At Automattic, the company behind blog-creating tool WordPress, there are 470 employees distributed across 45 countries, and work practices have evolved to suit the business. Staff work where they want, communicating via blogs and Slack, the chat tool, rather than email. They travel to team or company meetings three to four weeks a year. Like Netflix and a growing list of other companies, Automattic has an open vacation policy with no set number of days.
在开发了博客创建工具WordPress的Automattic公司，470名员工分布在45个国家，已发展出适合这家公司的工作方式。员工在自己喜欢的地方工作，通过博客和聊天工具Slack、而非邮件交流。他们一年用三到四周时间去参加团队或公司会议。与Netflix和数量越来越多的其他公司一样，Automattic有不设定天数的开放休假政策。
Such a set-up is not for those who crave structure, and a corporate document for employees at Automattic admits that recruits may feel they encounter “chaos” working remotely with colleagues around the globe. But employee benefits include sabbaticals and allowances for home offices, mixing desirable aspects of workplace and home-based practices.
这种安排不适合那些渴望循规蹈矩的员工，Automattic在一份发送给员工的企业文件中承认，新员工在与世界各地的同事远程合作时可能感觉“很乱”。但员工获得的好处包括休假和在家办公津贴，将办公室工作与在家工作的优点相结合。
Agile, or smart, working policies are far from being the preserve of young tech companies though. “The ability for people to work in different ways through technology has encouraged some employers to think more creatively about the way we employ people . . . and that maybe work doesn’t naturally occur in 35-40 hour weeks,” says Clare Kelliher, professor of work and organisation at the UK’s Cranfield University School of Management.
然而，灵活、聪明的工作政策远非年轻科技公司的专属。英国克兰菲尔德大学管理学院(Cranfield University Management School)的工作和组织学教授克莱尔•凯利赫(Clare Kelliher)表示：“人们能够借助科技以不同方式工作，这鼓励一些雇主更具创造性地考虑招聘员工的方式……或许每周工作35至40个小时并非理所当然。”
