2015年经济学人 紧缩的办公室 都是管理学惹的祸

Ever-smaller offices

Pressed suits

Feeling a bit cramped¹? Blame management theory

“PROJECT gold” and “Project Nexus” sound like plans for bank heists or military assaults.

In reality, they are the names for KPMG's ongoing² attempt to squeeze its 6,700Londonemployees into ever smaller spaces.

Since 2006 the professional-services firm has reduced the number of offices it uses inLondonfrom seven to two.

By the spring of 2015 everybody will be crammed³ into one building inCanaryWharf.

According to data from the British Council for Offices (BCO), an industry club,

the average office tenant⁴ now uses around 11 square metres per worker, 35% less than in 1997.

A new building in Ludgate Hill, inLondon's financial district, will allocate⁵ just eight square metres to each employee.

In many offices, rows of “hot” desks have replaced individual offices and even cubicles⁶.

“Nowadays it's almost frowned on to have your own office,” claims Nick Wentworth Stanley, of i2 Offices, a big serviced property firm.

Firms have long known that only about half of all desks are in use at any moment,

as employees work odd hours or disappear to meetings, but it was difficult to fill the spares.

Better IT systems now mean that people need not be tied to a particular desk.

They need not even be in the office at all: as cloud computing⁷ and virtual offices take off,

more people are working from home or from other places, further reducing the need for desks.

Aside from cheapness, there is a motive⁸ behind this squashing.

Inspired bySilicon Valley, firms are trying to make their offices into “collaborative spaces”,

where people bump into each other and chat usefully.

KPMG's redesignedCanaryWharfoffices will include lots of “breakout spaces” where employees can relax,

and quiet rooms where people can get away from hubbub⁹, says Alastair Young, who is planning the move.

He thinks this will both improve productivity and save money.

In this happy new world, offices are not just places to work but also a way of expressing corporate¹⁰ identity and a means of attracting and retaining staff.

At the offices of Bain & Company, a management consultancy, inspirational quotes on walls help workers to identify with Bain's brand,

explains Sam Axtell, the company's operations director. Games rooms and relaxing spaces help them “release alpha waves”.

This flummery has a practical consequence: it means more workers can be crammed into the middles of cities.

Fewer firms now require suburban¹¹ back offices, says Sandra Jones of Ramidus, a property consultancy.

Between 2001 and 2012 the number of workers employed by large firms in Croydon, on the edge of London,

declined by almost a quarter, to around 34,000.

In Manchesterand Birmingham, too, new office jobs have been created in rejuvenated¹² city centres at the expense of suburbs.

This may be one reason commutes¹³ are lengthening¹⁴.

Not everyone is delighted by the rise of cramped hot desks.

At Broadcasting House, the BBC's new offices inLondon, a shortage of good desks has led to frantic¹⁵ morning scrambles¹⁶.

A manager at a financial firm in the City complains that since his firm redesigned its office,

there are only enough phones for one between two. KPMG has seen crushes at lifts and in the canteen;

the crowds have also put pressure on the air-conditioning system.

A modest backlash is under way, in an unexpected quarter.

Google's new offices in King's Cross will have all sorts of collaborative space.

But workers will still get their own private desks. Where that company leads, others tend to follow.

1 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

2 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

3 crammed   

adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式)

参考例句：

• He crammed eight people into his car. 他往他的车里硬塞进八个人。
• All the shelves were crammed with books. 所有的架子上都堆满了书。

4 tenant   

n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用

参考例句：

• The tenant was dispossessed for not paying his rent.那名房客因未付房租而被赶走。
• The tenant is responsible for all repairs to the building.租户负责对房屋的所有修理。

5 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

6 cubicles   

n.小卧室，斗室( cubicle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Security guards, operating inside bullet-proof glass cubicles, and speaking through microphones, scrutinized every arrival and departure. 警卫们在装有防弹玻璃的小室里值勤，通过麦克风细致盘问每一个进出的人。 来自辞典例句
• I guess they thought me content to stay in cubicles. 我猜他们认为我愿意呆在小房间里。 来自互联网

7 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

8 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

9 hubbub   

n.嘈杂；骚乱

参考例句：

• The hubbub of voices drowned out the host's voice.嘈杂的声音淹没了主人的声音。
• He concentrated on the work in hand,and the hubbub outside the room simply flowed over him.他埋头于手头的工作，室外的吵闹声他简直象没有听见一般。

10 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

11 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

12 rejuvenated   

更生的

参考例句：

• He was rejuvenated by new hope. 新的希望又使他充满了活力。
• She looked rejuvenated after plastic surgery. 她做完整形手术后显得年轻了。

13 commutes   

上下班路程( commute的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She commutes from Oxford to London every day. 她每天上下班往返于牛津与伦敦之间。
• Barbara lives in Oxford and commutes. 芭芭拉住在牛津，通勤往来。

14 lengthening   

（时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的现在分词 )； 加长

参考例句：

• The evening shadows were lengthening. 残阳下的影子越拉越长。
• The shadows are lengthening for me. 我的影子越来越长了。 来自演讲部分

15 frantic   

adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的

参考例句：

• I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
• He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。

16 scrambles   

n.抢夺( scramble的名词复数 )v.快速爬行( scramble的第三人称单数 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• The breaking of symmetry scrambles the underlying order of nature. 对称性的破坏会打乱自然界的根本秩序。 来自互联网
• The move comes as Japan scrambles for ways to persuade women to have more babies. 这一行动的出现正值日本政府想尽各种办法鼓励妇女多生育孩子。 来自互联网