08 新的职场福利：啤酒、烘培、冲浪碗

在远程工作模式下保持企业文化、维持员工士气是个难题。一些雇主的办法是给在家办公的员工点外卖、组织虚拟午餐会。

全文共 1039 个词，by Emma Jacobs

In the old normal, every Friday lunchtime employees at ad agency Mellor & Smith used to receive a regular order of beers which they would drink, while chatting in the office and finishing up their work ahead of the weekend. Then the pandemic hit, upending work routines as everyone departed the office. The Friday beer tradition continued. Drinks were dispatched to staff who drank them at home while decompressing with colleagues over Zoom.

在梅勒&史密斯（Mellor & Smith）广告公司，过去的惯例是，每周五午餐时间，在办公室的员工都会收到一单啤酒，他们会一边聊天，一边在周末前把工作收尾。然后新冠疫情爆发了，所有人都离开了办公室，常规的工作模式被打破了。周五啤酒这个传统延续了下来。啤酒被配送到在家里工作的员工家中，大家在Zoom上一起喝酒解压。

Paul Mellor, managing director, says drinks would have been the obvious cost to cut but he wanted to lift morale. “You can erode that culture if you make snap decisions around Covid.” Yet binding a remote workforce together faced challenges, particularly when it came to furloughed staff, who in the end continued to receive beers but did not join the online gathering.

董事总经理保罗·梅勒（Paul Mellor）表示，酒水是显然可以削减的成本，但他想提振士气。“如果你因为新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19，2019 冠状病毒病）做出草率的决定，你可能会侵蚀这种文化。”然而，将远程工作的员工团结在一起并不容易，尤其是对于被强制休假的员工来说，他们最终虽然继续收到啤酒，但没有加入在线聚会。

For Adam Rogers, chief executive of DeskBeers, the company that Mr Mellor used for the deliveries, the Friday tradition was desperately welcome, as his business of sending bulk orders to workplaces had disintegrated overnight. While some clients “jumped at the chance” to send their orders to employees, he would be surprised if he was making 20 per cent of pre-lockdown sales. The new work-from-home model, sending drinks to multiple locations, created fresh challenges. “There [are] a lot more moving parts — more boxes to fold, tape, pack and ship, more labels to print. It's nothing we can't handle, but definitely more labour intensive — and less cost efficient — than before.”

对为梅勒提供啤酒配送的公司DeskBeers的首席执行官亚当·罗杰斯（Adam Rogers）来说，这个“周五传统”可是及时雨，因为他向工作场所派送大宗订购啤酒的业务一夜之间就垮掉了。尽管一些客户“抓住机会”将订购的啤酒发送给员工，但如果他的销售额达到封锁前的 20%，他都会感到惊讶。新的在家工作模式要求将啤酒送到多个地点，这带来了新的挑战。“搬运件数要多得多——需要折叠、贴胶带、打包和运输更多的箱子，需要打印更多的标签。这不是我们不能解决的问题，但无疑比以前需要更多人手，而且成本收益率也更低。”

As employers rethink their work patterns in the wake of the pandemic, with many offices remaining shut and others operating a hybrid model of workers moving between the workplace and home, they are seeking ways to sustain the company culture and morale. Food and drink has traditionally been one means to do this as both social lubricant and workplace perk and Silicon Valley’s tech groups had long competed for talent by providing flashy canteens and free snacks. （Google’s in-office snacks included dried seaweed and kombucha）.

新冠疫情爆发后，雇主重新思考它们的工作模式，也在寻找保持公司文化和士气的方法——许多办公室眼下仍然关闭，其他办公室则采用员工在公司工作和远程工作相结合的混合模式。传统上，被用作社交润滑剂和工作场所福利的食物和酒水是保持公司文化和士气的一种手段，硅谷科技集团长期以来一直通过提供豪华的食堂和免费小吃来争夺人才（谷歌办公室里提供的小吃包括海苔和康普茶）。

But as companies cut costs amid economic turmoil, such perks became unnecessary luxuries for many employers. Some, like Mr Mellor, are rewarding professionals working from home with food and drink deliveries. US food delivery company DoorDash says the pandemic increased demand for gift cards as a new work benefit, used by teams for a virtual lunch, as well as gifts to clients and for use at online conferences.

但是，随着企业在经济动荡中削减成本，这些福利对许多雇主来说成了不必要的奢侈品。一些雇主（比如梅勒）正在通过给在家工作的专业人士点食品和酒水外卖来犒劳他们。美国食品配送公司DoorDash表示，新冠疫情增加了对礼品卡的需求，雇主用礼品卡给员工发福利，为团队安排虚拟午餐，或是作为礼物送给客户和在网上会议上使用。

Deliveroo for Business, which previously delivered food to workplaces for meetings and functions, says that in recent months there has been a 25-fold increase in the number of companies providing virtual gift cards, driven by tech companies, followed by media and marketing. Friday lunches were the most popular time for Deliveroo for Business orders during the pandemic, with pizzas, burgers, Vietnamese and Poke Bowls the most popular choices among remote workers.

Deliveroo for Business此前曾为工作场所的会议和活动配送食品，该公司表示，最近几个月，提供虚拟礼品卡的公司数量是以往的 25 倍，主要的推动者是科技公司，其次是媒体和营销公司。在新冠疫情期间，周五午餐时间是Deliveroo for Business最繁忙的时间，比萨饼、汉堡、越南菜和冲浪碗（PokeBowl，一种类似海鲜饭的夏威夷美食——译者注）是最受远程工作员工欢迎的选择。

Bonusly, unsurprisingly for an employee rewards company, is giving its own workforce a budget of $20 twice a week for meal deliveries, as well as treats from local bakeries on employees’ birthdays and work anniversaries. Online retailer Asos provided a virtual baking class with Violet Bakery. Other companies provide online drinks tastings and cooking classes to forge bonds between remote teams.

