Is Remote Work Better Than Being in the Office? It's Complicated | Mark Mortensen | TED

翻译人员: Cong Wei 校对人员: sylvia feng

Over the past two years,

在过去的两年里，

how many times have you heard that the times have changed

你听说过多少次时代已经改变

or about the new normal?

或者听说过新常态？

There’s no shortage of opinions

关于远程工作究竟是好

about whether remote work is for the better

还是对我们的企业构成毁灭

or spells destruction for our businesses.

意见众说纷纭。

Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, said, "I don't see any positives,"

Netflix的首席执行官 里德·黑斯廷斯表示：

“我看不到任何积极的方面。”

whereas Suresh Kumar, CTO of Walmart, said, "We haven't just coped.

而沃尔玛的首席技术官 苏雷什·库马尔则说：

We've actually thrived."

“我们实际上还取得了成功。”

But what does the research say?

但是，研究又有什么说法呢？

How can we know, not just think, that hybrid working actually works?

我们如何知道混合工作模式真 的有效，而不仅仅是认为有效呢？

There are so many questions.

问题实在太多了。

What's the right balance of work from home versus work from the office?

在在家工作和在办公室工作之间， 什么样的平衡是正确的？

And who gets to decide?

谁来决定呢？

Is it managers, is it the employees?

是经理还是员工？

Is it both?

还是两者都参与？

How long can a given employee actually remain productive working from home?

给定的员工在家工作 能够保持多长时间的高生产力？

Is there a limit?

有没有什么限制？

And who gets to work in each way?

谁有资格采取每种工作方式？

What should it be based on in terms of criteria?

基于什么标准来决定？

Should it be based on seniority, task, personal situation?

应该基于资历、任务、 个人情况来决定吗？

The list goes on and on.

问题不胜枚举。

So many questions and unfortunately,

这么多问题，但不幸的是，

no simple answers.

没有简单的答案。

The reason these questions are so hard to answer

这些问题难以回答的原因是我们将

is because we're thinking about hybrid work design as a single problem.

混合工作设计视为一个单一的问题。

One problem to solve, when in fact, it's actually three different ones.

它实际上是三个不同的问题。

The first problem is are we able to effectively deliver

第一个问题是我们是否能够

on our stakeholder commitments?

有效地履行对利益相关者的承诺？

This is otherwise known as the effectiveness debate.

这又被称为有效性争论。

The second is will we be able to attract and retain the talent that we need?

第二个问题是我们是否能够 吸引和留住所需的人才？

This is the staffing discussion.

这是关于人员配置的讨论。

And the third is can we maintain or even cultivate, nurture, our culture?

第三个问题是我们是否 能够保持甚至培养、

This is the talk about social fabric.

培育我们的企业文化？ 这涉及到社会结构的讨论。

Let's take a minute to highlight the challenges inherent in each one.

让我们花点时间来强调 每个问题内在的挑战。

I've been working with a range of organizations over the past two years,

在过去的两年里， 我一直与各种组织合作，

helping them determine what their future of work should look like.

帮助他们确定未来 的工作模式应该是什么样子。

Now, I'm not here to make a broad statement

我并不打算发表一个广义的观点

that remote work is or is not universally good.

即远程工作普遍是好的或不好的。

I think we're all smart enough here to know

我认为我们在这里都足够聪明

that nothing works all of the time.

知道没有什么东西一直都有效。

I am, however, here to warn you that we need to be wary of our data.

然而，我在这里警告大家， 我们需要警惕我们的数据。

Let me give you a couple of examples.

让我举几个例子。

Many people point to their organization's effectiveness during COVID

很多人指出他们的组织在COVID期间

as proof that they're actually good at remote work.

有效性证明了他们在 远程工作方面确实做得很好。

Now it is proof that remote can work, but not that it necessarily will.

现在，

这确实证明了远程工作是可行的， 但并不意味着它必然成功。

COVID was a massive social experiment with unique conditions.

COVID是一次大规模的社会实验， 拥有独特的条件。

Most organizations dealt with it by cutting the fat

大多数组织通过裁减不必要的部分，

and becoming laser-focused on short-term efficiency.

