When Esther Crawford posted a photo of herself stretched out in a sleeping bag and mask at Twitter’s San Francisco HQ, under the hashtag #SleepWhereYouWork, the image seemed to encapsulate how far the pendulum had swung since Covid-19 sent office workers homeward.Three years ago, employers not only accepted the need for remote working, but rolled out policies to support homeworkers’ wellbeing — from the provision of IT equipment to meditation apps, online yoga classes, and help for staff struggling with stress, bereavement or mental illness.
埃丝特•克劳福德(Esther Crawford)贴出的那张#在上班的地方睡觉(SleepWhereYouWork)的照片似乎反映了相较新冠疫情让上班族居家办公的时候，如今的形势发生了多么大的变化。在那张照片里，克劳福德戴着眼罩躺在睡袋里，她睡觉的地方是推特(Twitter)的旧金山总部。
But Elon Musk, who promoted Crawford shortly after her photo went viral in November, only to make her redundant in the latest round of job cuts last month, is just one of a string of high-profile bosses now taking a tougher line with white-collar workers. The main battleground is the contested terrain of hybrid working.
三年前，雇主们不仅接受了员工需要远程工作，还推出了种种政策帮助员工以健康的状态居家工作，包括提供IT设备、冥想应用(app)、在线瑜伽课程，以及为精神压力过大、丧亲或心理出现问题的员工提供支持。
One of the first actions of Twitter’s new owner was to summon employees back to the office, while telling them to embrace “long hours at high intensity” — or quit. And, as job cuts spread from the tech sector to consultancies, finance and other sectors, employers who previously felt obliged to offer flexibility appear increasingly unwilling to let staff choose where and when they work.
克劳福德的照片去年11月在网上火起来后不久，埃隆•马斯克(Elon Musk)给她升了职，但在上个月的最新一轮裁员中又把她裁掉了。但马斯克只是一系列如今对白领上班族的态度变严厉了的知名老板之一。这些老板与员工斗争的主战场就是“混合办公”这片争议地带。