微軟在日本試行4天工作制,工作效率暴增!

A growing number of smaller companies are adopting a four-day workweek. Now the results of a recent trial at Microsoft (MSFT) suggest it could work even for the biggest businesses.

越來越多中小公司開始採用四天工作制。如今微軟近日的試驗結果顯示，就算在大企業也能見效。

The company introduced a program this summer in Japan called the "Work Life Choice Challenge," which shut down its offices every Friday in August and gave all employees an extra day off each week.

今夏微軟公司在日本引進了一個名爲“工作生活選擇挑戰”的項目，八月的每個週五都會關閉辦公室，讓所有員工每週都能多放一天假。

The results were promising: While the amount of time spent at work was cut dramatically, productivity — measured by sales per employee — went up by almost 40% compared to the same period the previous year, the company said in a statement last week.

結果還不錯：微軟上週在一份聲明中說，儘管工作時間大幅縮短，但工作效率（按照每位員工的銷售業績來計算）同比提高近40%。

In addition to reducing working hours, managers urged staff to cut down on the time they spent in meetings and responding to emails.

除了縮短工作時間外，經理還敦促員工減少開會和回覆電郵的時間。

They suggested that meetings should last no longer than 30 minutes. Employees were also encouraged to cut down on meetings altogether by using an online messaging app (Microsoft's, of course).

經理建議，會議時間不要超過30分鐘，並鼓勵員工使用（微軟的）在線消息應用，減少開會次數。

The effects were widespread. More than 90% of Microsoft's 2,280 employees in Japan later said they were impacted by the new measures, according to the company.

此舉產生了廣泛的效果。微軟公司稱，微軟在日本的2280名員工當中，超90%的人表示他們受到了新措施的影響。

By shutting down earlier each week, the company was also able to save on other resources, such as electricity.

通過每週提早關門的舉措，微軟公司還能節省電力等其他資源。

The initiative is timely. Japan has long grappled with a grim — and in some cases, fatal — culture of overwork. The problem is so severe, the country has even coined a term for it: karoshi means death by overwork from stress-induced illnesses or severe depression.

這一新舉措來得正是時候。長時間以來，日本一直在和過度工作的嚴峻（有時甚至是致命的）文化抗爭。這一問題太嚴重了，日本甚至爲之創造了一個新詞：過勞死。過勞死指的是因爲過勞而死於壓力引發的疾病或嚴重抑鬱。

The issue attracted international attention in 2015, when an employee at Japanese advertising giant Dentsu committed suicide on Christmas Day. Tokyo officials later said that the staffer had worked excessive amounts of overtime.

過勞死問題在2015年吸引了全球的關注，當時日本廣告業巨頭電通集團的一名員工在聖誕節自殺。東京的官員後來表示，這名員工加班時間過長。

Two years later, a reporter at a Japanese broadcaster died after working punishing long hours. Her employer said she had clocked in 159 hours of overtime the month before her death.

兩年後，日本某廣播公司的一名記者因超長加班工作而去世。她的僱主表示，在死前的一個月，她共加班159個小時。

That has led businesses to start searching for solutions. Some companies have begun offering employees more flexibility, and the government has launched a campaign called "Premium Friday," which encourages workers to leave early every last Friday of the month.

這促使企業開始尋找解決方案。一些公司開始爲員工提供更靈活的工作制，日本政府也推出了一項名爲“超值星期五”的活動，鼓勵員工在每月的最後一個週五提早下班。

Microsoft, for its part, says it will conduct another experiment in Japan later this year. It plans to ask employees to come up with new measures to improve work-life balance and efficiency, and will also ask other companies to join the initiative.

微軟則表示，今年晚些時候將在日本開展另一個試驗。微軟計劃請員工提出既能改善工作生活平衡又能提高工作效率的新舉措，並將邀請其他公司加入這一新項目。