禁止遠程辦公成不了氣候
Best Buy followed Yahoo this week by ending its work from anywhere policy, but that doesn't mean there's a new trend in corporate America. Unless you're at a struggling company desperate to turn business around, working from home is here to stay.
上週，百思買（Best Buy）繼雅虎（Yahoo）之後宣佈取消在任意地點辦公的政策，不過這並不意味着禁止遠程辦公將成爲美國公司的一種新趨勢。除非公司正陷入絕望的困境，無法扭轉局面，否則，在家辦公的政策仍然會得到保留。The changes at Best Buy (BBY) and Yahoo (YHOO) are unique; they come amid hard times in which both companies have tapped new CEOs to turn things around. Best Buy, like other retailers, has been losing sales to online rivals such as Amazon (AMZN). Last March, the consumer electronic big box chain announced a major restructuring that includes closing stores, cutting jobs and trimming hundreds of millions of dollars in costs.
百思買和雅虎的政策變化有着特殊的背景。這兩家公司正處於困難時期，爲了扭轉局面，都重新任命了CEO。與其他零售商一樣，百思買的銷售一直被亞馬遜（Amazon）等在線競爭對手所蠶食。去年三月，這家消費電子零售巨頭宣佈進行大規模重組，措施包括關閉店鋪，減少工作崗位和削減數百億美元開支。Yahoo is also orchestrating a closely watched turnaround. Its revenues have declined in the past few years as companies like Google (GOOG) and Facebook (FB) garner more users and advertising dollars. Like it or not, both companies are looking to change their basic corporate cultures by getting employees to work -- where else? -- at the office. Under CEO Hubert Joly, who joined the company last August, Best Buy said earlier this week it will kill its Results Only Work Environment, which allowed employees to work wherever they wanted, including home. The chain's 4,000 non-store employees could still work out of the office, but now they will need a manager's approval. Similarly, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who was tapped for the top spot last July, instituted a policy last month that says employees could no longer work from home.
雅虎也在醞釀一場頗受關注的復興行動。過去幾年，公司收入下滑，而谷歌（Google）和Facebook等公司則獲得了更多的用戶和廣告收入。無論我們喜歡與否，這兩家公司都在考慮改變基本公司文化，要求員工到辦公室辦公。上週早些時候，去年八月剛剛接管百思買的新任CEO休伯特?喬利表示，公司將終止“結果至上的工作環境”。這種環境允許員工在任何他們想去的地方辦公，包括在家辦公。這家連鎖店的非店鋪員工仍可在辦公室之外的地點辦公，但現在必須獲得管理者的批准。同樣，去年七月上任的雅虎CEO梅麗莎?梅耶也在上個月推出一項政策，禁止員工在家辦公。
Years ago, the announcements might not have been such a big deal. But now that working remotely seems almost routine, the changes have unleashed endless outrage. Whatever critics are saying, Best Buy and Yahoo aren't necessarily against employees working from home. They are troubled companies taking big measures to turn things around. It's hard to effect change when so many employees don't come into the office. And as Slate's Matt Yglesias suggested, the end of work from home policies may really just be a back-handed way to lay off unproductive employees and cut costs.
多年以前，這或許算不上什麼大事。但如今，遠程辦公已經司空見慣，於是，這種改變便引發了無盡的憤怒。然而，不論批評家們怎麼說，百思買和雅虎不見得就是要與在家辦公的員工作對。畢竟這兩家公司都深陷困境，希望採取大規模行動來扭轉局面。如果過多員工不在辦公室，這些措施就很難產生效果。網絡雜誌Slate的馬特?伊格雷西亞斯認爲，取消在家辦公政策可能只是一個迂迴手段，目的是爲了解僱能力不足的員工，削減成本。What's happening at Yahoo and Best Buy won't likely carry over to healthy companies. After all, corporate America still sees the benefits of the home office. As The Wall Street Journal highlighted, more Americans are working from home at least one day a week than ever before. It's a trend that has benefitted corporations by boosting productivity and lowering costs. About 9.4% of U.S. workers, or 13.4 million people, worked at least one day at home per week in 2010, compared with 7%, or 9.2 million, in 1997, according to a Census Bureau report cited by theJournal.
雅虎和百思買的做法不可能蔓延到健康的公司。畢竟，美國公司看到的仍然是在家辦公的好處。正如《華爾街日報》（The Wall Street Journal）所說，與以前相比，越來越多的美國人每週至少會在家工作一天。這已經成爲一種趨勢。這種做法提高了工作效率，降低了成本，讓公司受益匪淺。《華爾街日報》引用美國人口統計局的報告稱，2010年，約9.4%的美國員工，相當於1,340萬人，每週至少在家工作一天，而在1997年這一比例僅有7%，即920萬人。Years from now, if Yahoo and Best Buy turn their businesses around, it may not be that surprising to find their employees back at their home offices.
如果雅虎和百思買能在幾年後扭轉目前的頹勢，然後你發現這兩家公司的員工又重新回到自己的家裏辦公室，那也不是什麼值得大驚小怪的事。
