BEC中级文章精选：办公室拥抱你怎么看

BEC中级文章阅读精选：办公室拥抱你怎么看？（详解西方人在工作环境中如何看待办公室拥抱）

导读：你是一名乐于拥抱还是握手的人，还是两者都不是？当一名公司同事因为休产假或者度蜜月后回到公司，你会热情洋溢地双手给他来个熊抱，还是坐在桌子那边友善地问个好呢？对于那些偏向于无肢体接触的人来说，未来的商务礼仪趋势可能会对你不利哦。

以下文章选自BBC商业周刊。随着“办公室拥抱”这种商务礼仪在西方人工作环境中的扩展和曼延，作者分别对几名具有代表性的职场人士进行的调研访谈。针对他们对待“办公室拥抱”这一现象所表达的观点进行了罗列。本文包含非常地道实用的商务英语写作词汇及句型，相关生词及实用短语已用蓝色高亮，希望能够对正在BEC备考的童鞋有所帮助。

Are you a hugger or a hand shaker – or neither? When a work colleague returns from holiday or maternity leave, do you go in for the double bear-hug, or a friendly hello from across the desk?

For those people who prefer a non-physical greeting, the direction of office etiquette may be moving against you.

There is evidence that workplaces are seeing a rise in hugging culture. In a survey last year more than half of advertising and marketing executives said hugging was common, up from a third in the survey in 2011.

Experts say it could have a lot to do with more relaxed workplace environments.

But there’s a downside. A separate study last year on sexual harassment in the US fast food industry found that more than a quarter of workers felt they were hugged inappropriately.

Deborah Wallsmith, an assistant professor of anthropology at Kennesaw State University, Georgia, says that the gradations of hug discomfort depend upon nuances, relationships, and personal preferences.

“The least offensive is the one armed side-by-side hug, where the huggers are standing next to each other, and extend their adjacent arms around each other’s waist.

“The most objectionable is the full-frontal squeeze that goes on forever.”

She adds that she “feels uncomfortable getting hugged by former professors and former bosses”.

Kara Deringer, a business coach from Alberta, Canada, explains that context is all-important. Yet many people get it wrong.

Kara Deringer accepts that hugging is a social minefield：凯拉·德润婕赞同办公室拥抱需小心应对

She agrees that hugging can be very useful. “It creates connections.” But on the other hand, she says: “Be careful. I have seen lots of misunderstandings.

“I currently work in a team, and we’re huggers. But there are those who will courageously say ‘I’m not a hugger’.”

Ms Deringer recommends either asking people for a hug, or paying very close attention to body language. “If they reach out their hand? I’ve got it, they’re hand shaker or a high fiver.”

And beware another minefield – the sociological layers of power, culture, and gender. All can have their own “rules” for physical contact, says Ms Deringer. “It’s also about social intelligence – I won’t hug someone I just met.”

Tracey Smolinski is also in a work culture where hugging is acceptable.

The chief executive of Cardiff-based Introbiz, which hosts business networking events, says: “We are quite a friendly team, and usually give a kiss on the face, both cheeks, when we are familiar with them.

“But if you don’t know them, best not to kiss or hug, because you don’t know how they will take it. You have to be careful.”

Some of this may sound like commonsense. But what if hugging is standard practice in your office, but you really don’t want to indulge? Are you the office grinch?

One person’s hug can be very unwanted：不受欢迎的办公室拥抱有时会非常令人反感

Toronto-based musician Cynthia Pike-Elliott, who has had careers in healthcare and law enforcement, says that in both environments hugging was standard.

“Hugging was a huge part of my workplace, a huge part in maintaining these personal relationships,” she says. For her, hugging is “a way to say to someone that you’ve made a connection with them, and that you trust them… It’s not hurting anyone.

“If I was an employee, a hug from my employer would show their pride and gratitude of a job well done much more than words could ever accomplish,” she says.

Ms Pike-Elliott adds that if a business owner hugs a client, it “shows trust and validates that the client is special, it builds a solid relationship”.

In her role as a musician she has found colleagues and acquaintances more “huggy” than most. “Music and arts is about revealing your soul. It’s very personal,” she says.

Cynthia Elliott says that in her industry, hugging is very common：办公室拥抱在艺术行业很常见

Not everyone’s so keen on the idea of hugging, however. Sometimes, it ends up in court.

Earlier this year, California corrections officer Victoria Zetwick California accused her superior, the county sheriff, of giving more than a hundred unwanted hugs over a dozen years. A court said it was enough to constitute a “hostile environment”.

未经允许不得转载：商务英语学习网站-BEC备考网 » BEC中级文章精选：办公室拥抱你怎么看