Lead-in
随着远程工作成为新常态，我们见证了工作方式的革命性变化。但是，当疫情的阴霾逐渐散去，一些公司开始重新审视他们的工作政策，要求员工回归传统的办公室环境。这种转变引发了激烈的讨论：为什么一些大公司像亚马逊、高盛会坚持要求员工返回办公室工作呢？投资者又是怎么看待远程工作政策的变化的呢？文章中还提出了混合工作模式，这一模式对于员工绩效是积极影响还是消极影响呢？
这篇文章深入探讨了这一话题：
1.分析了各大公司如亚马逊、高盛和普华永道等对远程工作政策的收紧；
2. 这些变化对员工、公司文化和投资者信心的深远影响；
3.老板们眼中的混合工作模式有利有弊。
让我们一起揭开这场办公室回归运动背后的复杂性和挑战吧！
Title
这篇文章的题目是“Dig out your trousers”，这个短语在英语中是一个非正式表达，通常意味着“准备开始工作”或“准备回归日常工作”。在这里，暗示了文章将要讨论的主题是关于员工从远程工作状态回归到办公室工作的要求，需要员工从休闲状态（可能穿着更随意的居家服装）转变为正式的工作状态（穿着正式的裤子），带有一定的幽默感。
Overview
Mind Map
Text Analysis
1
Part1（Para 1-3）:
The new policy of different companies
这一部分作为开篇，首先在第一段引用了一位亚马逊员工在Blind论坛上的抱怨，表达了对工作的不满，这种不满是由于公司的新政策引起的。
随后第二段描述了亚马逊的具体情况，这个新政策是要求员工每周五天回办公室工作，如果不愿意遵守新政策可以选择辞职。
最后第三段指出行业趋势，亚马逊不是唯一一个对远程工作政策收紧的大公司，还提到了高盛、普华永道和斯特兰蒂斯等其他几家公司也提高了员工到办公室工作的要求。
Intensive Reading
1. "MY MORALE FOR this job in gone, gonna totally check out," an Amazon worker recently wrote on Blind, an online forum where employees whinge about their employers. The cause of his discontent was a letter sent last month by Andy Jassy, the tech giant's boss, that ordered staff back to the office five days a week.
最近，一名亚马逊员工在一个员工可以抱怨雇主的在线论坛Blind上写道：“我的工作士气已经消失了，我打算彻底退出”他不满的原因是上个月这家科技巨头的老板安迪·贾西（Andy Jassy）寄来的一封信，信中要求员工每周五天回办公室。
morale n. Morale is the amount of confidence and cheerfulness that a group of people have. 士气
check out When you check out of a hotel or clinic where you have been staying, or if someone checks you out, you pay the bill and leave. 最常见的意思是退房，这里我们联系上下文可以推测出check out在文中的解释是员工打算在心理上或实际上离开他的工作，或者至少不再全心投入。
whinge vi. to complain in an annoying way 絮絮叨叨地抱怨
2. The mandate has caused grumbling among Amazon's office drones, who had previously been required to show up in person only three days a week. At a meeting on October 17th Matt Garman, head of Amazon's cloud-computing division, told a group of staff that if they did not want to adhere to the policy they could quit.
