優秀職場英語作文
職場英語作文,能提高英語水平。小編在此獻上優秀英語作文,希望對大家有所幫助。
想激勵員工 就漲點工資吧
With compensation budgets still suffering a post-recession hangover, and the average U.S. salary hike hovering around 3% a year, compensation strategy has become a hot topic. How do you design a pay plan that motivates people to do their best work? A new study by three Harvard Business School researchers suggests a novel answer: Shortly after you hire new workers, give them a raise.
時至今日,薪酬預算還沒有從經濟衰退時期的宿醉中清醒過來,美國的年均工資漲幅依然徘徊在3%左右,難怪薪酬戰略已經成為一個熱門話題。那麼,如何才能設計出一項足以激勵員工全情投入工作的薪酬計劃呢?日前,哈佛商學院***Harvard Business School***的3位研究人員提出了一個新奇的解決方案:僱傭新員工不久後,就給他們加薪。
"Previous research has shown that paying people more than they expect may elicit reciprocity in the form of greater productivity, " notes Deepak Malhotra, a Harvard business-administration professor who worked on the study. What he and his colleagues found, however, was that the connection between more pay and extra effort depends on presenting the increase "as a gift -- that is, as something you've chosen to do purely as a nice gesture, with no strings attached."
“以前的研究已經表明,支付超出員工預期的薪水可能會產生投桃報李的效果,員工的生產率有望大幅提升,”哈佛大學工商管理學教授迪帕克?馬爾霍特拉指出。然而,他和他的同事們發現,更高的工資能否激發額外的努力,還要取決於漲工資是不是企業贈送給員工的“一件禮物,也就是說,你選擇這樣做純粹是一種友好的表示,並沒有任何附加條件。”
Malhotra and his team studied 266 people hired by oDesk, a global online network of freelancers, to do a one-time data-entry project for four hours. All of the new hires were people in developing countries, for whom hourly wages of $3 and $4 were higher than what they had been making in previous jobs.
馬爾霍特拉和他的團隊研究了oDesk公司的266位員工,這家全球性的自由職業者線上網路聘請他們從事一個為期4小時的一次性資料錄入專案。所有新員工都來自發展中國家,3美元或4美元的時薪比他們以前掙的工資高了不少。
The researchers split the group up into three parts. One group was told they would earn $3 an hour. A second group was initially hired at $3 an hour but, before they started working, they got a surprise: The budget for the project had expanded unexpectedly, they were told, and they would now be paid $4 an hour. The third group was offered $4 an hour from the start and given no increase.
研究人員把這些工人分成三個小組。第一組工人被告知,他們將領取3美元時薪。第二組最初也是以時薪3美元的工資水平招聘的,但在開始工作前,他們非常驚喜地獲悉,這個專案出人意料地增加了預算,他們現在將獲得4美元時薪。第三組從一開始就被給予4美元時薪,此後沒有增加。
Even though the second and third groups were ultimately paid the same amount, the second group worked harder and produced more -- about 20% more -- than either of the other two. People in the second group also showed the most stamina, maintaining their focus all the way through the assigned task and performing especially well toward the end of the four hours. Interestingly, the more experienced employees in the high-performing group were the most productive of all, apparently because their previous work experience led them to appreciate the rarity of an unexpected raise.
即使第二組和第三組最終領取的薪酬完全相同,但相較於其他兩組,第二組工作得更加賣力,產出也更高,大約多20%。此外,第二組工人也表現出最大的耐性。他們一直專心致志地從事手頭的任務,在4小時臨近結束之際的表現尤其出色。有意思的是,在這個高績效組別中,經驗相對豐富的工人的生產率也最高,顯然是因為過往的工作經驗讓他們倍加感激這次難得一見的意外漲薪行為。
Contrary to conventional wisdom, Malhotra points out that higher pay, in and of itself, didn't boost productivity: People who made $4 an hour from the outset worked no harder than those who were hired at $3 and were then paid $3.
馬爾霍特拉指出,與世俗認知相反,更高的工資自身並沒有推升生產率:從一開始就被給予4小時時薪的工人,並沒有比那些以3美元時薪招募而來,隨後獲得3美元時薪的工人更努力地工作。
To get the most impact from their pay plans, he adds, companies might consider not only what to pay new hires, but when to pay it.
