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Working Life From BC to AD 工作生活新纪元
From BC to AD, working life has entered a new era.
从疫情前到居家后,工作生活进入新纪元。
January and February seem like an ancient era-the BC (before coronavints) to the new AD (after domestication).
一月和二月仿佛是一个古老的纪元——公元前(冠状病毒前)到新的公元(居家后)。
The current, rapid shift to AD was enabled by preconditions. First, broadband services are today quick enough to allow for document downloads and videoconferencing. Second, advanced economies revolve around services, not manufacturing.
目前快速向公元后的转变是由先决条件促成的。首先,今天的宽带服务很快,足以进行文件下载以及视频会议。第二,发达经济体围绕服务业展开,而非制造业。
Not only that, it has made remote work seem both normal and acceptable. In the past employees who stayed home had to overcome the suspicion that they were bunking off. Now those who insist on being at the office sound self-important.
不仅如此,它还使远程工作看起来正常且可接受。过去,呆在家里的员工必须克服他们偷懒的嫌疑。现在那些坚持要在办公室的人听起来很自以为是。
Yet although offices will not disappear, it is hard to imagine that working life will return to BC ways. For more than a century workers have stuffed themselves onto crowded trains and buses, or endured traffic jams, to get into the office, and back, five days a week. For the past two months they have not had to commute, and will have enjoyed the hiatus.
尽管办公室不会消失,但是难以想象工作生活回归到冠状病毒爆发前的方式。一个多世纪以来,职员们把自己挤上拥挤的火车和公交,或者要忍受交通拥堵,去办公室,然后回来,一周工作五天。在过去的两个月里,他们不需要通勤,而且会享受这段空档期。
Employers, for their part, have maintained expensive digs in city centres because they needed to gather staff in one place. The rent is only part of the cost; there is the cleaning, lighting, printers, catering and security on top. When you work at home, you pay for your own utilities and food.
对于雇主来说,他们要在市中心维持昂贵的办公地点,因为他们需要把员工集中到一个地方。租金只是费用的一部分;还有清洁费、照明费、打印机费用、伙食费和保安的工资。而当你在家办公时,你需要自己支付水电费和伙食费。
Another aspect of the AD era may be the disappearance of the five-day working week. Even before the pandemic many workers became used to taking phone calls or answering emails at the weekend. In the AD era the barrier between home and working life, a useful way of relieving stress, will be even harder to sustain.
居家后这一时代的另一个方面可能是五天制工作周的消失。甚至在疫情前,许多员工就习惯于在周末接电话或回复电子邮件。在居家后的时代,家庭和工作生活之间的隔阂是缓解压力的一种有效方式,这种隔阂将更难维持。
Looking further out, the AD era may bring other changes. Some may decide to live in small towns where housing costs are lower, since they have no need to commute. Men will have fewer excuses to skip cleaning or child care if they are not disappearing to the office. In a sense, this is a return to normal: until the 19th century most people worked at or close to their homes. But social historians may still regard 2020 as the start of a new age.
展望未来,居家后的时代会带来其他改变。一些人可能决定住在小城镇,那里房价更低,因为他们不需要通勤。如果男人们没有出现在办公室,就不会有那么多的借口来逃避打扫或照顾孩子。从某种意义上说,这是回归平常:直到19世纪,大多数人都在家里或离家很近的地方工作。但是社会历史学家可能仍旧认为2020年是一个新时代的开始。 |