这项命令在亚马逊的办公室员工中引起了抱怨，他们之前只需要每周亲自出现三天。在10月17日的一次会议上，亚马逊云计算部门负责人马特·加尔曼告诉一群员工，如果他们不想遵守这项政策，可以选择辞职。
mandate n. an official order given to sb to perform a particular task 委托书；授权令
grumble vi. If someone grumbles, they complain about something in a bad-tempered way. 抱怨
office drone 这个词很有意思，指的是办公室苦力，从事单调职业的白领工人。
而drone这个词也很有意思，它有an aircraft without a pilot, controlled from the ground 无人驾驶飞机的意思，这里被用来形象地描述那些在办公室工作的员工，特别是那些日常遵循规定工作时间和任务的员工。这个表达带有一定的消极色彩，暗示这些员工可能像无人机一样，重复着单调乏味的工作，缺乏创造性和个人主动性。
cloud-computing division 指的是一个公司内部专门负责云计算业务的部门。在这个上下文中，它指的是亚马逊公司（Amazon）中负责云计算服务的部分，这通常包括提供、开发和管理云服务和解决方案的团队。
亚马逊的云计算部门，即 Amazon Web Services (AWS)，是全球领先的云计算服务提供商，提供包括存储、数据库、分析、机器学习、物联网等多种服务。这个部门对于亚马逊来说非常重要，因为它是公司收入和利润的主要来源之一。
division n. In a large organization, a division is a group of departments whose work is done in the same place or is connected with similar tasks. 部门
adhere to 遵守：按照（规则、信仰或承诺）要求的方式行事。
3. Amazon is not the only big company that has clamped down on remote work. Goldman Sachs, a bank, PwC, a professional-services firm, and Stellantis, a carmaker, are among those that have raised the number of days they require their employees to come into the office. More are set to follow. A recent global survey by KPMG, another professional-services firm, found that four-fifths of bosses expect a return to the office five days a week within three years.
亚马逊并不是唯一一家限制远程办公的大公司。银行高盛、专业服务公司普华永道和汽车制造商Stellantis都提高了要求员工上班的天数。更多的公司将紧随其后。另一家专业服务公司毕马威（KPMG）最近进行的一项全球调查发现，五分之四的老板希望在三年内每周回到办公室工作五天。
clamp down on To clamp down on people or activities means to take strong official action to stop or control them. 取缔; 严加限制
professional-services firm（专业服务公司）是指提供专业服务的公司，这些服务通常需要特定的专业知识和技能。这类公司可能涉及的领域包括会计、审计、税务、咨询、法律、人力资源、IT咨询等。它们通常不生产实体产品，而是提供解决方案、建议、管理服务或其他形式的专业支持，以帮助客户解决特定的问题或改善业务运营。
be set to do 表示被设定为做某事：某事被安排或计划好了，准备好去做。
four-fifths：四分之五，在这里指的是80%的老板。
分数的表达方式通常遵循以下规则：
分子为1时：
直接使用分数的名称，如 "one-half"（1/2）。
分子大于1时：
分子用基数词（cardinal numbers），分母用序数词（ordinal numbers），分子大于1时，分母要加“s”。
例如："two-thirds"（2/3）。
Extension
Goldman Sachs
高盛集团（Goldman Sachs）是一家成立于1869年的美国银行控股公司，为企业、金融机构、国家政府及高净值个人提供各种金融服务。总部设在纽约，并在东京、伦敦和中国香港设有分部，在23个国家拥有41个办事处。
选自Goldman Sachs官网上关于what we do板块的截图
PwC
普华永道（PricewaterhouseCoopers，简称 PwC），是一家跨国会计专业服务机构，于1998年由普华会计师事务所和永道会计师事务所合并而成，两家事务所的历史则可追溯至19世纪。该机构在全球范围提供会计、审计与咨询等专业服务，与德勤、毕马威、安永并称为“世界四大会计师事务所”。
Stellantis
STELLANTIS集团是一家由PSA集团和菲亚特克莱斯勒集团（FCA）以50:50的股比合并而来的汽车制造商及出行方案提供者，集团以清晰的愿景为指导：用独特、可靠且价格合理的出行解决方案提供出行自由。
2
PART2: ( Para 4-5 ) :
Employee reactions and policy consequences
第二部分首先提到了WFH Research的数据，这是一个学术团队，他们每月询问美国人过去一周在家工作了多少天。接着指出在某些行业，尤其是科技、金融和专业服务行业，在家工作的比例下降更为显著，平均下降了十个百分点。
然后到第五段，展示了强制返回办公室政策对员工情绪的影响，发现三分之一的高管和其他五分之一的员工如果被迫回办公室工作，会选择离职。
Intensive Reading
4. Such mandates may already be starting to show up in aggregatefigures. Every month WFH Research, a group of academics, asks Americans how many days they were able to work from home in the past week. In September around 28% of their working days were at home, down about two percentage points from the year before. The change in some industries is more dramatic: the portion of employees in tech, financial and professional-services firms who work at least some of the time from home has fallen by an average of ten percentage points.
