The Problem 问题
I run a PR agency and I am trying to cut £300,000 off my salary bill.I could do this by axing one of my "stars" - a man who has worked here longer than I have and who has some great client relationships. He is charismatic and quite difficult and will not go quietly. For the same money, I could axe six or seven more junior people, which might be easier politically. Yet some of them are talented, and the loss of so many will put intolerable strain on everyone else. Any ideas?
作为一家公关公司的管理者，我正努力将员工薪资支出削减30万英镑。要达到这个目标，我可以裁掉手下的一位"明星"员工--他在这家公司的任职时间比我还长，而且有不少重要的客户关系。他很有魅力也很难对付，不会安安静静的走人。为了节省这笔钱，我也可以裁掉六、七位级别较低的员工，从办公室政治的角度来说，这可能更容易一些。然而，在这几个低级职员中，有些人颇有才干，而且一下裁掉那么多人，会给公司其他员工带来无法承受的压力。你有什么建议吗？
LUCY (Manager, male, 42)
Which is worth more: a star or seven grunts? There is no answer to this question in the abstract. If the star in question brings in enough business he is worth more; otherwise he isn't.
谁更有价值：是一位"明星"还是七位普通员工？这个问题在理论上没有答案。如果问题中的那位明星职员带来了足够多的业务，那么他就更有价值，否则就不然。
However, most stars are not as bright as they are cracked up to be. The boom years have encouraged us to believe that the workforce is divided into stars and everyone else. In reality the difference between the two is murkier.
不过，大多数"明星"并不像人们吹嘘得那么"明亮"。多年的经济繁荣让我们相信，可以把员工划分为明星以及其他所有人。但在现实中，两者之间的区别更为模糊。
In your shoes I'd definitely keep the seven grunts. I get the idea that you do not like your star much, so the recession offers you an excuse to do what you might have wished to do all along.
如果站在你的立场上，我肯定会保留那七位普通员工。你给我的印象是，你不太喜欢你那位明星职员，因此经济衰退为你提供了一个借口，去做你可能一直就希望做的事情。I am not sure I like him much either: it's just about OK in a boom to be "quite difficult" when you are earning £300,000, but there is no excuse in a recession to earn that much money unless one's behavior is quite impeccable. As he is only "one of" your stars, it sounds as if you will be left with better behaved ones in your firmament once his light is put out.
我自己也不敢说就很喜欢他：对于一个年薪达到30万英镑的人来说，那些在繁荣时期可以轻易完成的工作现在变得"相当艰难"，但一个人没有理由在衰退时期也挣那么多钱，除非他表现得相当完美。既然他只是你的明星员工"之一"，那么听上去好像一旦他的光辉熄灭，你的天空中还会剩下那些表现更好的"明星"。
You say some of the juniors are smart and getting rid of them would put too much pressure on those remaining. This suggests your agency still has plenty of work. If you have talented people to do that work, why get rid of them?
你说手下有些低级员工十分聪明，裁掉他们会给留下的人带来太大的压力。这表明你的公司仍有大量工作要做。如果这些有才干的员工可以完成那些工作，为什么还要裁掉他们呢？
Most businesses cut too many jobs in recessions. They waste money on redundancy payments, weaken the business and then have to hire people back who were less good than the ones they expensively fired.
在经济衰退时期，大部分企业都进行了过多的裁员。它们把钱浪费在遣散费上，削弱了企业。而后，它们不得不再聘请一些人，而这些人还不如它们花费昂贵代价裁掉的那些人优秀。
Assuming you have done all the other things to cut costs - closed your expensive offices, eliminated bonus and so on - you should put out your star at once. Comfort yourself with the fact that you have ruined only one person's Christmas. By cutting the grunts, you would have ruined half a dozen more.
如果你已进行过所有其它努力来削减成本--例如关闭昂贵的办公室、取消奖金等等--那么你应该立刻裁掉你的"明星"。你可以这样安慰自己：你只毁了一个人的圣诞节。而如果裁掉那些普通员工，你会毁掉6个人的圣诞节。
