全民宅家抗疫，學(xué)生宅在家學(xué)習(xí)。

他們的父母宅在家監(jiān)督他們學(xué)習(xí)，并且還要遠(yuǎn)程辦公。

Telecommute（家庭辦公：通過(guò)電話、電子郵件等與辦公室、顧客等進(jìn)行聯(lián)系）這個(gè)詞最早出現(xiàn)在1972年的《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》雜志上。

它組合了來(lái)自于希臘語(yǔ)的前綴tele，表示“遠(yuǎn)處”，和動(dòng)詞commute，意思是“上下班往返”。另一個(gè)近義詞是telework.

遠(yuǎn)程辦公是什么

Telecommuting (also known as working from home, or e-commuting) is a work arrangement in which the employee works outside the office, often working from home or a location close to home (including coffee shops, libraries, and various other venues).
遠(yuǎn)程辦公（也稱為在家辦公或電子通勤）是指員工在辦公室外工作的一種工作安排，通常在家或離家近的地方（包括咖啡店、圖書館和各種其他場(chǎng)所）工作。

話先說(shuō)明白，有些工作必然還是不能在家做的。

Tens of millions of jobs at all points of the income and skill spectrum are of course not suited to remote work.
有數(shù)以千萬(wàn)計(jì)的各種收入各種技能的職位都不適合遠(yuǎn)程工作。

?Doctors, dentists, and countless other healthcare workers of the world will always need to be hands-on with patients, just as：
醫(yī)生、牙醫(yī)、以及世界上無(wú)數(shù)的其他各種醫(yī)療工作者總是需要臨床作業(yè)；諸如：

?construction workers need to be on building sites
建筑工得在工地上

?scientists need to be in labs
科學(xué)家得在實(shí)驗(yàn)室里

?wait staff need to be in restaurants
服務(wù)生得在餐館里

?judges need to be in court
法官要在法院里

?hospitality employees need to be in hotels
酒店業(yè)從業(yè)者得出現(xiàn)在酒店里

……

為什么要遠(yuǎn)程辦公

遠(yuǎn)程辦公的存在必然有它的好處與適宜的人群。

More freedom
更自由

Telecommuting allows a worker greater freedom regarding her or his work hours and work location. It gives the employee more flexibility to balance work and personal obligations.
遠(yuǎn)程辦公使得工人在工作時(shí)間和工作地點(diǎn)兩方面有著更大的自由。員工可以更靈活地平衡工作和個(gè)人事務(wù)。

Productivity
效率

Often, working from home can make you more productive, because you do not have the distractions of office space. Of course, this is not necessarily true if you can be easily distracted by home appliances such as washing machines that make considerable noise, or if you are someone that actually needs supervision from your boss to concentrate on your work. Productivity sometimes entails a division of your residence where a space away from comfortable couches, beds, TVs should be designated.
在家工作通?？梢宰屇愀行?，因?yàn)闆](méi)有辦公空間的干擾。當(dāng)然，如果你很容易被諸如發(fā)出噪音的洗衣機(jī)之類的家用電器分心，或者你是一個(gè)真正需要老板監(jiān)督才能專心工作的人，那么你在家工作的效率不一定會(huì)高。想要在家高效工作有時(shí)需要?jiǎng)澐帜愕淖∷谄渲袆澇鲆粋€(gè)遠(yuǎn)離舒適的沙發(fā)、床、電視的空間（用來(lái)工作）。

斯坦福大學(xué)經(jīng)濟(jì)系教授Nicholas A. Bloom帶領(lǐng)團(tuán)隊(duì)2015年在The Quarterly Journal of Economics上發(fā)表了一項(xiàng)針對(duì)中國(guó)某大型網(wǎng)上旅游平臺(tái)員工在家辦公效率的研究。

Call center employees who volunteered to WFH were randomly assigned either to work from home or in the office for nine months.
自愿在家辦公的呼叫中心員工會(huì)被隨機(jī)安排在家或在辦公室工作，為期9個(gè)月。

他們發(fā)現(xiàn)：

Home working led to a 13 percent performance increase, of which 9 percent was from working more minutes per shift (fewer breaks and sick days) and 4 percent from more calls per minute (attributed to a quieter and more convenient working environment).
在家遠(yuǎn)程辦公產(chǎn)生了13%的績(jī)效提升，其中9%來(lái)自每班工作更多分鐘（更少的工作間休息、更少請(qǐng)病假），4%來(lái)自每分鐘更多的通話（歸因于更安靜和更方便的工作環(huán)境）。

Home workers also reported improved work satisfaction, and their attrition rate halved, but their promotion rate conditional on performance fell.
在家工作的員工的工作滿意度也有所提高，他們的自然減員率降低了一半，但他們以業(yè)績(jī)?yōu)闃?biāo)準(zhǔn)的晉升率卻下降了。

Employees' welfare
福利

Allowing workers to telecommute often makes them more productive, which benefits the company. Telecommuters are also likely to be happier in their jobs and are therefore more likely to stay with the company. Telecommuting even saves companies money in office expenses (such as rent and stationery).
允許員工遠(yuǎn)程辦公通常會(huì)提高他們的工作效率，這對(duì)公司有利。遠(yuǎn)程工作者在工作中也可能更快樂(lè)，因此更可能留在公司。遠(yuǎn)程辦公甚至為公司節(jié)省了辦公開(kāi)支（如租金與文具開(kāi)銷）。

