题型:任务型阅读 题类:常考题 难易度:困难
江苏省南京市六校联合体20182019学年高二下学期英语期末考试试卷
Fighting the curse of presenteeism
"It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?" Beyond a certain level, extra effort seems to be selfdefeating. Studies suggest that, after 10 hours a week, employee productivity falls sharply.
But that doesn't stop some managers from demanding that workers stay chained to their desk for long periods. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, recently applauded the "996" model, where employees work from 9am to 9pm, six days a week, as a huge blessing". However, to modern office workers presenteeism is a curse.
There will be days when you do not have much to do, just waiting for someone else to respond to a request. As the clock ticks past 5pm, there may be no purpose in staying at your desk. But you can see your boss hard at work and, more important, they can see you. So you make an effort to look busy.
If bosses do not like to go home before their underlings (下属)and underlings fear leaving before their bosses, everyone is trapped. Staff may feel that they will not get a pay rise, or a promotion, if they are not seen to be putting in maximum effort. This is easily confused with long hours. Managers, who are often no good at judging employees5 performance, use time in the office as a measurement.
But presenteeism has more serious consequences. As well as reducing productivity, this can increase medical expenses for the employer. According to a study, these costs can be six time: higher for employers than the costs of absenteeism among workers. To take one example, research found that Japanese employees with lowerback pain were three times more likely to turn up for work than in Britain. As a result, those workers were more likely to experience greater pain and to suffer from depression. What could be more discouraging than being in pain while feeling trapped at work?
"None of this is to say that employers are not entitled to expect workers to be in the office for a small amount of time. Unavoidably there will be a need for some (preferably short)meetings. Dealing with colleagues face-to-face develops friendships, allows for a useful exchange of ideas and enables workers to have a better sense of their common needs.
With portable smart phones and laptops, we can work at home as easily as in the office. Turning an office into a prison does nothing for the creativity that is increasingly demanded of office workers as routine tasks are automatic. To be productive you need presence of mind, not being present in the flesh.
Fighting the curse of presenteeism | |
Modern office workers stay chained to their desk for long periods. | |
Contributing factors | •The staff think it may give them a(n) to get a pay rise, or a promotion. •Employees' performance isin terms of working hours. |
Consequences | •Employees work less , some pretending to be busy. •More medical expenses have to be by employers for their staff. •Workers have ato be both physically and mentally. unhealthy. •It is of no to the development of creativity. |
of facetoface contact | •It develops friendships. •It makes a useful exchange of ideas . •It enables workers to each other's needs. |
Conclusion | To be productive you need presence of mind, not being present in the flesh. |
All company leaders will face major business decisions throughout their time as the heads of their organizations. Difficult decisions related to activities such as M&A, leadership changes, restructuring, and massive growth plans will directly impact the company's employees.
If you've already established trust with your workforce, you can significantly minimize potential negative impacts and make sure your employees will buy into your decisions, even if they don't necessarily agree with them. But earning their faith takes time. As a leader, you are trusted only to the degree that people believe in your ability, consistency, and commitment to deliver. The good news is that there do exist some strategies to help you earn confidence.
Instill trust through an employee engagement program
By encouraging consistent feedback and establishing an honest environment, employees will trust the direction and information you give them. Create a highly engaged culture by prioritizing real-time recognition, continuous feedback, and ongoing goal-setting.
Change and react with meaningful conversations. You've likely had to adjust your business plan in the middle of the year. Real-time, continuous communication helps you keep employees in the loop and adjust to expectations as your organization's needs change.
Giving timely feedback is the most effective way to communicate expectations. Not only that, but saving your big praise until the end of the year isn't just ineffective—it makes it more difficult to deliver.
Ongoing goal-setting can help people understand where their contributions fit within the organization and where they need to aim. Better yet, these can be transparent across the organization so everyone is held accountable for the outcomes and behaviors that drive your business and cultural success.
Gather and measure sentiment (情感) during times of change
Part of the difficulty in making tough business decisions is that leaders don't want to surprise or disappoint employees. Think about the last time you made a major company-wide announcement. Did you know if employees were happy? Were they shocked? Or even worse, did you have no insight into their reactions at all? If you regularly measure employee sentiment through real-time pulse surveys—especially during times of change—you can more accurately pinpoint reactions and cope with issues immediately. The results of these pulse surveys empower your leadership team to be more forthcoming, moving forward, earning the trust of employees and strengthening a transparent company culture.
If there is a strong link between employees and managers to the goals of the organization, the vision and values of the company will be embraced by all.
At the end of the day, the mindset shouldn't be about how you can make tough decisions easier, but how you can make those decisions in a way that won't negatively impact your employees or your organization's objectives. Create a cooperative feedback culture, and when the time comes to make difficult decisions, you know that with your team's insights in mind and trust in the leadership, the decision will be accepted willingly.
Earning employee's faith takes time | |
Passage outline | Supporting details |
Introduction | ◆ Trust from workforce can minimize negative impacts of difficult decisions and ensure employees' {#blank#}1{#/blank#} of your decisions. ◆ Only when employees think you are capable, consistent, and {#blank#}2{#/blank#} will they believe in you. |
Strategies to {#blank#}3{#/blank#} on | {#blank#}4{#/blank#} employees in some programs. ◆ Timely and continuous communication is necessary because proper {#blank#}5{#/blank#} are likely to be made to your business plan. ◆ Real-time feedback is valuable in communicating expectations and the {#blank#}6{#/blank#} in giving praise will make it harder to deliver. ◆ Ongoing goal-setting can make employees {#blank#}7{#/blank#} of where their aims are. |
Gather and measure sentiment during times of change. ◆ Regular measurement of employee sentiment can help you know how they react so that you can {#blank#}8{#/blank#} issues instantly. ◆ The vision and values of the company will be widely accepted if employees and managers are closely united in order to {#blank#}9{#/blank#} their common goal. | |
Conclusion | It is the {#blank#}10{#/blank#} impact of your decisions on the organization's objectives and the creation of a cooperative feedback culture that count. |
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