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Business
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Bartleby
巴托比专栏
Striking, slouching and setting sail
罢工抗议、垂头丧气、乘船逃离
Gen Zs rebel against Asia’s rigid corporate culture.
Z世代反抗亚洲死板的企业文化。
When a gaggle of Generation-Z employees from Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo gets together in one place, the ensuing conversation will usually be conducted in decent English.
当一群来自首尔、上海、新加坡和东京的Z世代员工聚集在一个地方时，接下来的对话通常会用流利的英语进行。
The participants are all equally fluent in another common language—that of corporate despair.
谈话者还都同样精通另一种共同语言——关于绝望的企业生活的语言。
The inflexible hierarchies, long hours and culture of presenteeism that pervade Asia Inc have left many young workers deeply dissatisfied with their lot in life.
盛行于亚洲企业的僵化等级制度、超长工作时间和无效加班风气让许多年轻员工对自己的生活状况深感不满。
In an annual global survey of employee wellbeing by Gallup, an American pollster, just 18% of under-35s in East Asia say they are engaged at work, below the already tepid 23% global average.
美国民意调查机构盖洛普开展了一项有关员工健康幸福情况的全球年度调查，东亚地区只有18%的35岁以下员工表示他们在工作中很投入，低于本就不温不火的23%的全球平均水平。
Japan and Hong Kong skirt the bottom of the global rankings for engagement across all age groups.
日本和香港在所有年龄段的投入度全球排名中垫底。
Some have had enough.
一些人已经受够了。
Thousands of young South Korean doctors downed stethoscopes in February in protest against the government’s plan to increase the number of medical students.
今年2月，数千名年轻的韩国医生放下听诊器，抗议政府增加医学生数量的计划。
On June 7th workers at Samsung Electronics, the country’s biggest listed company, went on strike for the first time.
6月7日，三星电子（该国最大的上市公司）的员工首次举行罢工。
Union officials suggested that younger workers led the charge.
工会官员表示，带头冲锋的是年轻员工。
Research by Shin Min-ju of Pukyong National University and Jung Heung-jun of Seoul National University of Science and Technology suggests that “Generation MZ”—which mixes Millennials (born between the early 1980s and late 1990s) and Gen Z in a country that does not have enough of either—are keener to join a trade union than their elders and more optimistic about how labour activism can improve working conditions.
釜山国立大学的申敏珠和首尔科技大学的郑亨俊的研究表明，“MZ世代” --千禧一代（出生于20世纪80年代初至90年代末）和Z世代的集合，韩国这两个世代的人数都不多--比他们的前辈更热衷于加入工会，也更乐观地认为劳工运动可以改善工作环境。
Japanese workers are more placid and Chinese ones risk prison for striking.
日本工作者更加温顺，而中国工作者罢工则有被拘留的风险。
So instead some of them are fleeing from their countries altogether.
因此，他们中的一些人干脆逃离了自己的国家。
A record number of young Japanese workers are taking up working-holiday visas in Australia.
创纪录数量的日本年轻工作者正在申请澳大利亚工作假期签证。
Picking cucumbers while dodging venomous Aussie wildlife is seen as preferable to joining the rat race in Tokyo.
一边躲避澳大利亚有毒野生动物一边采摘黄瓜，这被视为比在东京内卷更可取。
Some youngsters marvel at California’s $20 hourly minimum pay for fast-food workers, three times what a Japanese burger-flipper earns.
一些年轻人对加州快餐工作者每小时20美元的最低工资感到惊叹，这是日本汉堡工作者收入的三倍。
Yet the most common response to the perceived misery of East Asian corporate life remains industrial inaction.
然而，对于人们在东亚企业生活中感受到的痛苦，最常见的反应仍然是行业的无动于衷。
In Japan and South Korea, young workers have engaged in a low-stakes, low-impact form of rebellion for more than a decade.
在日本和韩国，年轻工作者参与了一种低风险、低影响的反抗形式，这种形式已经存在了十多年。
Millennials are often referred to as the satori (“enlightened”) generation in Japan.
千禧一代在日本通常被称为开悟的一代。
In South Korea, they are the sampo generation, which means “giving up three”—dating, marriage and children—in order to serve the economy.
在韩国，他们是“三抛世代”，意思是“抛弃三样东西” -- 约会、结婚和生孩子--从而为经济发展服务。
Both convey a dejected attitude to work and life opportunities.
两者都传达了对工作和生活机会的灰心态度。
They were subsequently joined by their Chinese peers, who started talking about “lying flat”, or opting out of the pressures of modern life, whether in business or their personal lives, in 2021, a year before their Western peers discovered “quiet quitting”.
随后，中国同龄人也加入了他们，这些中国同龄人在2021年开始谈论“躺平”，即选择摆脱现代生活的压力，无论是工作还是个人生活的压力，而他们的西方同龄人在一年后发现了“安静辞职”。
The Chinese are also taking it further.
中国人也在更进一步。
In recent months the country’s social media have been replete with displays of “disgusting work outfits”, in which young workers show off their lowest-effort office garb, arriving at their desks in slippers and pyjamas.
近几个月来，该国的社交媒体上充斥着“上班恶心穿搭”展示，年轻员工炫耀他们最敷衍的办公室着装，穿着拖鞋和睡衣来到办公桌前。
The only way to win the game, many appear to be concluding, is to refuse to play.
许多人似乎得出结论，赢得这场游戏的唯一方法就是拒绝参与。
Asia’s corporate and political leaders are at last taking note.
亚洲的企业和政治领导者终于开始注意到了。
Last month the head of public relations at Baidu, a Chinese tech giant, had to apologise for ordering her employees to be contactable 24 hours a day and telling them, “I’m not your mother.”
上个月，中国科技巨头百度的公关负责人不得不为命令员工24小时保持联系并告诉他们“我不是你妈”而道歉。
South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk-yeol, was forced to abandon a plan to raise the maximum work week from 52 hours to 69.
韩国总统尹锡悦被迫放弃了将每周最长工作时间从52小时提高到69小时的计划。
The prime ministers of Japan and Singapore, Kishida Fumio and Lawrence Wong, have both promised their grumpy young citizens cuddlier forms of capitalism.
日本首相岸田文雄和新加坡总理黄循财都已向各自国家脾气暴躁的年轻公民承诺，会有更温和的资本主义形式。
There are signs of relaxation.
现在有一些放松的迹象。
On a recent trip to Tokyo this guest Bartleby saw far fewer suits in several corporate headquarters than a business traveller might once have expected.
在最近一次去东京出差时，本专栏作者在几家公司总部看到的西装数量远低于出差的人曾经可能预期看到的数量。
There was scarcely a tie in sight.
几乎看不到有人打领带。
But for every two baby steps forward there is a senior step back.
但是每向前迈出两小步，就会后退一大步。
One American investor says he recently arrived in a short-sleeved shirt to speak to a panel of Japanese executives, only to find himself awkwardly facing the traditional wall of dark suits.
一位美国投资者说，他最近穿着短袖衬衫去和一群日本高管开会，结果发现自己尴尬地面对着一堵传统深色西装构成的墙。
Attitudes take a while to change—especially among the not-so-young.
改变态度需要时间，尤其是让不那么年轻的人改变态度。