并专注于短期效率来应对疫情。

In effect, we were productive because we were in survival mode.

事实上，

我们之所以能够保持高生产力， 是因为我们处于求生模式。

But the question we have to ask is whether that's sustainable.

但我们必须问的问题是， 这是否可持续。

Data shows around the world

全球数据显示

that people's working hours have increased,

人们的工作时间增加了，

and many say that they actually find it harder

很多人表示他们更难界定

to delineate work-life boundaries.

工作与生活的界限。

Data also shows that the experience wasn't the same for everyone.

数据还显示，这种体验 对每个人来说都不一样。

With “The Economist” data showing that parents of school-aged children

根据《经济学人》的数据显示， 有学龄儿童的父母

experienced much greater stress than many others.

比其他人更感到压力更大。

And data from Microsoft shows that it's actually even changing the way

微软的数据显示， 这实际上甚至改变了

in which we work,

我们的工作方式，

with people working more hours but less collaboratively.

人们工作的时间更长， 但合作更少。

The question of whether we can effectively work remotely

关于我们是否能有效地远程工作，

needs a contextual answer.

需要根据具体情况来回答。

Contextual based on the people who are doing the work

这个情况是基于从事工作的人员

and the tasks that they're trying to accomplish.

以及他们试图完成的任务而定的。

Remember, one size fits none,

请记住，一刀切并不适合所有情况，

and we need to think about the sustainability

我们需要考虑我们有效性的

of our effectiveness.

可持续性。

Now, when it comes to the staffing discussion,

现在，当涉及人员配置的讨论时，

ask anyone who has recently been involved with hiring.

请问任何最近参与招聘的人。

The most common question that recruiters are being asked these days:

招聘人员如今被问得最多的问题是：

"What is your flexible-work policy?"

“你们的弹性工作政策是什么？

In effect, we’re facing the same escalation of perks

实际上，我们面临的是由科技公司在

popularized by tech companies during the boom.

繁荣时期普及的各种 额外福利的逐渐升级。

Do you have a barista pulling the perfect flat white in the lobby?

你们是否在大堂有 咖啡师调制完美的拿铁？

Do you have nap pods? A ball pit? A slide?

是否有午睡的休息舱？ 有没有球池？滑梯呢？

What about on-site daycare, right?

另外，有没有托儿所？

So then instead of work from home, we actually bring home into work.

这样，我们把家搬进了工作场所。

Your current or potential future employees are now weighing your hybrid work policy

你现在的员工或潜在未来的员工 现在会将你们的混合工作政策

as a key criteria in their decision of where they want to work.

作为决定他们想在哪里 工作的关键标准。

And that is the crux of this staffing challenge.

这就是人员配置所面临的关键挑战。

What you need to recognize

你需要认识到

is that the comparison isn't actually between work from home and office work.

实际上并不是在家工作 和在办公室工作之间的比较。

Instead, it's really between the perception of work from home

相反，真正的比较是在家工作的看法与

versus the perception of work from the office.

在办公室工作的看法之间。

And you need to reclaim that narrative.

你需要重新夺回这个叙述权。

Let me give you a couple of examples.

让我举几个例子。

The first is what I call the recovered commute.

第一个例子是我所说的 “恢复的通勤时间”。

Many people have told me,

很多人告诉我：

"I've saved so much time now that I don't have to commute."

“现在我不用通勤了， 节省了很多时间。”

My challenge to them?

我向他们提出的挑战是：

What did you actually do during your commute times?

你实际上在通勤时间里做了什么？

Maybe you read, maybe you caught up on calls or emails,

也许你读书，也许你处理了 一些电话或邮件，

maybe you just use it as time to decompress.

也许你只是用它来放松自己。

Personally, I used to get an hour to shake off a particularly rough,

对我个人来说，我过去有一个小时的 时间来抛开特别糟糕、

annoying, frustrating day before I got home.

烦人、令人沮丧的一天， 好在回家之前恢复一下。

Now it takes me exactly six seconds to be immersed in my family upstairs.

现在，我只需要六秒钟就可以沉浸在 楼上和家人在一起的氛围中。

Another example, the after-meeting postmortem debrief over a coffee, right?

