托福阅读背景之“unlimited vacation无限假期”

　　Like all-you-can-eat shrimp or the right to consume candy and ice cream allday because your parents can’t stop you anymore, unlimited vacation time isn'tquite as fabulous as you might think.

　　就像自助餐吃大虾和随意吃糖果冰淇淋而没有父母唠叨一样，“无限假期”其实也没有你想的那么光鲜。

　　LinkedIn is the latest employer to offer what's known as "discretionarytime off," or "DTO" in corporate HR-speak. Starting on Nov. 1, the jobnetworking site’s approximately 6,000 US employees will be able to take as muchtime off as they want every year.

　　领英公司成为提供“自主休假”或者“DTO”的又一位雇主，他们刚在人力资源部的讲话中宣布此事。新政策自11月1日开始实行。领英是一个聚焦工作人际关系的网站，在全美境内约有6000名员工，他们今后将能按自己的意愿休年假。

　　Sort of.

　　差不多是这样。

　　“The purpose is to empower managers and employees,” Pat Wadors, LinkedIn’schief human resource officer, told The Huffington Post. Employees are adults whodon’t need to be micromanaged or wait to accrue vacation days after a designatedperiod, she said.

　　领英现任首席人力资源官帕特·沃多尔表示“其目的就是授予经理和员工权力，”她向赫芬顿邮报如此说道。她称，雇员是成年人，他们不再需要被从头管到脚，也无需等到过完指定时间后再休年假。

　　But there are limits to the new policy. Workers can’t create an alternativework schedule, such as three-day weeks. They can’t take six months off. “That’sa leave of absence, not a vacation,” Wadors said. Employees need to work outtheir days off with their managers.

　　但新政策也有限制。员工们不能制定另类的工作时间表，比如一周只工作三天。他们也不能休六个月的假。“那是旷工，而非休假，”沃尔多表示。雇员们得和他们的经理协调好自己的假期。

　　It’s not really unlimited vacation, in other words. It's a tricky bit ofpush and pull, in which employees must figure out how much time to take offwithout overloading their own work schedules or those of their colleagues -- andstill convince their bosses that they're devoted employees. Wadors said thatLinkedIn managers know to offer feedback to employees so they don't feelinsecure about what to do.

　　这并非实打实的“无限假期”，换句话说，这就是场拉锯战，员工必须盘算出休假的最佳长度，既要保证不让自己和同事超负荷工作，又得让上司相信自己是忠诚上进的员工。沃尔多透露道，领英的经理们会为自己的员工提供反馈，确保他们不会对如何休假感到不安。

　　The company joins a number of white-collar employers who give their workersthe power to decide how much vacation to take, including General Electric Co.,Netflix and Virgin Group.

　　和领英一样让自己员工“量体定假”的公司还有通用电气，Netflix和维珍集团。

　　The knock against unlimited vacation policies is that they may actuallywind up pushing employees to take less vacation. Kickstarter last month droppedits unlimited vacation policy for this very reason. Now the crowdfunding companyoffers a generous 25 days of vacation a year.

　　无限假期的反效果就是到头来员工休的假反而更少。Kickstarter上个月就因为这个原因而放弃了无限假期政策。现在这个众筹公司每年为员工提供多达25天的假期。

　　Matt Yglesias even suggested in an article for Slate a few years ago thatunlimited vacation is a sinister plot cooked up by the overlords topassive-aggressively force people to work more. Employees will feel too insecureto actually take a vacation, he said. That seems a bit overwrought -- thesepolicies do seem fairly well-intentioned.

　　马特·伊格雷西亚斯前几年曾为Slate杂志撰文指出：无限假期就是一项邪恶计划，目的就是为了变相偷偷强迫人们做更多的工作。他表示，员工们会对休假感到不安。这似乎有点想多了，因为这些政策的本意的确是好的。

　　The companies who put unlimited vacation policies in place say that theytrust their workers. But in order for it to really work, employees must alsotrust their bosses.

　　践行“无限假期”政策的公司表示，他们信任自己的员工。但是为了保证这能真正有效，员工们也必须要相信自己的老板。

　　Generally speaking, Americans don’t take enough vacation. So, it doesn'thurt when bosses remind workers to take time off -- and take time offthemselves. Even when companies specify a set amount of time off, workers leavea lot of unused vacation days on the table. US workers don’t take about 40percent of their available vacation time, according to one 2014 survey.

　　通常来说，美国人休的假都不够长。所以，老板提醒员工和自己去休假也没什么大不了。就算公司已经给他们设定好了休假的时间，员工每年都有很多假没休掉。2014年的一项调查显示，美国的员工们实际休假的时长，连规定假期的40%都不到。

　　Some employers are getting more creative about forcing workers out of theoffice: One startup actually gives workers $7,500 to take vacation. Other bossessend out email reminders to people to tell them to take time off. Evernote givesa $1,000 bonus to workers who take at least one full week off in a year,according to an article from the Society for Human Resource Management.

　　有些雇主为了让员工休假更是花样百出：一家初创公司拿出7500美金鼓励员工休假。有的老板则是给员工发邮件提醒他们该休假了。据人力资源管理协会的一篇文章报道，印象笔记公司给每位每年休假一周以上的员工1000美金的补贴。

　　Still, unlimited vacation is a pretty rare policy. Only about 1 percent ofemployers offer it, Society for Human Resource Management data shows. About 20percent of workers in the private sector don’t have any paid vacation atall.

　　不过，人力资源管理协会数据显示，“无限假期”还是一项比较少见的福利。只有约1%的雇主提供这类政策。20%就职于私企的员工根本就没有带薪假期。

　　Vocabulary

　　discretionary: 自由决定的

　　accrue: 获得;积累