Bonusly每周两次给员工 20 美元的预算来点外卖，以及在员工生日和工作周年纪念日时从当地面包店为员工买蛋糕——Bonusly是做员工福利业务的，这种做法对它来说并不奇怪。在线零售商Asos提供紫罗兰面包店（Violet Bakery）的烘焙线上课程。其他公司提供品酒和烹饪线上课程，以增强远程工作的团队成员之间的纽带。

Against a backdrop of job losses, such perks might seem frivolous. Glassdoor, the employer review site, found that more than half of UK employees working from home said office-based perks such as free food were less important to them. Instead, they wanted wellbeing benefits like mindfulness apps, private healthcare and access to online therapy.

在许多人失业的背景下，这样的福利可能看起来很可笑。雇主评估网站Glassdoor发现，超过一半在家工作的英国员工表示，免费食物等办公室福利对他们来说不太重要。相反，他们想要健康福利，比如正念应用、私人医疗服务和在线治疗。

Richard Greenwald, professor of history at Fairfield University in Connecticut, who researches work, believes the pandemic is prompting a recalibration of values, including about work among pampered professionals. “Luxuries are no longer necessities,” he points out. The age of coronavirus has also illuminated the risks being taken by people in jobs, such as cleaners and delivery couriers. “If you are being served food at home, you are just offshoring risk. Someone in a service job has to deliver it to you. People are asking those questions now,”he says. “If there’s a silver lining [to the pandemic it] could be that it brings our humanity back to focus and we start to think about privilege.”

研究工作问题的康涅狄格州费尔菲尔德大学（Fairfield University）历史学教授理查德·格林沃尔德（Richard Greenwald）认为，新冠疫情正在促使价值观的重新调整，在待遇优厚的专业人士的工作中也是如此。他指出：“奢侈品不再是必需品。”新冠病毒时代也揭示了人们在从事清洁工和快递员等工作时所冒的风险。“如果你在家吃外卖，那你就是在将风险转嫁出去。必须得有从事服务工作的人把食品配送给你。现在人们在质疑这种情况。如果（新冠疫情）这片乌云也有‘银边’的话，那就是它让我们重新聚焦人性，让我们开始思考特权的问题。”

As workers move between the office and home as governments encourage businesses to open, the future of workplace food is unclear.

在一些政府鼓励企业复工、劳动者往来于办公室和家中之际，我们不清楚工作场所的餐食福利未来会怎样。

Spencer Craig, co-founder of Pure, a UK healthy sandwich chain, says unlike the large delivery companies, his business has not managed to find a foothold among homeworkers. “We rely on people commuting, working in offices, having meetings in offices and flying and these things are not being done.”

英国健康三明治连锁店Pure的联合创始人斯潘塞·克雷格（Spencer Craig）说，与大型外卖公司不同，他的公司没能在居家工作者中找到市场。“我们依赖于人们通勤、在办公室里工作、在办公室里开会、以及坐飞机，但现在这些都没有了。”

He hopes that he will have a clearer idea of working patterns later. “We’re all trying to figure out the new work-from-home consumer trends. It makes it hard to build the new infrastructure, such as kitchens nearer homes. No one knows how it will pan out.”

他希望稍后能对工作模式有更清晰的认识。“我们都在努力了解在家办公所带来的新的消费趋势。这使得我们很难建造新的基础设施，比如靠近住宅区的厨房。没人知道情况会怎样发展。”

If the future of work is the hybrid model of home and office, he hopes that workers commuting to the workplace will want to treat themselves at lunchtimes in sandwich bars.

如果未来是居家办公和办公室工作结合的混合模式，他希望到办公室工作的员工将会希望在午餐时间去三明治吧吃饭、犒劳自己。

Catering and hospitality providers’ revenues have been hit by the closure of schools and workplaces. However,they insist that their offerings will be one way for employers to attract workers to the office. Compass and Sodexo, two big providers, have apps that allow employees to order food ahead of lunchtime to minimise contact in cafeterias and reduce queues. If homeworking continues, Russell Allen, founder of Crescendo,which organises corporate entertainment, hopes that employers will spend more on engaging their employees virtually. “They could use money [spent] on office space and put it in events,” he says.

学校和工作场所的关闭打击了餐饮和招待业供应商的收入。然而，他们坚持认为，他们的产品将是雇主吸引员工到办公室工作的一种方式。两家大供应商Compass和Sodexo的应用程序允许员工在午餐时间前点菜，以减少在自助餐厅的接触和排队。如果在家工作模式继续下去，组织企业娱乐活动的Crescendo公司的创始人拉塞尔·艾伦（Russell Allen）希望雇主能投入更多资金，用于吸引员工参与虚拟活动。他说：“他们可以把花在办公空间上的钱用在活动上。”

Virtual entertaining has some benefits. George Blizzard says that pre-Covid she had struggled to get her PR Network, a virtual agency, to meet up in person, juggling last trains home and child care. After lockdown, she set up a virtual gin tasting. “People were feeling very isolated. It was nice — everyone was very open.”

虚拟娱乐有一些好处。乔治·布利泽德（George Blizzard）经营着一家虚拟公关公司——PR Network，在新冠疫情之前，她很难为她的公司组织现实中的聚会，要么需要赶末班火车回家，要么需要找人帮忙照顾孩子。在因疫情封锁后，她组织了一个线上杜松子酒品酒会。“大家感到非常孤单。这很好——每个人都很愿意谈点什么。” EmyvxPn0ZbqtLc6Ftli3Qau0xuIS7RKYFw2irbIlWG6F7ZcjEXgC+Rrl42FFSUz7