Before You Decide to Telecommute在決定遠程辦公之前

文/ 梅拉妮·皮諾拉 譯/楊心彤

By Melanie Pinola

Before You Decide to Telecommute在決定遠程辦公之前

文/ 梅拉妮·皮諾拉 譯/楊心彤

ByMelanie Pinola

A work from home arrangement isn’t always for everyone.

在家工作可能并不適合每一個人。

Telecommuters (a.k.a., remote workers or teleworkers) enjoy many great benefits, but there are also downsides. Before you decide to explore a remote work arrangement or ask your boss to let you work from home, here’s what you should consider and ask yourself.4 questions you can ask yourself before you consider becoming a telecommuter:

居家辦公一族（也稱作遠

距離工作者或遠程辦公者）享有許多優勢，但也面臨諸多問題。所以，在你決定嘗試遠程工作的模式或向老板要求在家工作之前，請先思考下面的這些內容。

在決定居家辦公之前先問自己4個問題：

1. Do the telecommuting pros outweight the cons for you?

1．遠程辦公對你來說利大于弊嗎？

It might seem like working from home—and ditching the commute—is the ideal work situation, but there are tradeoffs as well. Telecommuters enjoy:

More flexibility and controlover working environment and schedule.

Increased productivity:Fewer distractions from coworkers’/bosses’

在家工作擺脫了通勤的奔波，看似理想，實則充滿了權衡與妥協。居家辦公一族享受：

更強的靈活性和支配力：無論是對工作環境的選擇，還是對時間的安排。

更高的效率：來自同事、老板的干擾更少，還可以按照自己的節奏工作。interruptions and the ability to work at your own pace.

Less stress:Avoid rush hour, office politics, cubicles, and harsh lighting.

Greater work/life balance:Stay closer to the people you love and more flexibility with scheduling non-workrelated events.

However, telecommuters are also more vulnerable to:

Isolation:You may feel left out of or miss office socializing.

Distractions at home:chores, home deliveries, family interruptions, etc.may replace office disruptions.

Becoming a workaholic:without firm boundaries, you may feel like—or end up—always working.

2. Do you have the personal qualities needed to be a successful remote worker?

Not everyone is cut out to work remotely, and that’s okay. If you don’t have certain qualities, however,remote work will be a bust for you and you won’t be happy attempting it.Teleworkers need to have:

Self-sufficiency and motivation:Since no one’s watching over your shoulder, you need to be self-motivated.

Good communication (especially writing) skills:Email and phone will replace most in-person communications.

更少的壓力：避開了上下班高峰時段，不用參與辦公室政治，不用在狹小的隔間和刺眼的燈光下工作。

工作與生活之間更好的平衡：離你愛的人更近，能夠更好地安排與工作無關的事情。

然而，居家辦公一族會更加脆弱，因為他們需要應對：

孤獨感：你也許會覺得被冷落，或者會想念辦公室的社交活動。

家中的干擾因素：家務、送貨上門服務、家人的打擾等都可能取代辦公室中令人分心的事物，成為新的干擾因素。

變成工作狂的風險：因為沒有嚴格的界限，你可能會想（或最終）沒完沒了地工作下去。

2．你具備成為一名成功的遠程辦公者所需的個人品質嗎？

并不是所有人都適合遠程工作，這也無妨。但如果你不具備某些特定的品質，遠程辦公的嘗試終將以失敗告終，而嘗試的過程也不會使你感到愉悅。遠程辦公者需要擁有：

自給自足的能力和積極性、主動性：沒有其他人的監督，你就必須有自主工作的熱情。

良好的溝通技巧（尤其是寫作技巧）：郵件和電話會取代大部分面對面的交流。

Outside relationships:Since you’ll be away from the in-office community,you may need to establish stronger friendships outside of work.

Organization skills:Your desk and your files are reallyyoursto maintain.

General technology comfort:Telecommuters need to be able to perform basic computer tasks and use online technologies like email, IM, and web conferencing.

3. Do you have an appropriate office for remote work?

Sure, technology makes it easy these days to stay in touch anywhere and anytime, but if your proposed remote work environment is your unfinished leaky basement and all you have is dialup Internet service, that’s a recipe for disaster.

Thankfully, the tech requirements and general guidelines for setting up a home office are really minimal. If you have a computer, decent Internet connection,and can carve out a comfortable,productive space for working at home—it doesn’t have to be an entire room—you should be fine.

4. Is your job suited for remote work?

辦公室以外的人際關系：遠離了辦公室這個小群體，你可能需要在工作之外建立更牢靠的友誼。

整理技巧：你只能靠自己來打理桌面和文件。

對常用技術的掌握：遠程辦公者需要完成基礎的計算機任務，掌握互聯網技術，其中就包括電子郵件、即時通訊以及網絡會議等。

3．你是否有合適的辦公室用于遠程工作？

誠然，現如今技術使得人們能夠隨時隨地保持聯系，但如果你計劃中遠程工作的環境是尚未裝修好又漏水的地下室，網絡連接方式還是撥號上網的話，這注定是一場災難。

萬幸的是，建立家庭辦公室只要求掌握最基本的技術和注意事項。如果你有電腦，網絡連接良好，并且能夠在家中營造出一個舒適的工作空間——不一定是一整個房間，就足夠了。

4．你的工作適合遠程辦公嗎？

這個問題至關重要，而且將由你的主管或雇主進行評估，所以要誠實地告訴自己，你的工作有多少可以遠程完成。

This is a make-or-break question that will be evaluated by your supervisor/employer, so be honest with yourself about how much of your work can be done remotely.

Most knowledge-based work can be done outside of the office, but jobs requiring your physical presence (e.g.,teaching or medical care) will be tougher to negotiate for telecommuting.A sign of the times, however—half of US school districts offer online courses and online doctor consultations are growing. So even traditional occupations may be translated into telecommuting positions.

The key here is finding out how well the telecommuting workstyle fits you.

盡管大多數知識型工作可以在辦公室外完成，但需要本人到場的工作（像教學或醫療護理）想要實現遠程辦公，就更加難以協調。不過，半數的美國學區提供在線課程，在線醫生咨詢的數量也不斷增長，這是這個時代的特征。因此，即使傳統工作也可能轉化成可以在家辦公的職位。

這里的關鍵就在于弄清楚遠程辦公的工作模式在多大程度上適合你。

（譯者曾獲第五屆“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽優秀獎）

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