豬與松露酒吧軼事:監控下的辦公室

One of the most unsettling workplaces I have ever come across was a pub in the English Midlands I visited 12 years ago. It was nothing to do with the licensee of the Pig & Truffle in Rugby, an enterprising man called Mike Trow, who brought in some fine real ales.

12年前，我去過英格蘭中部的一家酒吧，那是我見過的最令人不安的工作場所之一。這家位於拉格比的酒吧名叫“豬與松露”(The Pig & Truffle)，老闆叫邁克•特羅(Mike Trow)，是一個很有進取心的人，賣一些上好的傳統釀造啤酒。他並不是我感到不安的原因。

Instead, the uneasiness I felt stemmed from something lurking in his cellar. Attached to the pipes that sent beer up to the bar was spy equipment introduced by Punch Taverns, a company whose flotation I was covering. Punch was both renting the pub to Mr Trow and selling him all his beer at above-market rates.

實際上，他地窖裏的某些東西纔是不安的來源。往上輸送啤酒的管子上安着Punch Taverns的監控設備。我當時正在報道這家公司上市的消息。Punch一方面將酒吧租給特羅，另一方面以高於市價的價格向其獨家供應啤酒。

The kit measured how much lager and bitter was flowing through the Pig & Truffle’s taps to ensure that he was not breaking this onerous exclusive supply deal by buying from a cheaper wholesaler: something that could have led to Mr Trow’s family being booted out of the pub and their home.

這個設備是用來檢測“豬與松露”的龍頭流出了多少淡啤和苦啤，以防特羅違反這個義務繁多的獨家供貨協議，從價格較低的批發商那裏買酒：違反協議可能使特羅和他的家人失去這間酒吧和他們的家。

There was something odd about the bottles of Holsten Pils too: instead of the usual green top, they had a red one. This was another way Punch exerted Big Brother-style control over its publican “partners”, who bore most of the day-to-day trading risk. The Pig & Truffle would have been in trouble if it had been caught selling cheaper green-top Holsten.

那裏售賣的Holsten Pils啤酒的瓶子也有奇怪的地方：和平常的綠蓋不同，這些瓶子上是紅蓋。這是Punch對它的“夥伴”酒店老闆施加“老大哥”式控制的另一種方式，承擔大部分日常運營風險的也是這些酒店老闆。如果“豬與松露”被發現售賣更便宜的綠蓋Holsten Pils啤酒，就會有麻煩。

I’ve been thinking of Mr Trow recently — and the way his story ties in with broader workplace trends — because of a surprising development in the pub sector. British MPs last month voted to undo the “beer tie”, the legal quirk that permits such a lopsided landlord-tenant arrangement.

由於酒吧業的一個驚人發展，我最近一直在思考特羅的故事，他的故事契合了一種更廣泛的工作場所變化趨勢。英國議會上月投票取消“啤酒捆綁令”（Beer Tie，譯註：大酒吧公司向租入酒吧的店主獨家供應啤酒的安排），正是這種奇怪的法律造成了如此不平等的租賃協議。

The reform, allowing more publicans to buy cheaper beer from third parties, still has to be passed into law but it has already hit the share prices of some in the sector. For example, Vianet, which installed the Pig & Truffle’s beer flow monitor for Punch, suffered a 16 per cent share price decline in the two trading days after the vote.

這項改革使更多酒吧老闆能從第三方購入更便宜的啤酒，雖然還未通過變成法律，但已經衝擊了一些酒吧業內企業的股價。比如，爲Punch在“豬與松露”酒吧安裝啤酒流量監控器的公司Vianet，在議會投票後的2個交易日內股價下跌了16%。

The sudden stiffening of parliamentary resolve after years of inaction is fantastic news, even though it has come too late for Mr Trow, who quit the pub trade years ago and now runs a mobile catering outlet. Punch, meanwhile, is a shadow of its former self and has had to renegotiate the debt it took on during its go-go years.

在多年毫無動作後，議會突然堅定了決心，這是一個極好的消息，儘管對特羅來說來得太晚。幾年前他就已經放棄了酒吧生意，現在經營着一家流動餐飲店。與此同時，Punch也好景不再，不得不對其繁盛時期欠下的債務進行重新談判。

But as desirable as it might be, the dismantling of spy equipment in pub cellars up and down the country would be somewhat at odds with the spirit of the age. Offices, in particular, are becoming havens for monitoring equipment with varying levels of intrusiveness.

