Companies around the world are embracing what might seem like a radical idea: a four-day workweek.
世界各地的公司都在接受一个看似激进的想法：每周工作四天。
The concept is gaining ground in places as varied as New Zealand and Russia, and it's making inroads among some American companies. Employers are seeing surprising benefits, including higher sales and profits.
这一概念在新西兰和俄罗斯等不同的地方越来越流行，在一些美国公司中也取开始流行。雇主们看到了令人惊讶的好处，包括更高的销售额和利润。
The idea of a four-day workweek might sound crazy, especially in America, where the number of hours worked has been climbing and where cellphones and email remind us of our jobs 24/7.
一周工作四天的想法听起来可能很疯狂，尤其是在美国，工作时间一直在攀升，手机和电子邮件时时刻刻提醒着我们的工作。
But in some places, the four-day concept is taking off like a viral meme. Many employers aren't just moving to 10-hour shifts, four days a week, as companies like Shake Shack are doing; they're going to a 32-hour week — without cutting pay. In exchange, employers are asking their workers to get their jobs done in a compressed amount of time.
但在一些地方，这个为期四天的概念正在像病毒一样传播开来。许多雇主并没有像Shake Shack这样的公司那样，一周四天、每周10小时轮班;他们将一周工作32小时，而不会削减工资。作为交换，雇主要求他们的工人在压缩的时间内完成工作。
Last month, a Washington state senator introduced a bill to reduce the standard workweek to 32 hours. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is backing a parliamentary proposal to shift to a four-day week. Politicians in Britain and Finland are considering something similar.
上个月，华盛顿州的一名参议员提出了一项法案，将标准每周工作时间减少到32小时。俄罗斯总理德米特里·梅德韦杰夫支持议会提出的改为每周工作四天的建议。英国和芬兰的政客们也在考虑类似的事情。
In the U.S., Shake Shack started testing the idea a year and a half ago. The burger chain shortened managers' workweeks to four days at some stores and found that recruitment spiked, especially among women.
在美国，Shake Shack在一年半前开始测试这一想法。这家汉堡连锁店将一些门店经理的每周工作时间缩短到4天，发现招聘人数激增，特别是在女性中。
Shake Shack's president, Tara Comonte, says the staff loved the perk: "Being able to take their kids to school a day a week, or one day less of having to pay for day care, for example."
Shake Shack的总裁塔拉·科蒙特说，员工们喜欢这项福利：“例如，每周可以送孩子去上学一天，或者减少一天的日托费用。”
So the company recently expanded its trial to a third of its 164 U.S. stores. Offering that benefit required Shake Shack to find time savings elsewhere, so it switched to computer software to track supplies of ground beef, for example.
因此，该公司最近将试点范围扩大到其164家美国门店的三分之一。提供这种福利需要Shake Shack公司在其他地方节省时间，所以它转而使用电脑软件来追踪碎牛肉的供应。
"It was a way to increase flexibility," Comonte says. "Corporate environments have had flexible work policies for a while now. That's not so easy to do in the restaurant business."
“这是一种增加灵活性的方式，”科蒙特说。“公司环境实行灵活的工作政策已经有一段时间了。这在餐饮业不是那么容易做到的。”
Hundreds — if not thousands — of other companies are also adopting or testing the four-day week. Last summer, Microsoft's trial in Japan led to a 40% improvement in productivity, measured as sales per employee.
数百家(如果不是数千家的话)其它公司也在采用或测试这种四天工作制。去年夏天，微软在日本的试运行使生产率提高了40%(以每名员工的销售额衡量)。
Much of this is thanks to Andrew Barnes, an archaeologist by training, who never intended to become a global evangelist.
这在很大程度上要归功于安德鲁·巴恩斯，他是一名训练有素的考古学家，从未打算成为一名全球布道者。
Barnes is CEO of Perpetual Guardian, New Zealand's largest estate planning company. He spent much of his career believing long hours were better for business. But he was also disturbed by the toll it took on employees and their families, particularly when it came to mental health.
巴恩斯是新西兰最大的遗产规划公司Perpetual Guardian的首席执行官。在他职业生涯的大部分时间里，他都相信长时间工作对生意更好。但他也对这给员工和他们的家人带来的损失感到不安，特别是在精神健康方面。
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