2022年经济学人 如何正确裁员（2）

Fairness also means sharing the rationale for why individual people have gone, whether because they sat in sputtering¹ businesses or because their own performance was questionable².

“公平”还意味着告知个人离职的理由，无论是因为他们所在的企业举步维艰，还是因为他们自己的表现值得怀疑。

“Stacked-ranking” systems, in which employees are forced into a ranking of highest to lowest performers, are increasingly out of favour.

按照表现高低对员工强制排名的“堆叠排名”制度，正越来越不受待见。

But in theory at least, they do provide a merit-based measure for decisions on where to make cuts.

但至少在理论上，这些制度确实提供了一种基于业绩的衡量标准，用于决定在哪些部门进行裁员。

According to The Information, a news site, Google is going to increase the proportion of employees it identifies as low performers.

据新闻网站The Information报道，谷歌将增加低绩效员工比例。

If decision-making about who gets the chop appears capricious, then managers will also fail to achieve their second goal: to assure survivors³ that they don’t need to start looking for a new role, too.

如果在决定解雇谁时显得反复无常，那么管理者的第二个目标也实现不了，即向幸存员工保证他们不需要开始找下家。

It matters that lay-offs do not become regular events.

重要的是，不要定期裁员。

Research conducted at a large manufacturer in 2003 found that workers who had been exposed to repeated rounds of cuts felt less secure in their jobs and had greater intention to quit.

2003年在一家大型制造企业进行的研究发现，经历了多次裁员的工人对自己的工作更缺乏安全感，也更想辞职。

In his memo⁴ in August, Evan Spiegel, Snap’s boss, made a point of saying that a 20% reduction in the social-media firm’s workforce⁵ should substantially reduce the risk of more axings.

Snap的老板埃文·斯皮格尔在8月份的备忘录中明确表示，这家社交媒体公司裁员20%，会大大降低再次裁员的风险。

The third area of focus is workload⁶.

第三个重点领域是工作量。

Cutting headcount and asking the survivors to do more might seem like a marvellous idea in head office.

裁员并要求幸存员工做更多工作，这在总部看来似乎是一个绝妙的主意。

Some bosses say so outright⁷: Elon Musk⁸, chopper-in-chief at Twitter, is open about his belief in long hours by small teams.

一些老板会直接这么说出来。推特的首席执行官埃隆·马斯克就公开表示，他相信小团队应该长时间工作。

But it is a risky⁹ approach, as likely to reduce job satisfaction as yield leaps in productivity.

但这种方法有风险，既可能提高生产率，也可能降低工作满意度。

Downsizing has a greater chance of succeeding if the burden on remaining employees does not spike¹⁰.

留任员工的工作负担不激增的话，裁员会更有可能成功。

None of this is easy territory.

这一切都并非易事。

Lay-offs are bound to leave scars.

裁员必然会留下创伤。

But managing the fallout is simpler if the employees who are left behind still trust their bosses to get the big things right.

但是，如果留下的员工仍然相信老板会把大事做好，处理裁员后果就容易多了。

Many of the memos¹¹ being fired off by tech leaders contain apologetic admissions that they expanded their workforces¹² too fast as a result of the pandemic.

科技公司领袖发布的许多备忘录都饱含歉意地承认，称受疫情的影响，他们的员工队伍扩张得太快了。

The honesty is necessary but it can plant another doubt in survivors’ minds: if they can foul¹³ up once, why not again?

这种诚实是有必要，但它也可能会在幸存员工的心中埋下另一个疑问：他们要是能搞砸一次，怎么就不会搞砸第二次呢？

1 sputtering   

n.反应溅射法；飞溅；阴极真空喷镀；喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出

参考例句：

• A wick was sputtering feebly in a dish of oil. 瓦油灯上结了一个大灯花，使微弱的灯光变得更加阴暗。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• Jack ran up to the referee, sputtering protest. 贾克跑到裁判跟前，唾沫飞溅地提出抗议。 来自辞典例句

2 questionable   

adj.可疑的，有问题的

参考例句：

• There are still a few questionable points in the case.这个案件还有几个疑点。
• Your argument is based on a set of questionable assumptions.你的论证建立在一套有问题的假设上。

3 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

4 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

5 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

6 workload   

n.作业量，工作量

参考例句：

• An assistant one day a week would ease my workload.每周有一天配一个助手就会减轻我的工作负担。
• He's always grousing about the workload.他总是抱怨工作量大。

7 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

8 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。

9 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

10 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

11 memos   

n.备忘录( memo的名词复数 )；（美）内部通知

参考例句：

• Big shots get their dander up and memos start flying. 大人物们怒火中烧，备忘录四下乱飞。 来自辞典例句
• There was a pile of mail, memos and telephone messages on his desk. 他的办公桌上堆满着信件、备忘录和电话通知。 来自辞典例句

12 workforces   

全体员工( workforce的名词复数 )； （国家或行业等）劳动力； 劳动大军； 劳动人口

参考例句：

• The Web has allowed companies to become more distributed and workforces to become more flexible. 网站已允许各公司更加分散，工作队伍也变得更加灵活。
• They are large centres of business in their own with skilled workforces and business-friendly environments. 从自身条件来说，它们都是大型商业中心，拥有大批技能型劳动力和友好的商业运作环境。

13 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！