Telework

　　电子居家办公

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

　　工业革命之前，大多数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，大规模生产技术改变了这种方式。由于人们开始到场所集中的工厂和办公室上班，家庭生活便和工作过程分离开来。

　　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.

　　在美国各地的城市里，上班族每天花费几小时开着车徐徐行进在车流中，赶往离家数英里的办公室。

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

　　不仅神经高度紧张，浪费时间，还要为汽油、维修和泊车花一大笔钱。

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

　　到达上班地点后，他们便在配有电脑、电话和文件柜的迷宫般的小隔间中活动穿梭。

　　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.

　　随着进入新世纪，办公用地租金的疯长伴随着便携式电子计算机与通讯设备价格骤降，似乎在改变这一工作方式。

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

　　在集中办公地点以外进行工作的广义词是电子居家办公。

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

　　调查研究显示，采用这种办公方式所节省的费用可高达每年人均8000美元。

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

　　因此，由于节省费用，近年来电子居家办公一族的人数大大增加便不足为奇。

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

　　估计目前有1000万以上的美国人属于这一族。

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

　　许多公司的经验表明，利用电子手段居家办公可以提高工作场所的灵活性和办公效率。

　　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).

　　有一部分工作效率来源于这种工作方式的灵活性：既可以在状态最佳时高效工作(如深夜和凌晨时分，对这些人而言工作效率最高)，也可以承担工作以外的义务(如照顾生病的孩子)。

　　Telecommuting,however, is not without its obstacles.

　　然而，利用电子手段居家办公的方式不无弊端。

　　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公司一些采用这种工作方式上班的员工认为，它无法体现团队合作，有一种与日常人际沟通隔离之感，失去了传统办公事务中常见的相互请教的机会。

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

　　电子居家办公也使许多员工产生孤寂和与世隔绝之感，从而造成工作积极性的减弱，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.

　　利用电子手段居家办公造成工作与家庭的界限模糊不清，因而延长了工作时间并干扰了家庭生活。

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

　　因此，没有哪一种工作方式最佳。

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

　　利用电子手段居家办公或许对于有些工作成果能发挥积极作用，而在其他方面却有消极影响。

　　That is to say, telecommuting is not universally applicable.

　　也就是说，利用电子手段居家办公并非普遍适用。

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

　　工作方式必须适合个人情况，同时，行政人员必须懂得如何对在家办公的员工进行管理。

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

　　此外，诸如高速的调制解调器等技术改进也至关重要。