Telework

　　電子居家辦公

　　Prior to the Industrial Revolution, most people worked either close to or inside their own home.

　　工業(yè)革命之前，大多數(shù)人在自家或附近的地方干活。

　　However,mass production technologies changed all this, separating work life from home life, as people began to travel to centrally located factories and offices.

　　然而，大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)技術改變了這種方式。由于人們開始到場所集中的工廠和辦公室上班，家庭生活便和工作過程分離開來。

　　In cities all over the United States, workers spend several hours a day in cars crawling along in traffic to get to offices many miles from home.

　　在美國各地的城市里，上班族每天花費幾小時開著車徐徐行進在車流中，趕往離家數(shù)英里的辦公室。

　　They experience stress, waste time, and pay a lot for gas, car maintenance, and parking.

　　不僅神經(jīng)高度緊張，浪費時間，還要為汽油、維修和泊車花一大筆錢。

　　Once they get to work, they make their way through a maze of cubicles, each with its computer, phone, and file cabinet.

　　到達上班地點后，他們便在配有電腦、電話和文件柜的迷宮般的小隔間中活動穿梭。

　　As we approach the new millennium, however, skyrocketing office space prices combined with drastically reduced prices for portable electronic computing and communication devices seem ready to reverse this trend.

　　隨著進入新世紀，辦公用地租金的瘋長伴隨著便攜式電子計算機與通訊設備價格驟降，似乎在改變這一工作方式。

　　The broad term for doing one’s work away from a centrally located office is telework.

　　在集中辦公地點以外進行工作的廣義詞是電子居家辦公。

　　Studies reveal that the cost savings from such programs can top $8000 per employee annually.

　　調(diào)查研究顯示，采用這種辦公方式所節(jié)省的費用可高達每年人均8000美元。

　　Not surprisingly, given these savings, the number of teleworkers has increased dramatically over the past few years.

　　因此，由于節(jié)省費用，近年來電子居家辦公一族的人數(shù)大大增加便不足為奇。

　　It has been estimated that over 10 million U.S. workers now fall under this heading.

　　估計目前有1000萬以上的美國人屬于這一族。

　　The experiences of many companies suggest that telecommuting can increase workplace flexibility and enhance productivity.

　　許多公司的經(jīng)驗表明，利用電子手段居家辦公可以提高工作場所的靈活性和辦公效率。

　　Part of this productivity resulted from the flexibility that allowed people to work when they were at their peak efficiency (late at night or early in the morning for some) and work around nonwork obligations(such as caring for a sick child).

　　有一部分工作效率來源于這種工作方式的靈活性：既可以在狀態(tài)最佳時高效工作(如深夜和凌晨時分，對這些人而言工作效率最高)，也可以承擔工作以外的義務(如照顧生病的孩子)。

　　Telecommuting,however, is not without its obstacles.

　　然而，利用電子手段居家辦公的方式不無弊端。

　　At IBM,some teleworkers perceived that this type of arrangement hindered teamwork, felt isolated from informal networks of communications, and missed the mentoring opportunities that went along with traditional office work.

　　IBM公司一些采用這種工作方式上班的員工認為，它無法體現(xiàn)團隊合作，有一種與日常人際溝通隔離之感，失去了傳統(tǒng)辦公事務中常見的相互請教的機會。

　　Telecommuting also makes many employees feel isolated and out of touch, leading to decreased motivation and less, not more productivity.

　　電子居家辦公也使許多員工產(chǎn)生孤寂和與世隔絕之感，從而造成工作積極性的減弱，使工作效率不升反降。

　　By blurring the barriers between work and family, telecommuting often leads to more work hours and more interference with family life.

　　利用電子手段居家辦公造成工作與家庭的界限模糊不清，因而延長了工作時間并干擾了家庭生活。

　　Thus, there is no one best way of designing work.

　　因此，沒有哪一種工作方式最佳。

　　Whereas telecommuting may have positive influence on some outcomes, it has negative effects on others.

　　利用電子手段居家辦公或許對于有些工作成果能發(fā)揮積極作用，而在其他方面卻有消極影響。

　　That is to say, telecommuting is not universally applicable.

　　也就是說，利用電子手段居家辦公并非普遍適用。

　　Jobs and individuals must be suitable, and staff must be capable of of managing telecommuters.

　　工作方式必須適合個人情況，同時，行政人員必須懂得如何對在家辦公的員工進行管理。

　　In addition, technological improvements, such as hig-seed moderms, are crucial.

　　此外，諸如高速的調(diào)制解調(diào)器等技術改進也至關重要。