四天工作制能否見效？

A growing number of small and medium-sized companies are adopting a four-day workweek. Now, as Microsoft's recent experiment shows, it works even in big companies.

越來越多中小公司開始采用四天工作制。如今微軟近日的試驗結(jié)果顯示，就算在大企業(yè)也能見效。

The company introduced a program this summer in Japan called the "Work Life Choice Challenge," which shut down its offices every Friday in August and gave all employees an extra day off each week.

今夏微軟公司在日本引進了一個名為“工作生活選擇挑戰(zhàn)”的項目，八月的每個周五都會關(guān)閉辦公室，讓所有員工每周都能多放一天假。

The results were promising: While the amount of time spent at work was cut dramatically, productivity — measured by sales per employee — went up by almost 40% compared to the same period the previous year, the company said in a statement last week.

結(jié)果還不錯：微軟上周在一份聲明中說，盡管工作時間大幅縮短，但工作效率(按照每位員工的銷售業(yè)績來計算)同比提高近40%。

In addition to reducing working hours, managers urged staff to cut down on the time they spent in meetings and responding to emails.

除了縮短工作時間外，經(jīng)理還敦促員工減少開會和回復電郵的時間。

They suggested that meetings should last no longer than 30 minutes. Employees were also encouraged to cut down on meetings altogether by using an online messaging app (Microsoft's, of course).

經(jīng)理建議，會議時間不要超過30分鐘，并鼓勵員工使用(微軟的)在線消息應用，減少開會次數(shù)。

The effects were widespread. More than 90% of Microsoft's 2,280 employees in Japan later said they were impacted by the new measures, according to the company.

此舉產(chǎn)生了廣泛的效果。微軟公司稱，微軟在日本的2280名員工當中，超90%的人表示他們受到了新措施的影響。

By shutting down earlier each week, the company was also able to save on other resources, such as electricity.

通過每周提早關(guān)門的舉措，微軟公司還能節(jié)省電力等其他資源。

The initiative is timely. Japan has long grappled with a grim — and in some cases, fatal — culture of overwork. The problem is so severe, the country has even coined a term for it: karoshi means death by overwork from stress-induced illnesses or severe depression.

這一新舉措來得正是時候。長時間以來，日本一直在和過度工作的嚴峻(有時甚至是致命的)文化抗爭。這一問題太嚴重了，日本甚至為之創(chuàng)造了一個新詞：過勞死。過勞死指的是因為過勞而死于壓力引發(fā)的疾病或嚴重抑郁。

The issue attracted international attention in 2015, when an employee at Japanese advertising giant Dentsu committed suicide on Christmas Day. Tokyo officials later said that the staffer had worked excessive amounts of overtime.

過勞死問題在2015年吸引了全球的關(guān)注，當時日本廣告業(yè)巨頭電通集團的一名員工在圣誕節(jié)自殺。東京的官員后來表示，這名員工加班時間過長。

Two years later, a reporter at a Japanese broadcaster died after working punishing long hours. Her employer said she had clocked in 159 hours of overtime the month before her death.

兩年后，日本某廣播公司的一名記者因超長加班工作而去世。她的雇主表示，在死前的一個月，她共加班159個小時。

That has led businesses to start searching for solutions. Some companies have begun offering employees more flexibility, and the government has launched a campaign called "Premium Friday," which encourages workers to leave early every last Friday of the month.

這促使企業(yè)開始尋找解決方案。一些公司開始為員工提供更靈活的工作制，日本政府也推出了一項名為“超值星期五”的活動，鼓勵員工在每月的最后一個周五提早下班。

Microsoft, for its part, says it will conduct another experiment in Japan later this year. It plans to ask employees to come up with new measures to improve work-life balance and efficiency, and will also ask other companies to join the initiative.

微軟則表示，今年晚些時候?qū)⒃谌毡鹃_展另一個試驗。微軟計劃請員工提出既能改善工作生活平衡又能提高工作效率的新舉措，并將邀請其他公司加入這一新項目。