他補充說,為了讓薪酬計劃產生最大的影響力,公司管理層或許不僅需要考慮向新員工支付多高的薪水,還需要仔細斟酌派發薪酬的時機。
"The key thing is how you present [the reason for an increase], " he says. Doling out extra money could boost productivity most "if you make it clear that the pay raise is something you're choosing to do just because you can. Our theory is that people will reciprocate. If you do something nice, they'll do something nice back.
“關鍵是如何說明漲工資的原因,”他說。“我們的理論是,如果你明確表示,你選擇加薪僅僅是因為你有能力這麼做,人們將回報這種行為。如果你投之以桃,員工就將報之以李。”只有這樣,發放額外的錢才能在最大程度上提升企業的生產率。
想當SOHO族?說服老闆同意在家上班
Question: I work in a major city. The suburb where I live is not that far away as the crow flies, but the horrendous traffic ***even in the predawn hours*** means my commute often takes more than an hour each way, and it is a huge drain on my energy. Then, when I get to work, my day is so full of stupid little interruptions that it's hard to focus on one thing long enough to finish it.
問題:我在一座大城市上班。我住在郊區,離公司總部的直線距離並不算太遠,但可怕的交通狀況***甚至在黎明時分***意味著,我上下班一個單程往往就需要花費一個多小時,這極大地消耗了我的能量。當我終於抵達公司,開始一天的工作時,各種愚蠢之極,非常瑣碎的干擾,又讓我很難保持足夠長時間的專注度,進而導致我無法完成工作。
For both of these reasons, I would be a lot more productive if I worked from home at least a couple of days a week -- no commute, no distractions. The problem is my boss. When I have approached him about this, he always says, "If I can't see you, how do I know you're working?" He says it jokingly, but actually I think he means it. Also, he has brought up the fact that Yahoo, Best Buy, and HP have limited or banned telecommuting, and expressed concerns about data security if people are working from home. Any ideas about how to persuade him to let us try it anyway?
出於這兩個理由,我認為,倘若我每週至少有一兩天在家辦公——無需上下班,沒有分心之事,我的工作效率肯定會大幅提升。問題在於我的老闆。每當我向他提及此事時,他總是說,“如果我看不見你,我怎麼知道你在工作呢?”他說話的口吻像是開玩笑,但我覺得這其實是他真實的想法。此外,他還提到雅虎、百思買和惠普等大公司都限制或禁止遠端辦公這一事實,並且擔心大家都在家工作或將危及資料的安全性。請問我究竟該如何說服他呢?
Answer: Next time your boss brings up Yahoo, Best Buy, and HP as paragons of policy, says David Heinemeier Hansson, you might point out that "all three are in trouble, so they need all hands on deck. Why would any company want to join that club?"
回答:下一次,當你的老闆把雅虎、百思買和惠普奉為政策典範時,你或許有必要援引大衛-漢森的看法,向他指出,“所有這三家公司目前都陷於困境,所以他們需要全體員工各就各位。為什麼還有公司想要加入這個俱樂部呢?”
Far more relevant is that telework has quietly become the rule, rather than the exception. Remote is packed with other compelling reasons for telecommuting's rise. Cutting out commutes is better for the ozone layer than having millions of people sitting in traffic jams, spewing carbon monoxide, for hours on end. It allows companies to source top talent from anywhere in the country or the world, without regard for how much face time they can put in at the office.
更中肯的理由是,遠端辦公已悄然成為業界規範,而不是特殊案例。《遠端辦公革命》一書還為這種工作方式的崛起列舉了其他一些令人信服的理由。相較於讓數百萬人堵在路上,連續數小時不停地噴湧一氧化碳,省掉通勤顯然更有利於保護我們的臭氧層。遠端辦公可以讓公司廣納天下英才,並且根本沒必要考慮這些來自美國或世界某個地區的精英們能夠在辦公室停留多長時間。
Working from home or on the road, at least some of the time, also tends to make people more productive."The modern office has become an interruption factory, and interruptions are not free. There is a cost in productivity to constantly demanding people's attention immediately for little things that are not really urgent," Hannson says. "People who can't concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time are almost certainly not doing their best work."
此外,至少在某些時候,在家或旅途中工作往往使得人們的工作更富有成效。漢森認為,“現代化寫字樓已經成為一個紛紛擾擾的工廠,但干擾並不是沒有代價的。不斷要求人們立刻注意一些其實並不緊迫的小事情,的確會拖累生產率,”“無法持續幾分鐘以上集中精神的人,幾乎肯定做不好他們的工作。”
Hansson offers three suggestions for winning over your reluctant boss. First, the idea that you'd be able to get more work done, and do it better, without distractions ***and without the wearying commute*** makes a good starting point for the discussion. "Don't frame it as a request for a perk, as if this is a favor you're asking the company to do for you," Hansson says. "Instead, emphasize how much better it will be for the team and the company if you are able to work without interruptions. Having you at your most productive benefits the boss at least as much as it benefits you."