还有一个例子，会后在喝 咖啡时进行的讨论，对吧？

We use that to do some relationship repair,

我们用这个时间来修复关系，

maybe to do some collective sense-making.

或者进行集体意义的探讨。

The most important thing to recognize here

最重要的是要认识到

is that what matters most is the experience,

最重要的是体验，

not just what the policy is.

而不仅仅是政策本身。

We need to reclaim the narrative to help ensure that everybody recognizes

我们需要重新夺回这个叙述权， 帮助确保每个人

what a given approach either buys or loses for them.

都认识到不同的工作方式 对他们来说意味着什么。

And this brings us to the social fabric.

这也让我们谈到了社会结构。

Think about what happened when you joined your organization.

想想当你加入组织时发生了什么。

You probably went to orientation.

你可能参加了新员工入职培训。

Maybe you looked around,

也许你四处看看，

you talked to some people, you observed

和一些人交谈

and you learned what it's like to work here.

观察了解在这里工作的情况。

Why does that matter?

为什么这很重要？

Well, because our research shows reductions in things

因为我们的研究显示，

like psychological safety and trust, changes to power dynamics,

当我们远程工作时，

increased feelings of isolation and loneliness

诸如心理安全感和信任减少

when we are working remote from one another.

权力动态发生变化， 孤立感和孤独感增加。

Importantly, all of these shape our cultures

这些都对我们的企业文化产生影响

and make this conversation even more difficult.

使得这个讨论变得更加复杂。

And on top of that,

除此之外，

social systems are dynamic, emerging, evolving human systems.

社会系统是动态的、 不断出现和演变的人类系统。

Now, I'm going to be honest, I don't have the answer to this.

老实说，我没有这个问题的答案。

And honestly, anybody who tells you they do,

而且说实话，任何 告诉你他们有答案的人，

they're trying to sell you something.

他们是在向你推销什么东西。

We do know about different approaches to building

我们确实了解在这种背景下

and establishing culture in these contexts.

建立和塑造企业文化的不同方法。

What we have to recognize is they operate in ways that may not be the same

我们必须认识到，这些方法可能与

as the way we built culture when we were face to face.

我们面对面建立文化的方式不同。

What we have to remember here

我们在这里要记住的是，

is that organizational culture is a long game.

组织文化是一个长期的过程。

What we do right now affects the social fabric of our organizations

现在我们所做的影响 着我们组织的社会结构

and will have repercussions down the line.

并将在未来产生后果。

So when it comes to the social fabric,

以当涉及到社会结构时，

we need to think not only about today,

我们需要思考的不仅仅是今天，

but about tomorrow, next month, maybe even next year.

还有明天、下个月，甚至是明年。

I hope you recognize that these are three distinct conversations

希望你能认识到这三个问题是独立的

that are also not fully independent.

但又不完全独立的。

We also have to recognize what makes this challenging

我们还必须认识到， 这些问题之所以具有挑战性

is that they are almost ideologically different positions

是因为它们几乎代表了

about what creates value in your organization.

在你的组织中创造价值 的不同意识形态立场。

Is it about the output of what you produce?

是关于你生产的产出吗？

Is it about the people in that organization

还是关于组织中的人 或者某种无形的因素，

or something in the ether, the culture?

即文化？

The first most important step is getting these issues on the table,

第一个最重要的步骤是 把这些问题摆到桌面上，

having an open conversation.

进行坦诚的交流。

And this is far from easy.

这并不容易。

But if you find yourself in disagreement with somebody over these issues,

但如果你在这些问题上 与某人发生分歧，

whether it's a boss, a subordinate or your leadership,

无论是老板、下属还是领导层，

I challenge you, ask yourself,

我向你发起挑战，请问自己，

do you really disagree on how to create effectiveness,

你是否真的在如何创造有效性、

deal with staffing or the culture of the organization?

处理人员配置或组织文化方面 与对方意见不一致？

Or is it maybe just that you have slightly different prioritization

是可能你只是对混合工作模式 这三个不同方面

of those three different parts of the whole hybridity conversation?

有稍微不同的优先级？