Tech companies are notorious for offering job "perks" that function like gilded handcuffs: fancy benefits like free meals and laundry that keep you tied to the office for long hours.
技術公司在提供“金手銬”般束縛員工的工作福利這方面臭名昭著：比如像提供免費的午餐和洗衣服務這種奇特的福利，以此讓員工在長時間待在辦公室里。

Jason Fried is a tech CEO with a radically different philosophy. At Basecamp, the 50-person software company he helped found about 15 years ago, the benefits support a culture that urges employees to work reasonable hours (40 a week is encouraged), sleep more, stay healthy and expand their horizons.
賈森?弗里德是一家技術公司的執行總裁，他有完全不同的經營理念。十五年前，他創立了只有50人的貝斯卡軟件公司。在貝斯卡公司，員工待遇優厚，一周只需工作40小時，不必熬夜。該公司企業氛圍良好，員工健康生活，有機會拓寬視野。

"There's a lot of praise around big companies doing your laundry for you and having chefs in-house. The message is, 'Don't leave the office, everything you need is here,'" the 41-year-old Fried told The Huffington Post. "That just grosses me out."
“大公司免費提供洗衣和供餐服務是值得稱道的，同時，它也傳達出一個信息：不要離開辦公室，它能滿足你的所有需要。”四十一歲的弗里德告訴赫芬頓郵報：“這使我感到厭惡。”

Employees at Fried's Chicago-based company, which develops project management software, not only receive paid time-off to take vacations, but the company pays for their vacations as an annual "gift" to those with at least one year's tenure. New employees receive a paid-for night on the town.
弗里德的公司總部在芝加哥，主業是開發項目管理軟件。該公司員工不僅可以帶薪休假，而且公司為工齡一年以上的員工支付所有度假費用，作為每年的禮物。新職員可報銷一晚市中心夜生活的花費。

In a blog post earlier this week, Fried detailed a dizzying array of other benefits:
在本周發表的一篇博文中，弗里德列出了其他一堆令人眼花繚亂的福利。

Four-day, 30-hour workweeks in the summer.
夏季每周上四天班，每周工作30小時

$100 a month for fitness, which employees can spend on gym memberships, yoga classes, race fees, etc.
每月提供100美元的健身費用，員工可以在健身房辦會員卡，練瑜伽，跑步等等

$100 a month for massages.
每月提供100美元的按摩費用

CSA (community supported agriculture) memberships, so workers get locally grown fruits and vegetables.
所有員工都是社區支持農業（CSA）會員，所以他們可以吃到當地種植的水果和蔬菜。

The option to work anywhere. Basecamp employees are located all around the country.
有權選擇工作的地點。貝斯卡公司的員工遍布全國。

A one-month sabbatical every three years.
每三年休假一個月

There's more. Recently, Fried formalized a parental leave policy. Mothers and fathers who are primary caregivers get 16 weeks off fully paid.
福利遠不止這些。最近，弗里德又規范了父母休假政策。如果已為人父母的員工擔負著撫養小孩的主要責任，他們將享有16周的帶薪假期。

Fried, who has a 15-month-old son at home, said he wants his employees to get out of the office and experience the rest of life. Their salaries are in the top 5 percent for the Chicago area, he said. Instead of giving them an extra $100 they don't really need, these perks nudge them to behave in ways that can make them healthier and happier.
弗里德的兒子有十五個月大了，他說他想要員工走出辦公室體驗一下外面的生活。員工的工資水平在芝加哥地區位于前百分之五。弗里德認為，一再為員工加薪其實意義不大，與其再給他們加100美元工資，還不如用這些福利鼓勵他們更健康更快樂地生活。

The vacation policy exemplifies this rationale. Workers get a total of three weeks off. They can spend some of that time on an all-expenses-paid trip courtesy of Basecamp. This year they can get to choose among travel to such places as Martha's Vineyard, the Grand Canyon, Ethiopia and Verona, Italy. Workers pick from the options in the annual "book" and take the trips, which run five to seven days, alone or with their loved ones. Oh, and Basecamp makes all the travel arrangements because Fried doesn't want anyone to stress over the planning part.
度假政策是這一理論的絕佳例子。員工共有三周的假期。他們可以花費一些時間去旅行，公司會承擔所有費用。今年，他們可以選擇這樣一些旅游的地點，比如瑪莎葡萄園，科羅拉多大峽谷，埃塞俄比亞和意大利的維羅納。員工可以從每年的小冊子中選擇旅游的景點，獨自前往或是和愛人一起共度五到七天的假期。當然，公司會為員工做好所有的旅游安排，因為弗里德不希望任何人為旅游計劃傷神。

