在家辦公被誤解的那些事兒

越來越多的人選擇在家辦公，除了家里舒適的環(huán)境和安靜的氣氛外，更重要的是不用早出晚歸、長途奔波，不用穿正裝，還可以想什么時候休息就什么時候休息……這似乎是不少人心目中完美的工作模式。然而，在家辦公卻會遇到很多分散注意力和浪費時間的事情，如親戚朋友的突然拜訪之類。因此，這種上班模式可能更容易使人疲勞，而且多數(shù)人很難協(xié)調生活和工作之間的平衡。在家辦公，真的不像人們認為的那樣輕松。

Everything You Thought You Knew About Working from Home Is Wrong
在家辦公：被人誤解的那些事兒
By Lana Winter-Hebert 柒月 選 李夢珠 注

With the rise of telecommuting, more people are working from home than ever before. It’s not uncommon to see words like “remote” or “offsite” in job listings, and it’s estimated that in the United States alone, approximately 16 million people work from their home office at least one day a week. There has also been a massive influx in self-employment, as sites such as Etsy allow folks to make products and sell them online without having to worry about overhead costs for a physical store.

That said, it’s important to remember that just because someone works from home doesn’t mean that they’re either slacking off , or working any less than you are. Those who have never done so may have some misconceptions about what working from a home office is really like, so let’s put those to rest, shall we?

“You work from home? How do you get anything done?”

People who work from home tend to work a LOT more than those in offices, as there’s no real delineation between work time/home time, so work hours spill over into what many would consider to be “personal” time. Distractions such as TV, dirty dishes and such really don’t come into play, as home-based workers realize that their income depends on one thing and one thing alone: how productive they are. As such, they’re not exactly sitting around in PJs all day, especially if there are regular video Skype meetings happening. (Of course, they might just be in PJs from the waist down, but it’s impolite to ask.)

Although you may be tempted to tell people how lucky they are that they get to stay home all day, keep in mind that they’re probably working 12+ hours a day. Sure, self-employed folks may not have to commute for an hour either way, but they’re likely using those extra hours for work. Most self-employed people (including freelancers who telecommute), don’t have things like medical/dental coverage, paid sick leave, or other types of health/personal insurance that’s often covered by full-time employers, so a couple of hours’ worth of extra work may mean that some savings can actually be squirrelled away.

“Since you’re at home anyway, I figured I’d just stop by …”

It’s very bad form to just “drop in” on someone who works from home, as they are WORKING. We wouldn’t just show up at someone’s office for a chat, and the same goes for the self-employed. While you may be tempted to stop by to see a friend/relative because you miss them and you figure that they can make time for you if you just show up, ask yourself if you would do that sort of thing if they worked in a standard office setting—if the answer is “no”, don’t do it.

If someone drops by for a visit, most workers will be gracious and polite and try to make a bit of time to socialize, but that really throws off the entire work day. Think about a situation in which you’ve settled into a groove, and were then interrupted by a co-worker, a phone call, or an impromptu meeting. When that happens, one’s train of thought derails and falls into a lake, and it’s really difficult to draw it back into working order, doesn’t it? Please be considerate .

“Hey, I know you work from home, so can I get this done tonight/this weekend/right now?”

People who work from home need down time as much as office workers do—possibly more, considering that whole working 12 hours/day thing—but many folks assume that since the person telecommutes, they’re always available. I’ve heard countless freelancers mention clients who have asked that they work on weekends in order to make the client’s life “easier”, and texts/emails are often sent at all hours of the day or night, as clients assume that freelancers and such are perpetually chained to their desks.

I once received a text message from a client at 2 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, asking me to have a piece edited and polished for 6 a.m. so they could review it before going in to work. When I explained that I had been sleeping and had no plans to get out of bed until 7:30, they didn’t understand: I worked from home, right? Why couldn’t I do this?

“Wow, you must have so much free time! Let’s go to_____ today.”

Uh, no.

Working from home does not mean that one’s schedule is malleable . There are often online meetings to attend, deadlines to meet, etc., and it’s no more viable to skip off for an afternoon of frivolity as it would be if mired in an office environment. Sure, sometimes work can be rearranged so that excursions can happen, but those have to be planned well in advance, not just on a whim. If you’ve asked a self-employed friend to do something in the middle of the day and they turn you down, please don’t try to coerce them into it or guilt trip them for not going, unless you plan to reimburse them for the time they won’t be spending at work that day.

Working from home can be incredibly rewarding, and the majority of people who do it find they are much more satisfied with their jobs.

Vocabulary
1. telecommuting: 遠程辦公；offsite: 界外，廠區(qū)外；estimate: 估計，判斷； approximately: 大約，近似地。
2. influx: 匯集；Etsy: 美國一個在線銷售手工工藝品的網(wǎng)站，該網(wǎng)站集聚了一大批極富影響力和號召力的手工藝術品設計師。在Etsy，人們可以開店，銷售自己的手工藝品，模式類似中國的淘寶；overhead costs: 營業(yè)成本，管理費用；physical store: 實體店。
3. slack off: 放松，懈怠。
4. misconception: 誤解，錯誤的認識；put sth. to rest: 終止。
5. 在家辦公通常比在辦公室工作的時間更長，因為辦公時間和家庭時間沒有明確的界定，因此所謂的“個人”時間往往被轉化為工作時間。delineation: 描述，解釋；spill over: 溢出。
6. distraction: 干擾；come into play: 開始活動，起作用；productive: 富有成效的。
7. PJs: 睡衣；Skype: 一款即時通訊軟件，具備視頻聊天、多人語音會議、多人聊天、傳送文件、文字聊天等功能。
8. waist: 腰部。
9. be tempted to: 受誘惑做……，忍不住做……。
10. self-employed: 個體經(jīng)營的，自由職業(yè)的；commute: 通勤。
11. 大多數(shù)個體經(jīng)營者（包括遠程辦公的自由職業(yè)者）都沒有醫(yī)療/牙科保險、帶薪病假以及全職工作者所享有的種種健康/個人保險。因此，額外幾個小時的工作量其實意味著無形中省下一筆開支。freelancer: 自由職業(yè)者；coverage: （保險）承保范圍；squirrel away: 儲存。
12. stop by: 順便拜訪。
13. bad form: 失禮的行為；drop in: 偶然拜訪。
14. gracious: 親切的。
15. groove: 最佳狀態(tài)；impromptu: 即興的，即席的。
16. 這種情況一旦發(fā)生，思路都便如列車脫軌，墜入湖中，而將思路重新拉回來卻是相當困難，不是嗎？derail: 脫軌。
17. considerate: 考慮周到的。
18. 在家辦公的人和在辦公室上班的人一樣，也需要休息時間。考慮到每天工作12小時，他們需要的休息時間可能要更多一些。但是很多人都認為，既然這些人遠程辦公，那么他們肯定可以隨時工作。down time: 停工時間。
19. countless: 無數(shù)的；perpetually: 永久地；chain to: 拴在……上。
20. polish: 改進，潤色。
21. malleable: 可塑的，可變化的。
22. viable: 可行的；skip off: 偷偷溜走；frivolity: 無聊的活動；mire: 使陷入。
23. excursion: 短途旅行，這里指在工作時間外出；in advance: 提前；on a whim: 一時興起。
24. coerce: 強迫；guilt trip: 使感到內(nèi)疚；reimburse: 償還，賠償。
25. incredibly: 非常地。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：許晶晶）