For a while, working from home was the hip corporate perk. Best Buy got glowing press for its Results Only Work Environment in which corporate employees could work anytime, anywhere. The federal government embraced telecommuting arrangements, in part for the ability to regroup in emergencies, and several studies showed that telecommuting had upsides for performance and retention.
有一段时间，在家工作是一项时髦的企业福利。百思买（Best Buy）的“只看成果工作环境”(Results Only Work Environment)计划允许企业员工在任何地方、任何时候工作，曾经赢得媒体的盛赞。美国联邦政府接受远程办公，部分是因为远程办公可以实现紧急情况下的人员迅速组织。而且，多项研究显示，远程办公有助于提升工作表现和员工留任率。
But over the past year, there's been a shift. Yahoo's (YHOO) new CEO, Marissa Mayer, famously shut down the company's telecommuting arrangements this winter. In an April speech, she acknowledged that "people are more productive when they're alone," but also claimed "they're more collaborative and innovative when they're together. Some of the best ideas come from pulling two different ideas together."
但过去一年，情况发生了变化。众所周知，雅虎(Yahoo)新任CEO玛丽莎•梅耶尔已经宣布取消公司的远程办公安排。她在4月份的一次演讲中承认，“人们独处时的生产效率会更高”，但她也声称“群处时的合作性和创新性会更好。一些优秀点子正是产生于两种不同想法的碰撞。”
The notion of innovation via serendipitous encounters is gaining popularity: this year's South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas featured panels on the topic, and companies including Google (GOOG) and Zappos are redesigning their office space to spark more chance meetings.
通过碰撞实现创新的理念正在日益流行；今年在得克萨斯州奥斯汀举行的South by Southwest Interactive Festival嘉年华就有不少关于这个话题的小组讨论，而包括谷歌(Google)和Zappos等在内的一批公司正在重新设计办公室，希望激发更多的不期而遇和思想碰撞。
Needless to say, serendipitous meetings in the elevator require being in a corporate headquarters, not in your pajamas at home.
当然，电梯里的不期而遇需要发生在公司总部的办公室，而不是穿着睡衣在家中时。
So, is it better to work from home or the office?
那么，在家工作和在办公室工作，到底哪种更好？
The answer is that it's complicated, with upsides and downsides for both.
答案是，这个问题很难说，因为两者都各有利弊。
To be sure, many jobs can't be done remotely. Most medical and dental procedures still need to be done in person, and most teachers need to be in their classrooms. But much information work isn't time- and place-specific. The 2013 American Time Use Survey found that on the days they work, 38% of employed Americans with college degrees do some or all of their work from home.
当然，很多工作没法远程完成。大部分医疗手术和牙科手术仍然需要现场操作，大多数老师都需要在教室里授课。但有不少信息工作不受时间和地点的限制。2013年美国人时间利用调查(2013 American Time Use Survey)发现，拥有大学学历的美国就业者有38%会在工作日时在家处理部分、甚至全部的工作。