What working parents really need from workplaces | The Way We Work, a TED series

Transcriber: Leslie Gauthier Reviewer:

Every parent is a working parent,

翻译人员: C Cheng 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

每位家长都是一边工作一边带孩子的，

whether they have a job outside of the home or not.

不论他们是否在外工作。

[The Way We Work]

【工作之道】

When Angela shows up at the office,

当安吉拉出现在办公室时，

know that Angela has been up for at least three hours,

她知道自己已经起床 至少 3 个小时了，

had her hand covered in human excrement,

她手上曾沾满粪便，

unwedged a small person

她曾把卡在洗衣机 与墙壁夹缝里的小家伙

who has become lodged in between the washing machine and the wall,

拽了出来，

gotten down on her hands and knees and picked up oatmeal off the carpet.

她还趴在地上， 捡起洒落在地毯上的燕麦。

Domestic labor,

养育子女就是做家务，

which is what parenting is and everything that goes along with parenting,

以及与之相关的一切劳动。

这不仅是照顾孩子，

it’s not just taking care of a child;

it’s keeping a household running,

还包括维系家庭运转，

比如洗盘子，

washing dishes,

洗衣服，

doing laundry,

忙得连轴转。

it’s keeping the schedule tight.

我们常理所应当认为这些工作 该由家庭主妇去完成。

We again assume that that work will be done by a wife who’s at home.

The reality has progressed beyond where we’re at policy-wise.

然而政策制度已经不能满足现实需求。

Most people need multiple sources of income,

大多数人需要有多种收入来源，

women want to work outside of the home --

妇女因此希望能够出门工作——

we’re still expected to do all of the same things.

但是人们依旧指望我们 去做所有与从前一样的事情。

And so now we outsource a lot of that parenting work

所以我们现在 把许多养育儿女的活外包给了

to other women,

其他妇女，

and mainly women of color.

她们大多是有色人种。

We don’t give it financial, cultural value,

我们没有赋予这些工作 太多的金融和文化价值，

and so we don’t see it as real work.

因此也不视其为真正的工作。

Care is really the backbone of our society.

但是照顾家人实际上是社会的支柱。

That work is what makes all other work possible.

因为有人做这项工作， 其他一切工作才有可能存在。

So how should we support parents in the workplace?

那么，我们该如何支持 那些在职父母呢？

[Support family leave]

【提供家事假】

There are only two industrialized countries in the entire world

全世界只有两个工业化国家

that don’t guarantee some paid family leave,

不能保证提供带薪家事假，

and the United States is one of them.

而美国就是其中之一。

We should be envying Ghana,

我们该羡慕加纳、

Brazil, Turkey, Serbia, Japan,

巴西、土耳其、塞尔维亚、日本、

the United Kingdom,

英国、

Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden --

挪威、荷兰、瑞典等国——

we’re lagging behind the world on this.

我们在这个方面落后于全世界。

When I say paid family leave,

我所说的带薪家事假

I’m not talking about necessarily just newborn maternity leave.

指的并不仅仅是 母亲在婴儿出生后休的产假，

That includes paternity leave,

也包括了无性别差异的陪产假，

all genders,

families that are adopting and welcoming a new child into their home,

还关系到收养儿童， 准备迎接新成员的家庭，

people bringing foster children into their home,

还有那些将寄养儿童领进门，

taking care of aging parents.

或者照顾年迈父母的人。

You know, at some point in your life,

在人生的某个时刻，

someone that you love and care about is going to need help.

你关心热爱的人会需要你的帮助。

You should have the right to take time to take care of them.

你也应该有权花时间照顾他们。

People do their best work

人们如果感到自己 受到了雇主的关注和支持，

when they feel seen and supported by the people that they work for.

就会全力以赴地工作。

这个道理很简单。

It’s pretty simple.

[Listen to parents]

【倾听父母的心声】

Being a parent is often seen as a weakness in the workplace.

为人父母常被视作 是职场上的一个缺陷。

You come back and people make a lot of assumptions about you.