这样的规定可能已经开始在总体数据中显现出来。每个月，WFH Research（一个由学者组成的团队）都会询问美国人在过去一周中有多少天能够在家工作。在9月份，大约有28%的工作日是在家中度过的，比去年同期下降了约两个百分点。一些行业的变动更为显著：在科技、金融和专业服务公司的员工中，至少有一部分时间在家工作的人数比例平均下降了十个百分点。
show up If something shows up or if something shows it up, it can be clearly seen or noticed. 使显露; 显露
aggregate figures 总计
aggregate adj. An aggregate amount or score is made up of several smaller amounts or scores added together. 合计的
a dramatic change 巨变
dramatic adj. sudden, very great and often surprising 突然的；巨大的
a/the portion of… 一部分...
portion n. one part of sth larger 部分
5. Mandating a return to the office tends to irritate staff. A survey by Gartner, a research firm, found that a third of executives and a fifth of other employees would leave their jobs if they were forced back to the office. For some companies, that may be the point. Many tech firms and consultancies hired too many workers during the covid-19 pandemic boom. Getting some of them to leave voluntarily would reduce severance costs--though it also risks pushing talented employees to join rivals.
强制要求返回办公室往往会激怒员工。一家研究公司Gartner进行的调查发现，如果被迫回到办公室，三分之一的高管和其他五分之一的员工会离职。对一些公司来说，这可能是他们的目的。许多科技企业和咨询公司在COVID-19大流行期间雇佣了过多的员工。让其中一些人自愿离职可以减少遣散费用——尽管这也存在将有才华的员工推向竞争对手的风险。
irritate vt. to annoy sb, especially by sth you continuously do or by sth that continuously happens 使烦恼（尤指不断重复的事情）
executive n. a group of people who run a company or an organization （统称公司或机构的）行政领导，领导层
consultancy n. A consultancy is a company that gives expert advice on a particular subject. 咨询公司
boom n. a period when sth such as a sport or a type of music suddenly becomes very popular and successful （某种体育运动、音乐等）突然风靡的时期，文中的意思很明显是在疫情期间。
severance costs 指的是解雇成本，是雇主在解除与员工的劳动关系时需要支付的费用，包括遣散费、补偿金等。
severance n. the act of ending sb's work contract 解雇；辞退
join rivals加入竞争对手，也就是站在敌人那边。
rival n. a person, company, or thing that competes with another in sport, business, etc. 竞争对手
3
PART3: ( Para 6-10 ) :
The Remote work VS Hybrid work
第三部分首先提出了一个观点，即许多老板认为员工在办公室工作能带来更好的绩效，然后，引用了一些研究来支持这个观点。
接着第七段文章提出了一个相反的观点，即没有足够的证据表明混合工作模式hybrid work会对绩效产生负面影响。
接下来在最后一部分，主要讲述了老板以及投资者的态度。第八段进一步讨论了工作性质对工作地点选择的影响。
第九段提到了一些老板担心混合工作模式会侵蚀公司文化，因为新员工无法吸收，老员工可能会忘记。
最后，文章提到了投资者似乎在观望这一趋势，引用了康奈尔大学Sean Flynn等人的研究，发现美国上市公司发布的远程工作政策的严格程度与公司股价表现相比同行没有显著影响。
Intensive Reading
6. The more likely explanation is that many bosses believe having employees in the office leads to better performance. Plenty of studies now suggest that remote employees are less productive. One paper that looked at data-entry workers in India found that those consistently working from home were 18% less productive than those consistently in the office.
更有可能的解释是，许多老板认为有员工在办公室会带来更好的表现。现在有大量研究表明，远程办公员工的工作效率较低。一篇研究印度数据录入工作者的论文发现，那些一直在家工作的人的工作效率比一直在办公室工作的人低18%。
productive adj. doing or achieving a lot 有效益的；富有成效的
data-entry n. It is the activity of putting data into a computer, for example, by using a keyboard. 数据输入
consistently adv. happening in the same way and continuing for a period of time 连续地；持续地
7. There is less evidence, though, that letting staff work from home a couple of days a week in a hybrid arrangement has a negative effect on performance. A randomised control trial at a Chinese online travel agency by Nick Bloom of Stanford University and two other researchers found no discernible difference in performance between hybrid workers and those who toiled entirely from the office.