The message is clear: "We want you to take vacation. Please get out of here!" Fried said.
所有的這一切傳達了一個明確的信息，弗里德說：“我們希望員工去度假，請走出辦公室！”

The paid vacations replaced cash bonuses a few years ago. "We're spending the same amount of money and giving people experience they wouldn't have on their own. It makes them more interesting people," he said.
幾年前，帶薪休假代替了現金紅利。弗里德說：“我們花費同樣的錢帶給員工不曾擁有的體驗，這讓他們成為更加有趣的人”。

Leaving the office is, unfortunately, a kind of radical notion in the tech world where companies like Amazon are famous for pushing people to the edge.
遺憾的是，走出辦公室在技術領域是一種激進的觀點，像亞馬遜公司就因為對員工“極盡壓榨”而出名。

"I think the industry is kind of perverted. We're an industry that likes to burn people out and not have respect for people's lives outside of work," Fried said. "You don't need to build a crazy company. You can treat people fairly and do well."
弗里德說：“我認為這一行業的運轉模式有點變態。我們的行業傾向于壓榨員工，讓員工累得精疲力盡，不尊重員工工作之外的生活。我覺得我們無需創立這種瘋狂的公司。我們完全可以善待員工又保持公司良好運轉。”

Fried's company is privately held. Asked about its finances, he would say only that it makes "tens of millions of dollars" in profit.
弗里德的公司是私人企業。當被問及公司的資金狀況時，他僅透露自己的公司盈利“數千萬美元”。

Basecamp does has one thing in common with the rest of the tech industry: Its employees are a relatively homogenous group. Two-thirds are men. None are African-American. "We're definitely underrepresented," Fried said, though recently he's been making more of an effort -- and actually managed to raise the percentage of women at the firm. "We're learning as we go."
貝斯卡公司和其他技術公司有一個共同點，即員工多樣性不足。三分之二是男性。沒有一個非籍美國人。弗里德說：“我們并沒有充分的代表性。”盡管最近幾年他正在做更多的努力——實際上他已經成功提高了女性在公司中的比例。“我們一邊前進一邊學習”。

Things are moving slowly on the diversity front in part because the company doesn't hire often. The people-friendly culture helps keep turnover very low. Only a handful of workers have left Basecamp over the past 15 years, Fried said.
因為人員流動率低，貝斯卡公司的職工多元性自然受限。加上公司以人為本，跳槽的現象甚是少見。弗里德說，在過去的15年里只有一小部分人離開了公司。

The low turnover helps offset the cost of those generous benefits. Hiring and training new employees is expensive, something that Fried emphasizes when he's touting the upside of offering all those goodies.
人才流失率低，對大筆的福利支出也算有所補償。弗里德在宣揚高福利的好處時，強調招聘和培訓新員工是很昂貴的。

Still, even for companies that can't afford the fancy stuff, Fried argued that simply encouraging workers to put in a reasonable 40-hour week would be a huge deal.
弗里德說，即便是那些無力支付誘人福利的公司，僅僅是鼓勵員工一周合理工作40小時，也可以解決很大的問題。

"It's a valuable benefit that people don't think of as a benefit," he said. "That alone, and encouraging people to get a good night's sleep, that's going to pay off in big ways."
“盡管人們不把合理工作時間視為福利，但它其實是很寶貴的一種福利。”他說：“鼓勵人們不要超時工作，并睡個好覺，就會給你帶來巨大的回報”。

Vocabulary

gross somebody out: 讓某人覺得惡心
sabbatical: 較長的假期
rationale: 基本原理
homogenous: 同質的；同類的
tout: 高度評價；過分夸獎

英文來源：赫芬頓郵報
譯者：由薈圓
審校&編輯：丹妮