你回来工作，人们会对你妄加臆断。

You're not invited to go on work trips

你不会被邀请参加工作旅行，

because assumptions are made that you don’t want to do that,

因为人们认为你不想去，

或者去不了。

or you can’t.

And that can be really disempowering to people,

这个确实消磨人的意志，

and it’s really discouraging

也非常令人沮丧。

and it makes them --

它让人——

in a period of time that’s already stressful --

在这段已经压力重重的时期——

can make you feel even worse.

感觉更糟糕。

[Talk to parents]

【与父母聊聊天】

Asking a coworker about how things are going at home

问问同事家里的情况如何，

or with their kid,

孩子怎么样，

making people feel like they don’t have to hide that.

让人觉得没有必要隐瞒这些事情。

“What’s up with your two-year-old?”

比如，“你两岁的那个 孩子最近怎么样？”

Ask to see a picture of their child.

还可以让同事展示一下孩子的照片。

[Be flexible]

【保持灵活性】

For parents, the hours between 5-8pm are really crucial.

对于父母而言，下午 5 点 到 8 点这段时间确实很关键。

It’s sometimes the only time you really have with your kids.

有时，这是你唯一 能与孩子共处的时间。

You’re often running to pick them up somewhere

你常常要奔去某处接孩子，

or to relieve someone from doing childcare.

或者去替换为你照顾孩子的人。

I would much rather send a few emails at 8:30pm than be on a call at 5pm.

我情愿晚上 8 点半时发几封邮件， 也不愿下午 5 点的时候接电话。

And so I think emphasizing and creating a culture of work

所以我认为应该强调并 创造这样一种工作文化：

where it’s the work that gets done,

工作中最重要的是完成工作，

the work is what matters,

是工作本身，

the end result is what matters,

是工作结果，

as opposed to tracking time in a traditional way,

而不是用传统方式 来追踪记录工作时间。

and opening up the lines of communication around that can be really beneficial.

此外，开通各种沟通渠道 也会大有裨益。

Letting a coworker know that you have their back

让同事知道， 他们将会得到你的支持：

if they want to say that 4:45 doesn’t work for them as a meeting time,

如果他们想说 4:45 开会不合适的话，

that you’ll step in and say that you can’t do it either, right?

你也会介入，说这个时间 也不适合你，对吧？

Just something to show solidarity.

展示一下你与同事之间团结一致。

[Oh yeah ... ]

【哦，对了……】

One other thing,

还有一件事，

as a former breastfeeding mother in an office place --

作为一位曾经母乳喂养， 在办公室工作的妈妈——

a pumping mother --

一位需要泵奶的妈妈——

I should say that if you want to clean out your office fridge every now and then,

我要说，如果你想时常清理 一下办公室里的冰箱的话，

that is a really beautiful thing to do for a pumping mother,

那么你为那些需要泵奶的 妈妈做了一件大好事，

because I used to do that in my office.

因为我曾在办公室里这样做过。

I would put my little cooler that had breast milk amid like

我曾把装有母乳的小型冷藏罐放在

year-old bottles of salad dressing,

一瓶瓶陈旧的沙拉酱，

pad thai that had become petrified,

已经石化的泰式炒河粉，

just gross stuff.

和其他恶心的东西之间。

And no one should have to do that, right?

没人非要这么做，不是吗？

Again, a very, very small thing

一件非常非常小的事情

that makes a big difference in someone’s life.

就可以极大改善别人的生活。

In striving to be as efficient as possible,

为了工作能够尽量高效，

as achieving,

取得尽可能多的成果，

as productive as possible,

变得尽量多产，

we’ve drifted away from this notion of care

我们不再认为

照顾家人，养育子女 是件重要的工作。

and parenting being important work.

But we need to talk about these things

但是我们需要谈论这些事，

and bring parenting and family life out into the open,

需要公开讨论养育子女、 管理家庭生活等问题，

because we can't fix problems that we don't see.

因为我们只有看到了问题， 才能解决问题。

We can’t fix problems that we don’t talk about.

如果我们不谈论这些问题， 就无法找到解决方案。

It really doesn’t have to be this hard

支持帮助别人其实没有那么难，

and we can do much more to support people.

我们还可以为此做得更多。