(yuǎn)程工作的好處大于壞處。

Tech companies Twitter and Facebook captured headlines with announcements about permanent work from home. But the news from a 94-year-old company based in the heartland — Columbus, Ohio — may have been even more significant.

科技公司推特和臉書發(fā)布了在家永久工作的消息，成為頭條新聞。但是，這家總部位于美國(guó)腹地——俄亥俄州哥倫布市、有著94年歷史的公司發(fā)布的消息可能更為重要。

Nationwide Insurance is shutting five regional offices since remote work has gone off so smoothly during the pandemic. And thousands of employees will permanently ditch their commutes for home offices.

因?yàn)樵诖罅餍衅陂g遠(yuǎn)程工作進(jìn)展順利，全國(guó)保險(xiǎn)公司關(guān)閉了五個(gè)地區(qū)辦事處。成千上萬的員工將永久地放棄通勤，在家辦公。

CEO Kirt Walker says it's been a popular decision at the company.

公司首席執(zhí)行官科特·沃克表示，這是公司的一個(gè)廣受歡迎的決定。

"Overwhelming. Hundreds of emails and cards and letters and phone calls. 'Thank you for doing this.' So I think we got it right," he says.

“成百上千的電子郵件、卡片、信件和電話。‘謝謝你這么做。’所以我認(rèn)為我們做對(duì)了。他說。

It's all about the money

一切都是為了錢

Saving money is always an attractive proposition for businesses, especially these days. And that's likely to drive the shift to remote work, according to Kate Lister, who consults with companies on the future of work as president of Global Workplace Analytics.

對(duì)企業(yè)來說，省錢一直是一個(gè)很有吸引力的提議，尤其是現(xiàn)在。全球職場(chǎng)分析公司總裁凱特•李斯特表示，這很可能會(huì)促使人們轉(zhuǎn)向遠(yuǎn)程工作。

One potential change: Demand for commercial real estate falls due to the growth of remote work and the realities of a painful economic downturn. For example, 90% of the 60,000 employees at investment bank Morgan Stanley have been working remotely during the pandemic. Lesson learned, according to Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman.

一個(gè)潛在的變化是：由于遠(yuǎn)程工作的增長(zhǎng)和痛苦的經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退的現(xiàn)實(shí)，對(duì)商業(yè)房地產(chǎn)的需求下降。例如，投資銀行摩根士丹利的60000名員工中，90%在流行病期間一直在遠(yuǎn)程工作。摩根士丹利首席執(zhí)行官詹姆斯•戈?duì)柭硎荆覀兾×私逃?xùn)。

Office space is expensive

辦公空間很貴

Other major companies, such as the investment bank Barclays and Oreo-maker Mondelez International also expect to use less real estate as more employees work from home. Nationwide says costs will be significantly lower with so many employees working from home instead of offices, and it intends to return the savings to customers in lower premiums.

投資銀行巴克萊和奧利奧制造商蒙德萊茲國(guó)際等其他大公司也預(yù)計(jì)，隨著更多員工在家辦公，房地產(chǎn)使用量也將減少。Nationwide表示，由于如此多的員工在家工作而不是在辦公室工作，成本將大大降低，它打算以較低的保費(fèi)將節(jié)省的成本返還給客戶。

According to Global Workplace Analytics, "a typical employer can save about $11,000 year for every person who works remotely half of the time." And workers can bank between $2,500 and $4,000 a year working remotely half time.

據(jù)全球職場(chǎng)分析公司的數(shù)據(jù)，“一個(gè)典型的雇主可以為每一個(gè)有一半時(shí)間遠(yuǎn)程工作的人每年節(jié)省大約11000美元。”而工人們?cè)谝话霑r(shí)間的遠(yuǎn)程工作中，每年可以獲得2500到4000美元的收入。

But remote work all the time isn't popular with either bosses or workers.

但總是遠(yuǎn)程辦公并不受老板和員工的歡迎。

Gorman says he wouldn't want Morgan Stanley's employees working from home exclusively. And that seems to be the prevalent view for both management and employees.

戈?duì)柭f，他不希望摩根士丹利的員工只在家工作。這似乎是管理層和員工的普遍觀點(diǎn)。

"If I were to have it my way, I would probably work from home three days and go into the office two," says Matthew Shultz, a plumbing designer who lives in Fort Worth, Texas. Normally he drives an hour each day to get to an office in Dallas. But these days he pads over to a guest bedroom at home and fires up his computer.

居住在得克薩斯州沃斯堡的管道設(shè)計(jì)師馬修·舒爾茨說:“如果按照我的方式，我可能會(huì)在家工作三天，到辦公室工作兩天。”他通常每天開車一小時(shí)去達(dá)拉斯的辦公室。但這些天，他會(huì)在家里的客房里打開電腦。

"You know I'm sitting here wearing shorts and a T-shirt, and I've got my two cats just running around all through the house," he says. "It's kind of weird, but at the same time it's more comfortable. And I feel like I'm a lot more relaxed here than I am in in the office."

“你知道我坐在這里，穿著短褲和t恤，還有我的兩只貓?jiān)诜孔永锱軄砼苋ィ?rdquo;他說。“這有點(diǎn)奇怪，但同時(shí)也很舒服。我覺得在這里比在辦公室里要放松得多。”

Shultz says he gets at least as much done from home as in the office. That reflects the Global Workplace Analytics survey showing 77% of workers say they're fully productive at home. And managers are largely satisfied with their work performance.

舒爾茨說，他在家做的事情至少和在辦公室做的一樣多。這反映出，全球職場(chǎng)分析公司的調(diào)查顯示，77%的員工表示，他們?cè)诩夜ぷ餍屎芨摺９芾碚邔?duì)他們的工作表現(xiàn)非常滿意。