1.6萬名員工被解雇后，赫茲公司申請破產(chǎn)

1.6萬名員工被解雇后，赫茲公司申請破產(chǎn)

After 100 years in business, Hertz filed for bankruptcy on Friday, proving to be yet another casualty during Covid-19.

在經(jīng)營了100年之后，赫茲公司(美國赫茲汽車租賃公司)于周五申請破產(chǎn)，成為了新冠肺炎疫情的又一個受害者。

The old-time entity now joins the likes of J.C. Penney, J. Crew, Neiman Marcus, Gold’s Gym, Pier 1—companies that have all sought bankruptcy protection in recent weeks.

這家老公司現(xiàn)在加入了J.C.Penney、J.Crew、Neiman Marcus、Gold's Gym、Pier 1等最近幾周都尋求破產(chǎn)保護(hù)的公司的行列。

Hertz was just another victim of the pandemic, people will say. It's easy to blame the company’s misfortunes, as well as the other corporate casualties, on the pandemic.

人們會說，赫茲只是另一個流行病的受害者。人們很容易將該公司的不幸，以及其他企業(yè)的受損歸咎于大流病。

The reality is a different story. The failures of Hertz and the others have more to do with their own arrogant inertia and inability to recognize the fast-changing trends and a refusal to adapt their business models accordingly.

現(xiàn)實(shí)情況則完全不同。赫茲公司和其他公司的失敗更多地與他們自身傲慢的惰性有關(guān)，他們沒有能力認(rèn)識到快速變化的趨勢，并且拒絕相應(yīng)地調(diào)整他們的商業(yè)模式。

Back in the day, Avis was Hertz’s major rival. Avis branded itself as the scrappy underdog and adopted the advertising tagline, “We Try Harder.” It was meant to convey that the folks at Avis will do whatever it takes to make its customers happy. Hertz’s slogan should’ve been “We Didn’t Try Hard Enough.”

在過去，Avis(安飛士汽車租賃公司)是赫茲的主要競爭對手。Avis將自己標(biāo)榜為好斗的失敗者，并采用了“我們更努力”的廣告語。“這是為了傳達(dá)Avis的員工會盡一切努力讓顧客滿意。”赫茲的口號應(yīng)該是“我們不夠努力”。

The Wall Street Journal reported, “Hertz Global Holdings Inc., one of the nation’s largest car-rental companies, filed for bankruptcy protection Friday, saddled with about $19 billion in debt and nearly 700,000 vehicles that have been largely idled because of the coronavirus.” The company has lost money for the past four consecutive years, including $58 million in 2019.

《華爾街日報》報道，“美國最大的汽車租賃公司之一赫茲全球控股公司上周五申請破產(chǎn)保護(hù)，背負(fù)著約190億美元的債務(wù)，近70萬輛汽車因冠狀病毒而大量閑置。”該公司在過去連續(xù)四年虧損，包括2019年的5800萬美元。

Back in March, responding to the deteriorating economic circumstances, Hertz laid off 12,000 workers and furloughed an additional 4,000 employees—25% of its workforce. Car rental companies are heavily dependent upon travel. People will rent cars for family vacation. With air travel coming to a near halt, the need for car rentals has plummeted.

今年3月，為了應(yīng)對日益惡化的經(jīng)濟(jì)形勢，赫茲公司解雇了1.2萬名員工，并使另外4000名員工暫時休假，占員工總數(shù)的25%。汽車租賃公司嚴(yán)重依賴旅游。人們會為了家庭度假而租車。隨著航空旅行幾近停滯，租車的需求直線下降。

It's true that Covid-19 has had an impact on Hertz—as well as an array of other large and small companies—but it was suffering long before we even heard of the coronavirus. Hertz had to contend with tough competition in the car-rental space, in addition to the onslaught from Uber and Lyft. Customers preferred the ease of use with car-sharing apps. There wasn’t a need to take the time to fill out long and one-sided contracts, wait for your car then have to drive it yourself in an unfamiliar location. Compared to this experience, it's much more convenient to open an app, request a ride and get whisked to your location.

的確，Covid-19已經(jīng)對赫茲以及一系列其他大大小小的公司產(chǎn)生了影響，但早在我們聽說冠狀病毒之前，它就已經(jīng)受到了影響。除了Uber和Lyft的猛烈沖擊外，赫茲還必須應(yīng)對汽車租賃領(lǐng)域的激烈競爭。客戶更喜歡使用方便的汽車共享應(yīng)用程序。沒有必要花時間去填寫冗長的、單方面的合同，等著你的車，然后在一個不熟悉的地方自己開車。與這種體驗(yàn)相比，打開一個應(yīng)用程序，請求搭車，然后被迅速送到你的位置，要方便得多。

Hertz’s bankruptcy will have a big impact. It's likely that there will be future layoffs, in addition to the 16,000 employees who have already lost their jobs or have been furloughed. It's reasonable to believe that the hours of the remaining staff will be reduced and furloughed workers won’t be asked to return.

赫茲公司的破產(chǎn)將產(chǎn)生巨大影響。未來可能還會有裁員，此外還有1.6萬名員工已經(jīng)失去工作或暫時休假。我們有理由相信，剩余員工的工作時間將會減少，而被暫時休假的員工將不會被要求返回工作崗位。