办公室友谊 | 经济学人商业

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2023-10-08 00:10

写在前面

思维导图作者：

Cassie，准MTI，一心想吃口译面，早日坐进小黑屋

精读|翻译|词组

Bartleby | Friends at work

巴托比 | 办公室友谊

英文部分选自经济学人2023923商业板块

Bartleby | Friends at work

巴托比 | 办公室友谊

Why it is a bad idea for managers to attempt to engineer office friendships

为什么公司管理者企图设计制造办公室友谊是个坏主意？

Scholars of happiness have found that close relationships are one of the critical ingredients of a contented life. What is true in general is also true of the workplace, according to research by Gallup. The pollster finds that having a “best friend at work” is closely associated with all manner of good things, from greater employee engagement to higher retention and better safety records.

研究幸福的学者发现，亲密关系是幸福生活的关键因素之一。根据盖洛普的研究，这条生活中的准则在办公室也适用。盖洛普民意调查发现，（员工）在工作中有亲密朋友会产生很多好处：例如员工更敬业，留职率更高以及更好的安全记录。

注释：

Gallup：是一家以调查为基础的全球绩效管理咨询公司，于1935年由乔治·盖洛普所创立。该公司以其于世界各国所做的民意调查而闻名。

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallup,_Inc.

At some level, that is unremarkable. Spending time with people you like makes most things more appealing, including work. If a job is sufficiently humdrum, camaraderie among colleagues can be the main draw. The support of friends can also encourage people to try new things. A study from 2015 by Erica Field of Duke University, and her co-authors, looked at the impact of business training given to Indian women. Women who attended the course with a friend were more likely to end up taking out loans than those who came alone.

在某种程度上，这一点不足为奇。和喜欢的人呆在一起能让很多事情会变得更有吸引力，包括工作。如果工作十分乏味，同事间的友谊可能会是（工作的）主要动力。朋友的支持也能激励人们去尝试新事物。杜克大学的艾丽卡·菲尔德和她的合著者在2015年做了一项研究，调查商业培训对印度妇女的影响。相比单独参加课程的妇女，和朋友一起参加培训的妇女更有可能去贷款（创业）。

The reverse also applies. Antagonistic relationships with co-workers are always likely to make working life miserable. A study conducted by Valerie Good of Grand Valley State University found that loneliness has an adverse effect on the performance of salespeople. Among other things, they start spending more on wining and dining their customers. The only thing worse than a salesperson who sees you as a way to make money is one who wants your company.

反之亦然。敌对的同事关系往往也可能会让工作很糟心。大峡谷州立大学瓦莱丽·古德开展的一项研究发现，孤独对销售员的业绩有不利影响。相较其他事情，他们开始花更多精力在款待客户吃喝上。只有一件事比销售员把你当作摇钱树更糟糕，那就是他还想要你陪。

So friends matter. The problems come when managers see the words “higher employee engagement” and leap to the conclusion that they should try to engineer work friendships. In a report published last year Gallup gave the example of an unnamed organisation which has a weekly companywide meeting that spotlights one employee’s best friend at work. It’s not known if, in the Q&A, others pop up to sob: “But I thought we were best friends at work.”

因此，友情至关重要。但如果公司管理者一看到（职场友谊能带来）“更高的员工参与度”，就贸然打算要把控职场友谊，问题就来了。盖洛普在去年发布的报告中写道一个事例：每周，某公司都会在全公司例会上聚焦一名员工的职场最佳好友。在问答环节，不知道会不会有人突然哭起来说：“我以为我们俩才是工作中最要好的朋友。”

Startups also offer services to encourage work friendships. One monitors the depth of connections between people in different teams. It identifies shared interests (gluten-free baking, say, or workplace surveillance) between employees who don’t know each other and arranges meetings between them. You thought life was bad? At least you are not making crumpets with a stranger in finance.

初创企业也尽其所能来鼓励员工们建立职场友谊。有一家公司会监测不同团队间员工的紧密程度。它先确认陌生员工间的共同兴趣爱好（比如无麸质烘焙、当老板的眼线），再为他们安排会面。你以为你的生活已经很糟糕了？但至少你不用和财务部的陌生同事一起做松脆饼。

It is a mistake for managers to wade into the business of friend-making, and not just because it royally misses the point. The defining characteristic of friendship is that it is voluntary. Employees are adults; they don’t need their managers to arrange play-dates. And the workplace throws people together, often under testing conditions: friendships will naturally follow.

管理者干涉员工交朋友其实是一种错误，不仅仅因为这么做全然不得要领。友谊的基本特征就是自愿。员工们都是成年人了，他们不需要管理者替他们安排游戏约会。职场将人们聚在一起去面对考验：友谊是水到渠成的事。

The bigger problem is that workplace friendships are more double-edged than their advocates allow. They can quickly become messy when power dynamics change. The transition from friend to boss, or from friend to underling, is an inherently awkward one (“This is your final warning. Fancy a pint?”).

更大的问题是，职场友谊是一把双刃剑，锋利程度超出其拥护者的认知。当权力结构发生变化时，职场友谊可能会迅速变成一团乱麻。昔日朋友或摇身一变成了老板，亦或成了下属，这种转变实属尴尬。（“这是我给你的最后警告。去喝一杯不？”）

And friendships have the potential to look a lot like cronyism. A clever study by Zoe Cullen of Harvard Business School and Ricardo Perez-Truglia of University of California, Berkeley, found that employees’ social interactions with their managers could give their career prospects a boost relative to others.

