疫情期間許多國家都面臨失業(yè)率高的問題，在這個時候，西班牙政黨計劃推出一周4天工作制的試點項目，縮短工時卻不降薪，一方面希望可以提高勞動效率，幫助人們平衡工作和生活，另一方面也希望有利于解決失業(yè)問題。

For years, advocates for a four-day workweek have argued that a compressed schedule could lead to more productivity and a better work-life balance — a perspective that has gained credence in some countries amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has wrought drastic changes to the way people work.

多年來，每周四天工作制的支持者們一直主張，緊湊的日程會帶來更高的生產(chǎn)率，更好地平衡工作和生活。新冠疫情期間隨著人們的工作方式發(fā)生急劇改變，這一觀點在一些國家得到了信任。

Spain is about to find out firsthand whether it works. The country is poised to become one of the first to experiment with a 32-hour workweek, which would allow workers to spend less time at the office without any change in pay.

西班牙即將親自體驗四天工作制能否奏效。該國準備成為率先試行32小時工作周的國家之一，在這種工作制下，員工上班時間減少了，但是工資卻不變。

Exactly what the pilot program will look like is unclear: An individual with the industry ministry told the Guardian that nearly every detail was still up for negotiation, including how many companies will be involved and how long the experiment will last.

這一試點項目將如何開展尚不明確。工業(yè)部的一名消息人士告訴《衛(wèi)報》稱，幾乎每個細節(jié)都有待協(xié)商，包括這個項目將有多少公司參與以及試點將持續(xù)多久。

The test run was proposed by Más País, a left-wing party that has argued that longer hours don’t necessarily lead to higher productivity, and it is now in talks with the government to figure out the exact details of the arrangement. According to Spanish media outlets, the pilot program is intended to reduce employers’ risk by having the government make up the difference in salary when workers switch to a four-day schedule.

提出這一試點項目的左翼政黨“更多國家”聲稱，更長的工作時間并不一定會帶來更高的生產(chǎn)率。如今該政黨正在與政府商談以確定項目的具體細節(jié)。據(jù)西班牙媒體透露，在員工轉(zhuǎn)為四天工作制后，該試點項目將會通過讓政府填補損失的工資成本來降低雇主風險。

The experiment is expected to cost about 50 million euros and last three years. According to the Guardian, it could begin as early as this fall.

該試點項目預計將耗資約5000萬歐元（約合人民幣3.9億元），持續(xù)三年。據(jù)《衛(wèi)報》報道，試點最早將于今年秋天開始。

In May, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern suggested employers should consider the switch to a four-day week “if that’s something that would work for your workplace.”

去年五月，新西蘭總理杰辛達·阿德恩建議，“如果行得通的話”，雇主應考慮改為每周四天工作制。

Large corporations like Microsoft and Shake Shack have experimented with four-day workweeks in the past, but Spain’s pilot program would be much larger in scale. Más País calculates that the budget should be enough to allow around 200 companies to take part. That means that anywhere from 3,000 to 6,000 workers would have regular three-day weekends, according to the Guardian.

微軟和Shake Shack漢堡這樣的大公司過去曾嘗試過四天工作制，但是西班牙的這一試點項目的規(guī)模要大得多?！缎l(wèi)報》報告稱，據(jù)“更多國家”政黨估計，預算應該足以讓約200家公司參與進來。這意味著3000到6000名員工將享有固定的三天周末。

Spain was one of the first countries in western Europe to limit the workday to eight hours, but recent studies have found Spanish workers put in more hours than many of their European counterparts, with no corresponding increase in productivity.

西班牙是西歐最早將每日工作時間限制到8小時以內(nèi)的國家之一，但是近期的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，西班牙員工的工作時間比歐洲許多其他國家的員工都要多，而生產(chǎn)率卻沒有相應提高。

Proponents of a four-day workweek argue that allowing more people to work fewer hours could go a long way in addressing the high unemployment rates that have plagued so many countries throughout the pandemic. But many business leaders have been less than enthusiastic about cutting hours without cutting pay, which is where Spain’s proposal to cover some of the costs comes in.

四天工作制的支持者聲稱，讓更多人減少工作時間將十分有利于解決許多國家在疫情期間面對的高失業(yè)率問題。但是許多企業(yè)領導者不太能接受縮短工作時間卻不降薪，因此西班牙才提議由政府承擔部分開支。

英文來源：華盛頓郵報

翻譯&編輯：丹妮