儘管這件事似乎值得一做，在全國上下的酒吧地窖拆除監控設備的行動卻與時代精神有點格格不入。尤其是，辦公室正變成各種侵入性程度不一的監控設備的安身之所。

My colleague Hannah Kuchler in San Francisco wrote a terrific feature earlier in the year about the likes of Sociometric Solutions, which puts sensors in name badges to discover social dynamics at work, monitoring how employees move around the office, who they talk to and even what tone of voice they use.

今年早些時候，我在舊金山的同事漢娜•庫赫勒(Hannah Kuchler)寫了一篇關於Sociometric Solutions那類公司的好文章。Sociometric Solutions在企業客戶的員工姓名牌上安裝傳感器，以瞭解員工工作時的社交活動，監測員工在辦公室裏的走動路線、交談對象，甚至說話的語氣。

Another US manufacturer she profiled, Steelcase, puts sensors in office furniture and argues that the technology is now so cheap that it can be deployed “practically everywhere”.

她概述的另一家美國製造商Steelcase，在辦公傢俱上安裝了傳感器，稱這種技術造價非常低廉，所以“基本上任何地方”都可以採用。

I’ve recently been contacted by a thriving UK-headquartered company calledCondeco Software, whose products include wireless “workplace occupancy sensors” that track movement to assess how much desks and meeting rooms are being used.

最近，一家總部設在英國的企業Condeco Software聯繫到了我。這家企業正在蓬勃發展，產品包括無線“工作場所佔用傳感器”，能夠追蹤人的移動情況，以估算有多少桌子和會議室正在使用。

Its promotional video for the product carries a whiff of sci-fi dystopia, showing the black gadgets stuck on the underside of desks like clunky bugging devices (or malign air fresheners), although I guess the aesthetics should improve under a new partnership it is set to agree with a manufacturer that would embed the sensors inside desks.

該產品的宣傳視頻有一絲反烏托邦科幻小說的味道，視頻裏固定在桌子底部的黑色部件看上去像是笨重的竊聽器（或者看上去不懷好意的空氣清新器）。不過，這家公司即將和另一家制造商達成新的合作關係，我猜之後他們應該會提升產品美感，把傳感器嵌入到桌子裏。

But Paul Statham, Condeco founder and chief executive, makes a strong case for why such technology is a good thing for companies, and maybe even staff.

但Condeco的創始人兼首席執行官保羅•斯泰瑟姆(Paul Statham)闡述了強有力的理由，說明爲什麼這種技術對企業是一件好事，甚至對員工來說也可能也是如此。

The rise of flexible working has left some companies with unproductively configured space: perhaps too many old-fashioned rows of desks and not enough lounge areas and quiet zones to cater for homeworkers popping in.

彈性工作制的興起使一些公司的空間配置失去了用武之地：要吸引在家工作的人，公司有太多一排排的老式桌椅，休息區和安靜區也不夠。

Condeco’s clients, who include Barclays and General Electric, are not interested in using the technology to monitor whether someone steps away for too many cigarette breaks, says Mr Statham: “It is not a time and motion study. This is not about monitoring people.”

Condeco的客戶包括巴克萊銀行(Barclays)和通用電氣(General Electric)，對使用這種技術來監控員工出去抽菸休息的次數是否太多，這些客戶並不感興趣，斯泰瑟姆說：“這不是時間和移動研究。這與監控人無關。”

There is an argument that the wave of office monitoring devices may not much alter the balance of power between employee and employer, given how easy it is to track internet and smartphone use already.

還有一種主張，稱辦公室監控設備的潮流或許不會從根本上動搖僱員和僱主之間的權力平衡，因爲現在追蹤互聯網和智能手機的使用非常簡單。

Inevitably, though, there will be managers who use sensors as a cynical command-and-control tool. In such cases, investors should bear in mind that it is a second-rate company that has to spy on its allies to make its business model work — as the sorry saga of Punch has shown.

然而，不可避免地會有經理把傳感器作爲一種體現懷疑姿態的命令和控制工具。在這種情況下，投資者應該記住一點，正如Punch令人遺憾的故事展現出來的那樣，需要監視合作伙伴才能讓商業模式運作的是二流企業。