Companies tell employees it's time to return to the workplace

Companies tell employees it's time to return to the workplace

Transcript¹

Many people who worked from home for almost two years during the pandemic are finally heading back to the workplace after multiple delays. The transition will be easier for some than others.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

OK. Are you still working from home? I am - still broadcasting from my basement for almost two years now. Well, my teleworking friends, it might be time to buy some grown-up pants without an elastic² waist and get back to the office. Companies large and small are saying, after two years of the pandemic, it's time. NPR's Andrea Hsu caught up with a couple workers who are venturing back.

ANDREA HSU, BYLINE³: Just last week, after two years of virtual teaching, Heidi Brooks⁴ got to see her students face to face. Her class on everyday leadership at the Yale Law School was two hours long. Her commute⁵ is only 15 minutes, but somehow, getting there, getting reoriented and getting home took her nearly five hours.

HEIDI BROOKS: You know, I had to go to my office. I had to walk across campus. I had to figure out kind of a parking situation. Where is my office, anyway? Where - do I have an office chair? Who took it? Oh, my gosh, it was me. I forgot two years ago. It's actually in my home office.

HSU: After this long period of remote work, she says, there are so many ridiculously basic things she has to figure out all over again. And Brooks, who does some consulting on the side, says that's something companies need to anticipate as workers head back to the office.

BROOKS: We're used to so much productivity in so many hours without travel, without time between meetings, that I think our productivity expectations might be pretty high.

HSU: Whereas what you really need to keep in mind, she says, is that you're not going back to the same place you left two years ago. Things have changed. We've changed. We need to relearn how to interact with colleagues, old and new.

BROOKS: We've got these kind of questions about, you know, what does it mean to be part of a team? Am I on this team if I've never actually met them before? And what does it mean to actually have a shared experience?

HSU: According to a Gallup survey just two months ago, about a quarter of full-time⁶ workers were still working exclusively from home. Some were supposed to go back last fall, at least a few days a week, but then came delta⁷ and omicron. Now employers are rolling out new return dates. Microsoft wants its workers to start coming back next month. Ford⁸ says it's bringing more corporate⁹ employees back in April. And Wells Fargo announced that starting March 14, workers will be back on a hybrid¹⁰ schedule three days a week. Lesley Gantt, who works for Wells Fargo in brand marketing¹¹, is elated.

LESLEY GANTT: My first thing that I'm going to gain back are people (laughter) - like, physically¹² seeing people.

HSU: She'll have to readjust to the commute, but there's a payoff at the end of it.

GANTT: You know, you get in in the morning, and you grab your best friend at work, go have coffee and get ready for the day.

HSU: A day that will look different, starting with the seating arrangement. Workers at Wells Fargo won't have assigned desks. Instead, they'll have neighborhoods of offices and workspaces with rotating residents, depending on who's in on which days.

GANTT: So that's going to be a huge kind of learning curve, I think, just getting used to that openness.

HSU: Now, Gantt doesn't have children. She doesn't have a pet who's used to having her around all day. She says her husband, who will continue to work from home, is excited to have the whole house to himself. But she knows not everyone is looking forward to office life, and that's OK, too.

GANTT: That's the human nature, right? Like, nothing is 100%, everybody's on board.

HSU: Heidi Brooks from Yale says companies and their employees do have a rare opportunity here to create a way forward together.

BROOKS: Now's the perfect moment. We're returning. We're changing. We're shifting. We're hopefully learning. I think we might be able to return to a better office than we had before.

HSU: A place where the well-being¹³ of workers will take top priority, even after the public health crisis is over.

Andrea Hsu, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF VOOD GIBES' "IN DEEP")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 elastic   

n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的

参考例句：

• Rubber is an elastic material.橡胶是一种弹性材料。
• These regulations are elastic.这些规定是有弹性的。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

6 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

7 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

8 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

9 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

10 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

11 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

12 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

13 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。