此外，职场友谊很可能会看起来像任人唯亲。哈佛商学院的佐伊·卡伦和加州大学伯克利分校的里卡多·佩雷斯-特鲁利亚做了一个巧妙的研究，发现与经理的社交互动有助于员工在职场中脱颖而出。

The researchers looked at promotions of smokers and non-smokers who worked for a large bank in South-East Asia, hypothesising that sharing smoking breaks with managers who also indulged might give workers a leg up. And so it did. Smokers who moved from a non-smoking boss to a puffer were promoted more quickly than those who moved to another non-smoker. The authors found that social interactions did not just help smokers; socialising between male managers and male employees played a large role in perpetuating gender pay gaps. If firms are going to make friendship their business, they should worry about its downsides, too.

研究人员研究了一家东南亚大型银行中吸烟员工和非吸烟员工的晋升情况，并假设和同样喜欢吸烟的经理人一起在休息时间吸烟，可能会让吸烟员工在工作中占据优势。事实确是如此。吸烟的员工如果从一个不吸烟的老板手下换到一个吸烟者手下，比换到另一个不吸烟的老板手下，晋升得更快。研究者还发现，社交互动不止帮助吸烟员工；男性员工和男性老板之间的社交活动，也是导致男女员工薪酬差距长期固化的重要因素之一。如果公司决定干涉办公室友谊，那也必须了解到它的缺陷。

Companies should facilitate interactions between employees, particularly in a world of hybrid and remote working. Social gatherings and buddy systems are reasonable ways to encourage colleagues to meet each other and to foster a culture. But a high-quality work relationship does not require friendship. It requires respect for each other’s competence, a level of trust and a desire to reach the same goal; it doesn’t need birthday cards and a shared interest in quiltmaking. Firms should do what they can to encourage these kinds of relationships. If individuals want to take it further, it’s entirely up to them.

公司应该促进员工之间的互动，尤其现在很多线上线下联合办公或者远程办公的公司更应如此。社交聚会和搭档制度是鼓励同事增加交流机会和培养公司文化的合理途径。但友谊并非一段高质量工作关系的必需品。它需要的是尊重彼此的能力，相应的信任以及达到共同目标的意愿，而非生日祝福卡片或者对棉被缝纫的共同爱好。公司应当尽其所能鼓励员工之间的工作关系。而员工们是否想要关系更进一步，则完全取决于员工自己。

翻译组：

Cece，经济学人粉丝

Alex，不务正业的理工男

Charlie，往者不谏，来者可追

校对组：

UU，允许别人做别人，允许自己做自己

Mosy，绘本、演讲、戏剧英文教育践行者

Rachel，学理工科，爱跳芭蕾，热爱文艺的非典型翻译（年年备战一口）

观点|评论|思考

本周感想

Vicky，少儿英语老师+笔译新人

做事亦或做人

我曾经经历过最难堪的职场，那是我在上一个单位中以新老师的身份成为教学主管之后。曾经相处得还算不错的同事，慢慢疏远我，我提出的要求被视为强人所难，我对新老师的培训反馈，被视为鸡蛋里挑骨头，我对老师工作的批评建议，被视为脾气暴躁说话没有分寸。后来一步步发展成我开会，底下有人发朋友圈骂三字经，老师离职，请所有人吃饭只把我排除在外。被拉黑，被排挤，被造黄谣。那段时间真真是我人生中的至暗时刻，让我怀疑自己的能力，也许我就不适合做一个管理者，也让我怀疑自己的人品，是不是我真的有问题。后来，我主动申请从教学主管的职位中退下，但是因为我做教学主管的时候同时兼任新老师培训，可笑的是当时把我说的一无是处的人里，找不出一个自认能够承担新老师培训工作的人，他们转过头来又说，新老师培训的工作只有我做的最好（当时是同一批人，说我的培训新老师方法有问题）。于是，我虽然从主管的位置退下来，但是继续承担新老师培训的工作。

也是从这时起，我在这些新老师中渐渐的交到了几个一直到现在都很好的朋友。我的培训方式从没变过，对于教学质量的要求我从来不会因为对方的情绪有丝毫的降低，好就是好，不好就是不好，没有什么人情好讲。但是区别是，这几个“新老师”，知道我严格背后的原因，她们认真努力，勤奋上进，于是，这三位我在原单位最好的朋友，二个后来成为了学术主管，另一个成为了资深的雅思托福老师，当然这不是我的功劳，我只是想说，优秀的人，努力的人，看待别人的建议和要求的角度是不一样的。我也想说，当环境与你为敌的时候，也许真的不是你的问题，而是环境的问题，换了人换了环境，也许就是另一番天地。

后来，和刀姐一起做了点滴。慢慢慢慢做过了六年，团队从3个人到2个人再到如今的6个人，我们的关系非常好，是家长都要羡慕我们团队氛围的好，我们彼此坦诚，互相帮助，互相欣赏，相互成就。可是我们这个团队，说话从来都是非常直接坦率的，我们一切都是以孩子、教学的最优效果为出发点，我们从来不是奔着交朋友才做的点滴，我们是为了成为最优秀的教育者，我们要做好这件事情，于是才有了点滴。目标一致，其他事情都是为了目标服务的，私下的我们有自己的性格有自己的爱好，有自己的生活，可是同一个目标，同样的高标准的自我要求、做事准则才是把我们连接在一起的核心。

关注我们这个公众号的人可能大多数是大学生，也许你们刚刚进入社会，在这里作为一个过来者，我的建议，我们当然要成为一个善良的人，但是工作中一定是把事情做好是最重要的事情，在我们漫长的人生旅程中，好多人都会成为过客，你的能力才会是伴你一生的最忠实的伙伴。

亲爱的，半山腰太拥挤，你总得要坚持爬到山顶，再抬头看看风景。

愿景