Many industries offer telecommuting jobs. Some of these industries include sales, customer service, and marketing. Many jobs in technology (including computer and software programming) can be done via telecommuting.
許多行業(yè)都有遠(yuǎn)程辦公工作。例如銷售、客戶服務(wù)和市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷。許多技術(shù)工作（包括計(jì)算機(jī)和軟件編程）都可以通過(guò)遠(yuǎn)程辦公來(lái)完成。

Some medical professionals, including health claim analysts and even some radiologists, have begun to work from home.
一些醫(yī)學(xué)專業(yè)人士，包括健康索賠分析師，甚至一些放射科醫(yī)生，已經(jīng)開(kāi)始在家工作了。

但遠(yuǎn)程辦公并非沒(méi)有局限性，不然也不會(huì)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)發(fā)展這么久了，走在遠(yuǎn)程辦公前列的美國(guó)也只有8百萬(wàn)人在線上工作，約占1億5千萬(wàn)勞動(dòng)人口的5%（取自2017年美國(guó)人口調(diào)查局?jǐn)?shù)據(jù)）。

New requirements on venues
場(chǎng)地要求

You have to be extremely self-motivated, or else you may get distracted easily. You also need to find a productive place to do work, such as a home office or coffee shop.
你得非常有自我驅(qū)動(dòng)力，要不然你就很容易分心。在家得找出一個(gè)能讓你高效工作的區(qū)域，比方說(shuō)家庭辦公室或者咖啡店。

Mental health issues
心理問(wèn)題

Some people also find working from home to be a bit isolating, because you are not around your coworkers. Those who enjoy teamwork may lose their opportunity to bond with colleagues by teleconferencing alone.
有些人會(huì)覺(jué)得沒(méi)有同事在身邊，在家辦公很孤獨(dú)。喜歡團(tuán)隊(duì)協(xié)作的人只是搞遠(yuǎn)程會(huì)議的話，會(huì)覺(jué)得失去了和同事建立互信關(guān)系的契機(jī)。

如果你覺(jué)得自己的事情其實(shí)真的絕大部分情況下不用去辦公室做，被老板盯著不說(shuō)，還要忍受通勤的痛苦，那你就得好好想想怎么跟老板聊遠(yuǎn)程辦公的事。

You should come up with a strategic plan if you want to ask your employer if you can telecommute.
要是想去問(wèn)老板你是否可以遠(yuǎn)程辦公，你得先有個(gè)全局性的計(jì)劃。

First, decide what kind of schedule you have in mind (do you want to work from home full time? Come into the office part-time?).
首先，腦子里得知道你的工作日程安排是什么樣的。（你要在家全職工作呢還是偶爾兼職性地去下辦公室？）

Then, be sure you can explain how your telecommuting would benefit the company (Would it save the company money? Would you be able to increase productivity?).
其次，確保你能向老板解釋清楚你遠(yuǎn)程辦公能給公司帶來(lái)什么好處。（會(huì)給公司省錢嗎？你的工作效率會(huì)提高嗎？）

2020年初新冠肺炎疫情暴發(fā)以來(lái)，許多農(nóng)歷春節(jié)之后需要返工的公司，考慮到公共衛(wèi)生風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，都紛紛鼓勵(lì)員工轉(zhuǎn)戰(zhàn)到了線上。

MarketWatch在其2月11號(hào)的報(bào)道中采訪了20位中國(guó)白領(lǐng)員工。

We surveyed 20 Chinese white-collar employees, and found that most had either been asked to work from home or had the entire week of work canceled (most with pay).
我們調(diào)查了20名中國(guó)白領(lǐng)員工，發(fā)現(xiàn)大多數(shù)人要么被要求在家工作，要么被取消了一周的工作（大多數(shù)是帶薪的）。

另外作者還提到，中國(guó)南方的冬天，給在家辦公的人造成了很大的困難。

平常在辦公室吹空調(diào)是理所當(dāng)然的，在家整日整夜地開(kāi)空調(diào)，心里就不知什么滋味兒了。

Haoran and Sisi stay cooped up in their bedroom, with a small portable heater buzzing, while the rest of their apartment remains chilly. Their predicament is not unusual in the west and south of China. And it doesn’t make for the coziest work experience in the winter months.
Haoran和Sisi被迫呆在臥室里，一個(gè)小型的便攜式取暖器嗡嗡作響，公寓里其他房間仍然很冷。他們的困境在中國(guó)西部和南部并不罕見(jiàn)。而且，這么做不可能讓冬天的工作體驗(yàn)變得舒適。

最近，很多人抱怨在家辦公時(shí)間變長(zhǎng)，有時(shí)比在辦公室還長(zhǎng)。

這到底是因?yàn)槿藗冇X(jué)得環(huán)境舒服從而自愿加班，還是被迫超長(zhǎng)待機(jī)在線聽(tīng)差遣？

我們不知道答案。

至少疫情結(jié)束時(shí)，你就能在去辦公室和窩在家干活中，真正做一把選擇了。

Notes

venue /?venju?/ n
活動(dòng)場(chǎng)地（如音樂(lè)廳、體育比賽場(chǎng)館、會(huì)場(chǎng)）

spectrum /?spektr?m/ n
光譜；范圍，各層次

hospitality /?hɑ?sp??t?l?ti/ n
（款待客人、顧客等的）食物、飲料、服務(wù)；款待；好客；殷勤

attrition /??tr??n/ n
自然減員

stationery /?ste???nri/ n
文具

chilly /?t??li/ adj
陰冷的；寒冷的

編輯：陳月華
來(lái)源：arstechnica; thebalancecareers; MarketWatch; The Quarterly Journal of Economics