VOA慢速英语2021 美国企业对员工要求让步以留住员工（在线收听）

As many American businesses struggle to fill jobs, some have started negotiating demands that used to be non-negotiable for most hourly employees.

随着众多美国企业难以填补工作岗位，一些企业开始就过去大多数小时工无法谈判的要求进行谈判。

One of the top demands for many workers is scheduling – the days and times they spend on the job.

许多工人最高的要求之一就是安排上班的天数和时间。

Hourly workers are now seeking more flexibility in their schedules. That means employees are pushing back against requirements to work weekends, late nights or holidays.

小时工现在寻求在他们的工作安排中获得更大的灵活性。这意味着工人开始抗拒周末、深夜或是假期上班的要求。

There are currently many job openings in the United States. So workers can be more careful about the jobs they choose.

目前美国有很多职位空缺。因此工人们可以更加慎重地挑选工作。

There were 10.4 million job openings at the end of August and 11.1 million openings the month before. Those numbers are the highest since at least December 2000, when the government started recording the data. At the same time, the U.S. Labor Department said the number of people quitting their jobs jumped to 4.3 million in August from 4 million in July.

8月底有1040万个职位空缺，之前一个月有1110万个职位空缺。这些数字至少是2000年12月政府开始统计以来的最高记录。与此同时，美国劳工部表示，8月份辞工人数从7月份的400万跃升到430万。

A recent study from employment company ManpowerGroup found that nearly 40 percent of jobseekers worldwide said schedule flexibility was one of their top three issues in career decisions.

招聘公司万宝盛华集团最近的一项研究发现，全球近40%的求职者表示，工作安排的灵活性是他们在职业决策中的三大问题之一。

SnagAJob.com, an online marketplace for hourly workers, says the word "flexibility" now appears in about 11 percent of the more than 7 million job postings on its site. That number was around 8 percent earlier in the year.

SnagAJob.com是一家小时工的在线人才市场，它说目前在其网站超过700万条的招聘信息中，有11%的招聘信息中出现了灵活性这个词。这一数字在今年早些时候约为8%。

Instawork is an employment marketplace that connects local businesses with hourly workers. It says the rate at which employers were able to fill weekend schedules dropped from January through August compared with weekday work.

Instawork是一家连接本地企业和小时工的人才市场。它表示，与周内工作相比，雇主得以填补周末工作安排的比例从1月到8月一路下滑。

Such changes are happening as companies try to hire more workers for the upcoming holiday season. Target Corporation, for example, said this month it will pay $2 an hour more to employees who agree to work schedules during busy days of the holiday season.

随着各公司试图为即将到来的假期雇佣更多工人，这种变化正在发生。例如，塔吉特公司本月表示将给那些愿意在假期旺季上班的员工涨2美元的时薪。

Sumir Meghani is co-founder and CEO of Instawork. He told The Associated Press that he thinks companies are learning that money alone cannot solve their hiring issues.

苏米尔·梅加尼是Instawork公司的联合创始人兼首席执行官。他对美联社表示，他认为各企业开始懂得光靠钱解决不了他们的招聘问题。

"It's about flexibility," Meghani said. He added, "It's about workers saying ‘I don't want to work weekends' or ‘I can't work Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays because I don't have child care or schools haven't reopened' or ‘I am worried about COVID.'"

梅加尼表示：“这是关于灵活性的问题。员工会说‘我周末不想上班’，或是‘我周一、周二、周三不能上班，因为没人看孩子或学校还没重新开放’，或是‘我害怕新冠肺炎’。”

Meghani says hourly workers are now asking how they can get the same work-life balance as workers in other kinds of jobs who can work remotely.

梅加尼表示，小时工现在都在询问，他们如何才能跟其他可以远程工作的工人一样，获得工作与生活上的平衡。

During the pandemic, hourly workers were hit especially hard when businesses like department stores and restaurants were forced to close for a few months during the spring of 2020. Those who remained employed at essential businesses like grocery stores found themselves working too much and too hard.

在大流行期间，当百货商店和餐馆等企业在2020年春季被迫关闭几个月时，小时工受到的冲击尤为严重。那些留在杂货店等基本需求企业工作的雇员认为自己干得太多太辛苦。

Donald Minerva is the owner of a restaurant called Scottadito Osteria Toscana in Brooklyn, New York. He told the AP that right before the pandemic, he had 16 employees who worked different schedules at his restaurant, which was open six days a week. Now, Minerva has 14 workers and he keeps his restaurant open just five days a week with limited hours.

唐纳德·米诺瓦是纽约布鲁克林一家名为Scottadito Osteria Toscana的餐厅的老板。他对美联社表示，在大流行之前，有16名员工在他的餐厅按不同日程安排上班，餐厅每周营业6天。现在，米诺娃有14名员工，他的餐厅每周只营业5天，营业时间受到限制。

Minerva says 70 percent of his workers are from the pre-pandemic days and want to work 40 hours a week. But the new workers want more flexibility.

米诺瓦表示，他70%的员工来自于大流行前期，他们想要每周工作40个小时。但是新员工想要更多灵活性。

"It's a juggle to find them, and a juggle to keep them," he said.

他说：“招到他们是变戏法，留住他们也是变戏法。”