与老板一起办公?

The privacy point is important. Who would opt for a shared space if they could have their own? Backpackers stay in youth hostel dormitories, but that is because they cannot afford to pay for privacy. Hotels do not ask business travellers whether they would like to have their own rooms or shared ones, because they know the answer. Airlines can charge considerably more for seats that give you some distance from your neighbours.
隐私十分重要。如果能拥有自己的办公室，谁会选择共享办公区呢？背包客们会选择青年旅社的宿舍，但那是因为他们掏不起维护自己隐私的钱。酒店不会询问商旅人士是想单独住、还是想与他人合住，因为它们知道答案。对于那些让你和邻座保持一定间距的舱位，航空公司的收费要高得多。

Whatever small gains open-plan offices do offer in enhanced communication are, in any event, wiped out by the loss of productivity. We do not need academic studies to tell us people get less done when they have to listen to their neighbours' conversations and telephone calls. Once again, a commonsense reference to life outside the office suffices: libraries have a rule of silence because it allows people to work.
无论开放式办公室为增进沟通贡献了何种微薄之力，它都被工作效率的降低所抹消。我们不需要学术研究结果就懂得：人们在工作时，若无法躲开邻座的交谈与电话，他们的效率就会降低。再者，参考职场之外的一个常识，就足以说明这个问题：图书馆都有一条保持安静的规定，因为这可以让人安心工作。

It is not just the distractions of open-plan offices that lower productivity. A recent article in the Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management said that employees in open-plan offices were more prone to eye, nose and throat irritations, and more likely to come down with flu.
开放式办公室造成工作效率下降的原因不只是分神。《亚太健康管理期刊》(Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management)最近刊登的一篇文章指出，开放式办公室员工的眼睛、鼻子和、喉咙更容易产生疼痛感，染上流感的机率也更大。

Open-plan offices may offer companionship, but that assumes you like the people whose space you share. It is surely more comfortable to be able to pop into the private office of those you want to see.
开放式办公室或许会给你带来友谊，但前提是你喜欢那个与你共享办公空间的人。当你想与某人交谈时，能去他的私人办公室里谈话，无疑会让人感觉更为自在。

So why are most offices these days open-plan? Because they cost less. The Asia Pacific Journal article put the saving at up to 20 per cent. Not only do open-plan offices allow companies to eliminate the cost of all those walls; they can also fit far more people into the same space.
那么，为什么如今的办公室大多设计成开放式的呢？因为这能降低成本。《亚太健康管理期刊》上的那篇文章称，公司将因此节省至多20%的成本。开放式办公室不仅令公司省掉了建造墙壁的成本，还可在同一办公区间容纳更多的员工。

There is nothing wrong with cutting costs; lower costs mean higher profits and a better chance of corporate survival. Organisations in which every employee has his or her own office might soon find themselves undercut by companies, possibly on the other side of the world, that pack staff into a single space.
削减成本并没有错；降低成本意味着提升利润和加大企业的生存机会。那些每位员工都拥有私人办公室的机构可能很快就会发现，自己的生意被那些所有员工挤在同一办公区域内的公司以更低的报价抢走了——这些公司很可能在地球的另一边。

Open-plan buildings are, as the Asia Pacific Journal says, also more efficient to heat and cool than traditional closed offices, so open-plan is greener as well as cheaper.
如《亚太健康管理期刊》所言，开放式办公室的供暖和供冷，也比传统的封闭式办公室效率更高，因此，开放式办公室的空调更为环保，费用也更低。

Given that it seems here to stay, should managers share the open space with their staff? There are strong arguments in favour. Whether it comes to insisting that all staff fly economy or cut down on lunches with clients, when companies impose a cost-cutting hardship on staff, managers should lead by example.
既然开放式办公看上去已无法改变，那么管理人员是否应与手下共享开放式办公区？支持的理由十分充分。公司在削减成本、让员工大吃苦头之时——无论是要求员工都坐经济舱，还是要求员工减少与客户就餐——管理人员都应以身作则。

Against that, managers need a space to talk to employees in private, and for employees to talk to them, away from the straining ears of their colleagues. That can be dealt with by providing meeting spaces away from the open-plan areas, although that requires staff to make specific arrangements to talk rather than just dropping by. (By way of declaring an interest, I should say that I have an office next to the open-plan area of the team I manage.)
遗憾的是，管理人员需要一个办公空间与员工私下交谈，以免谈话内容传到同事们竖起来的耳朵里。在远离开放办公区的地方设立会议区，可以解决这一问题，但这要求员工必须为交谈做出特定安排，而不能只是随便过来聊聊。（为了表明我并非在此空谈，我应该说明，在我手下团队所在的开放式办公区边上，有我一间办公室。）

But my friend's point remains: managers may want to work alongside their staff, but their staff may not want to work alongside them. Certainly, managers who work in open-plan areas should give their people a break by going somewhere else from time to time. Mr Morgan of Tube Lines told the FT he liked working in the open-plan office because, “I can listen to the gossip.” The gossip he is unlikely to hear is the gossip about him. His staff probably go elsewhere for that.
不过，我那位朋友的观点依然成立：管理者或许想与手下并肩工作，但他们的手下可能并不这么想。当然，在开放式办公区工作的管理者应该不时去其它地方转转，让自己的手下缓口气。Tube Lines的摩根告诉英国《金融时报》，他之所以喜欢在开放式办公室里工作，是因为“我可以听到他们闲话”。他不太可能听到的，是有关他自己的闲话——他的手下很可能去其它地方谈论这些了。