职场英语：站着办公效率更高

Take a stand on being more productive

I’ve just realised that there is something wrong with my new office chair. It’s a swanky piece of furniture called “Freedom by Humanscale” and comes with “advanced armrests” and an ingenious way of matching its “recline tension” to my weight.

我刚刚意识到我的新办公椅似乎有点不太对劲。这是由Humanscale公司设计的一款名为“自由”(Freedom)的时髦家具，不光配有“高级扶手”，还能以一种独特的方式自行调节靠背的“后仰程度”，使其与我的体重匹配。

The problem is that it is so comfortable there is no incentive ever to get out of it. I’ve just worked out that I spend 12 hours a day sitting down, making the average person – who passes only nine on their bottom – look quite active.

问题在于，这把椅子过于舒适，以至于我从来不会产生要从椅子上起来的想法。我刚刚算出自己每天有12个小时都是坐着度过的，和我相比，其他每天只坐9个小时的普通人显得非常活跃。

Yet until last week this sedentary working life was low on my list of things to worry about, much lower, say, than the fact that I forgot to put my dental hygienist appointment in my diary. But then I read a Harvard Business Review blog post saying that sitting is the new smoking. It makes you fat and then it kills you.

但是直到上周，这种久坐的工作方式在我的关注列表中的排名还很靠后，远不如忘记在日程表中录入与牙科保健医师的预约令我紧张。但随后我在《哈佛商业评论》(Harvard Business Review)的网站上读到了一篇文章，文中指出久坐的危害堪比吸烟，可能导致肥胖，进而危及生命。

The author, Nilofer Merchant, has solved the problem by holding walking meetings – she makes her business associates pound the streets with her. Every week she covers between 20 and 30 miles, which leaves her full of joy and creativity. If “you want to get out of the box thinking, you need to literally get out of the box”, she says.

这篇文章的作者尼洛弗尔•麦钱特(Nilofer Merchant)通过召开步行会议的方式解决了久坐问题——她让公司同事和自己一起压马路。她每周的步行距离长达20至30英里，这让她心情愉快，并且充满创意。麦钱特表示，“如果想要打破思维定势，就需要实实在在地打破常规。”

If one ignores the cheesiness of this, it’s rather a good scheme. Walking and talking is something that even the stupidest person can manage. Indeed, it is easier to talk when you walk, especially if what you are saying is sensitive. And the person you are talking to might even be paying attention, as it is hard to check emails while striding along. The snag is that it only works with two people: you can’t take a whole team for a walk along city streets unless you’ve got megaphones to be heard over the roar of traffic and are prepared to push other pedestrians off the pavement.

如果忽略不计这种说法有多么俗气，它其实是个很不错的方案。边走边聊这种事即使是最笨的人都能做到。事实上，当你走在路上时更容易与人交谈，这在谈论的话题较为敏感时体现得尤为明显。而对方甚至有可能真的在用心听你讲话，因为一边压马路一边查收邮件的难度很大。但这种方式的缺点在于只适用于两人之间的交流：你不可能将整个团队都带到市区街道上散步，除非你配备了音量足以盖过嘈杂车流的扩音器，并且做好了将其他行人挤下人行道的准备。

Even though the walking meeting is a good idea, it doesn’t solve my main problem with the sedentary life. What concerns me is not fatness and imminent death. It is that my brain and willpower are weakened by long spells in the chair. I can’t believe it’s just me: I suspect advances in office furniture are the main reason productivity stubbornly fails to improve. With everyone sitting so comfortably, there is never any great rush to get things done.

步行会议虽然是一个好主意，但不能化解久坐式生活给我带来的主要困扰。我并不担心肥胖或者死期将近。我害怕的是长期坐在舒适的椅子里或让我的智力以及意志力减退。我无法相信只有我一个人有这样的恐惧：我怀疑办公家具的升级换代是导致劳动生产率迟迟不能进一步提高的主要原因。由于每个人都舒舒服服地坐在椅子上，没有人会雷厉风行地急着把事办完。

If sitting is the new smoking, the answer is not to cut down by having meetings walking or standing, but to quit sitting altogether, and conduct all work from a vertical position.

如果久坐的危害真的堪比吸烟，那么解决之道不应是通过步行或站着开会缩短坐下的时间，而应是在办公场所彻底停止使用椅子，所有工作都站着处理。

Indeed, standing desks are selling like hot cakes in the US – in an attempt to counteract the effect that actual hot cakes have had on the nation’s waistline. Also popular are “elevator desks” at which you can either stand or sit, and treadmill desks for walking while you work.

目前站式写字台在美国的热销程度堪比刚刚出炉的新鲜蛋糕——因为人们想要借此抵消实实在在的新鲜蛋糕对于这个国家腰围尺寸的影响。同样大受欢迎的还有“升降式写字台”，这种家具可以满足站式和坐式办公的双重需要;带跑步机的写字台，用户能够一边健步走一边工作。