不过，很少有证据表明，在混合型安排下，让员工每周在家工作几天会对绩效产生负面影响。斯坦福大学（Stanford University）的尼克•布鲁姆（Nick Bloom）和另外两名研究人员在一家中国在线旅行社进行的一项随机对照试验发现，混合型员工与完全在办公室工作的员工在工作表现上没有明显差异。
hybrid adj. You can use hybrid to refer to anything that is a mixture of other things, especially two other things. 混合的
randomised control trial 表示随机对照试验，这是一种科学研究方法，将参与者随机分配到不同的组别，在文中研究者分了两组，一组是在家和公司混合工作的人，另一组是完全在公司工作的人。
randomize vt. If you randomize the events or people in scientific experiments or academic research, you use a method that gives them all an equal chance of happening or being chosen. 使随机化
randomized 形容词形式
discernible difference可辨别差异
discernible adj. If something is discernible, you can see it or recognize that it exists. 看得见的; 辨认得出的
toil vi. When people toil, they work very hard doing unpleasant or tiring tasks. 辛苦工作
8. Bosses may quibble that call centre is not representative of the work many of their staff perform. More complex tasks, such as advising a client on how to structure a merger or designing a user interface, can require a lot of collaboration that may be difficult to replicate virtually. Junior employees may also receive less coaching if they interact with others only through scheduled Zoom calls.
老板们可能会狡辩说，呼叫中心并不能代表他们许多员工的工作。更复杂的任务，可能需要大量的协作，比如建议客户如何构建合并或设计用户界面，而这些协作可能难以复制。如果初级员工只通过预定的Zoom电话与他人互动，他们接受的指导也可能会减少。
quibble vt. to argue or complain about a small matter or an unimportant detail （为小事）争论，发牢骚
call centre A call centre is an office where people work answering or making telephone calls for a particular company. 电话服务中心，指一个专门的办公场所，员工在这里通过电话与客户进行交流，提供客户服务、技术支持、销售或其他类型的电话服务。
structure a merger 组织合并，指两家或多家公司合并的过程。
merger n. A merger is the joining together of two separate companies or organizations so that they become one. 合并
design a user interface 设计用户界面，指创建软件或网站等的用户交互界面。
interface n. the way a computer program presents information to a user or receives information from a user, in particular the layout of the screen and the menus （人机）界面（尤指屏幕布局和菜单）
replicate vt. to copy sth exactly 复制；（精确地）仿制
virtually adv. almost or very nearly, so that any slight difference is not important 几乎；事实上；
junior employees 初级员工
junior adj. having a low rank in an organization or a profession 地位（或职位、级别）低下的 反义词senior—senior employees
coaching n. the process of training sb to play a sport, to do a job better or to improve a skill （体育运动、工作或技能的）训练，培训，指导
9. Some bosses fret that hybrid work will erode their company's culture, as new employees don't absorb it and old ones forget it. In his letter, Mr Jassy wrote that Amazon's culture "has been one of the most critical parts of our success", and that "it's easier for our teammates to learn, model, practise, and strengthen" it when working together in the office.
一些老板担心混合型工作方式会侵蚀公司文化，因为新员工无法吸收，老员工也会忘记。贾西在信中写道，亚马逊的文化“一直是我们成功的最关键因素之一”，在办公室一起工作时，“我们的团队成员更容易学习、模仿、实践和加强”这种文化。
fret vt. to be worried or unhappy and not able to relax 苦恼；烦躁；焦虑不安
erode the culture 入侵文化，腐蚀文化
erode vt. to gradually destroy sth or make it weaker over a period of time; to be destroyed or made weaker in this way 逐渐毁坏；削弱；损害
10. For now, investors seem to be withholding judgment. A study published in April by Sean Flynn of Cornell University and two co-authors looked at 600 or so listed American firms that had published remote-work policies. The authors found that variation in the stringency of these had no significant effect on the performance of the firms' shares relative to those of their peers. If Mr Jassy is right, that may soon change.