漢森就如何說服你那位不情願的老闆提供了三項建議。第一,你或許應該開門見山地告訴老闆,在沒有分心之事,並且無需經受通勤折磨的情況下,你能夠更好地完成更多工作。“不要把遠端辦公說成一種額外待遇,好像你正在要求公司幫你一個忙似的,”漢森說。“相反,你應該強調指出,如果你能夠不受打擾地工作,那就將為團隊和公司帶來更大的好處。讓你處在最富成效的工作狀態,對於老闆的好處至少跟對於你自己的好處一樣大。”
Second, "you'll need to address his concern about data security," Hansson notes. "But data is not necessarily secure just because people are working in an office together. Employees take laptops home, they carry company data in their personal smartphones, they go on business trips. If there are security gaps the company needs to address, that is a serious issue whether you are working at home or not." Before bringing up telecommuting with your boss again, ask your in-house techies for help in hack-proofing the devices you plan to use.
第二,“你需要解決他對於資料安全性的關切,”漢森指出。“但僅僅因為人們一起在辦公室工作,並不一定能夠保證資料的安全。員工往往把膝上型電腦帶回家,他們的智慧手機也攜帶公司資料,而且還經常出差。如果公司存在亟需填補的安全漏洞,那的確是一個嚴重的問題,但這跟你是否在家工作並無關係。”再次向你的老闆提出遠端辦公要求之前,先尋求公司內部技術人員的幫助,讓他們為你打算使用的裝置安裝防黑客軟體。
And third, Hansson suggests enlisting more of your colleagues to the cause. "Trying out telecommuting with just one or two people is doomed to fail, because that one person, or two people, will become too isolated from the group," he says. "A better way is to have all the people on your team work remotely some of the time, so everyone gets a taste of it, and no one is the 'odd man out' who's always calling in on the conference line at meetings." At some companies, he adds, teams or departments start with "work-at-home Wednesdays," so everyone gets at least one distraction-free day per week.
漢森提出的第三個建議是,爭取拉攏更多的同事加入這項事業。“僅僅一兩個人嘗試遠端辦公,是註定要失敗的,因為這一兩個人將與團隊嚴重分離,”他說。“一個更好的辦法是,讓團隊成員在某些時候全部遠端辦公,讓每個人都有機會體驗這種工作方式,這樣就不會有人成為那個總是佔據公司會議線路的‘離群索居者’。”他補充說,在一些公司,團隊或部門開始實行“週三在家工作”制度,這樣每個人每週至少可以有一個不受干擾的工作日。
The hardest argument to counter is, "If I can't see you, how do I know you're working?" Says Hansson, "It reflects a deep-seated fear of losing control. Fighting that requires that you go slowly and start small -- 'I worked from home on Tuesday and look at all the great stuff I got done' -- and then gradually increase the amount of time you telecommute."
最難反駁的觀點是,“如果我看不見你,我怎麼知道你在工作呢?”漢森說。“這反映出一種根深蒂固的恐懼感——老闆害怕失去他對公司的掌控力。反駁這種觀點,需要你放慢腳步,從小處著手——‘我週二在家工作,您瞧瞧,我已經出色地完成了這麼多工作’——然後逐漸增加你遠端辦公的時間。”
Hansson says that at his company, Chicago-based collaboration software maker 37signals, where most of the staff works remotely, "the biggest problem we have had is not people goofing off while working at home, but people overworking. They get into a state of flow and just keep going. Sometimes, to keep them from eventually burning out, you have to protect employees from themselves and insist that they take some time off." But of course, your boss may have to see that to believe it.
漢森說,在他供職的芝加哥協同軟體製造商37signals公司,大部分員工都採用遠端辦公的工作方式。“我們的最大問題不是在家工作的員工故意磨洋工,而是他們過於操勞了。他們的心智進入了一種流暢狀態,一刻不停歇地忘我工作。有時候,為了防止他們最終精疲力竭,你還必須保護自己的員工,堅決要求他們休息一段時間。”當然,除非親眼所見,你的老闆或許不相信天底下還有這樣的事情。