目前，投资者似乎不愿做出判断。康奈尔大学的肖恩·弗林（Sean Flynn）和两位合著者于4月发表了一项研究，调查了600家左右公布了远程工作政策的美国上市公司。作者发现，这些严格程度的变化对公司股票相对于同行的表现没有显著影响。如果贾西是对的，这种情况可能很快就会改变。
withhold judgment 拒绝评价
withhold vt. to refuse to give sth to sb 拒绝给；不给
variation n. a change, especially in the amount or level of sth （数量、水平等的）变化
stringency n. Financial stringency is a situation in which a government or person does not have much money or is trying not to spend much. 财政紧缩; 手头紧
stringent adj. 有两个意思
1⃣️ ( of financial conditions 财政状况 ) difficult and very strictly controlled because there is not much money 紧缩的；短缺的；银根紧的
2⃣️ ( of a law, rule, regulation, etc. 法律、规则、规章等 ) very strict and that must be obeyed 严格的；严厉的
shares n. A company's shares are the many equal parts into which its ownership is divided. Shares can be bought by people as an investment. 股份; 股票
Extension
Zoom
Zoom是一款多人手机云视频会议软件，为用户提供兼备高清视频会议与移动网络会议功能的免费云视频通话服务。Zoom 致力于帮助广大企业和组织打造无障碍的沟通环境，提升工作效率。 视频、语音、内容共享和聊天云平台上手简单、安全可靠，可以跨移动设备、桌面、电话和会议室系统运行。
Summary
现在来总结一下吧！文章揭示了在数字化和灵活性日益增强的今天，强制返回办公室的必要性正在减少，而混合工作模式可能是一个平衡员工需求和公司目标的有效解决方案。同时，公司需要考虑如何维护公司文化，以及如何管理投资者对这些政策变化的信心。
那么现在我们也可以回答开篇提出的问题啦！
关于第一个问题，文章的答案很明显，亚马逊、高盛和普华永道这样的公司要求员工返回办公室工作，主要是因为这些公司的管理层认为office work能提高员工的生产力和绩效。
那么投资者是怎么看这件事情的呢？目前看来，投资者对公司远程工作政策的变化持观望态度。然而，如果像亚马逊CEO Andy Jassy所说的，即办公室工作对公司文化和成功至关重要，那么投资者的态度可能会随着时间的推移而改变。
最后一个问题，研究发现混合工作的员工和完全在办公室工作的员工在绩效上没有明显差异。这表明，对于许多工作来说，灵活的工作安排并不会损害工作效率，员工也更加青睐于这样的工作模式。
Comment
The article examines the trend of large companies, including Amazon and Goldman Sachs, requiring employees to return to the office. It raises concerns about the policy's effect on employee morale and corporate culture. While remote work is thought to decrease productivity, hybrid work models show no negative impact, suggesting that office mandates aren't essential for productivity gains.
Compared to the global trend, China has seen the emergence of hybrid work, as exemplified by online travel platforms like Qunar and Ctrip. Qunar announced that from July 15, employees could choose their office location every Wednesday and Friday, provided work is completed efficiently, so did Ctrip. This hybrid work can save on the ineffective costs associated with transitioning into work mode, reduce commuting expenses and time consumption, and enhance employee work efficiency. However, it also presents new challenges for companies, such as maintaining team collaboration efficiency and managing decentralized teams.
Moreover, hybrid work necessitates a relatively strong self-management ability from employees; otherwise, there's a risk of reduced productivity at home.
References
图片：必应
词典：牛津词典、柯林斯词典
网站：
https://cn.bing.com
https://www.amazon.com
https://aws.amazon.com/what-is-aws/?nc1=h_ls
https://www.goldmansachs.com
https://baike.baidu.com
本篇文章选自The Economist 2024年10月26日期刊
注：本篇外刊仅用来学习使用，无任何商业用途！
文字&排版 | 2023级16班缪文丽
指导教师 | 黄慧
