When computers evolved from chunky desktops to slender flat-screens, the office evolved with them. Trestle tables or “work benches” came in and were positioned in long rows. The open-plan office as we know it had arrived.

当笨重的台式机显示器进化成轻薄的液晶显示器时，办公室也随之演变。连成长排的搁板桌（或曰“工作台”）出现了。所谓的“开放式办公室”也出现了。

This was great for companies, as “they could get around 50 per cent more staff into the same space”, says Richard Blackwell, sales and group marketing director of Bisley, the office storage specialist.

办公储存方案专业提供商Bisley的销售和集团营销总裁理查德•布莱克韦尔(Richard Blackwell)表示，这种变化对企业是个大好的消息，因为“同样面积的办公空间可容纳的员工人数多了约50%”。

Nowadays, some employers are encouraging staff to collaborate away from their workstations, and have introduced informal, breakout areas to promote this.

如今，一些雇主鼓励员工离开自己的工位，与其他员工协作，并为此开辟了一些非正式的单独区域。

Some also want workplaces to be paperless, and have introduced banks of lockers that can double as dividing walls, in which personal possessions can be hidden.

一些雇主还希望实现无纸化办公，并设计出将储物柜连起来作为隔墙的方案。员工可以将私人物品放在储物柜里。

However, not everyone is spending the working day flitting between a hot desk, a bar stool and a sofa. About four-fifths of UK employees spend more than 70 per cent of a typical working day at their desks, according to the British Council for Offices’ 2011 employee survey.

然而，不是每个上班族在上班时都在多人轮用的办公桌、吧台高脚凳和沙发间不停切换。根据英国办公室协会(British Council for Offices)2011年的雇员调查，在英国，约五分之四的雇员在正常情况下都是在自己的办公桌前度过超过70%的工作时间。

But long hours in front of a screen can bring with them a long list of complaints, from lower back problems to carpal tunnel syndrome, which causes pain in the hands and fingers caused by repetitive use of the keyboard or mouse.

但长时间对着电脑屏幕让雇员抱怨多多，有的后背下方出毛病，有的患上腕管综合征。后一种疾病导致手和手指疼痛，病因是反复使用键盘或鼠标。

“Badly set up or poorly equipped workstations result in one in five UK office workers missing almost three weeks of work a year from health problems such as backache, tense shoulders, eye problems and even depression,” according to research conducted this year for Fellowes, a US office product business.

今年为美国办公用品企业Fellowes所做的一项研究显示：“在英国，办公室设计或装备不良，导致五分之一的上班族每年因背部疼痛、肩部肌肉紧张、眼部问题、乃至抑郁症等健康问题，缺席近三周的工作。”

Many offices still do not accommodate people’s physical needs. We are all different, and could benefit from tables, chairs and other equipment that adjust to our bodies, rather than forcing us to adjust to them.

许多办公室迄今仍无法满足人体工程学的要求。我们每个人都不同，如果能让桌椅等设施适应我们的身体要求，而不是让我们的身体去适应它们，那么我们每个人都将受益。

To this end, there is an EU directive checklist of minimum health and safety requirements for work with display screen equipment. This includes keeping “feet flat on the floor or on a footrest,” and “forearms parallel to the floor to form a 90-degree angle”.

出于这个目的，欧盟发布了一份指导性清单，列出了电脑前工作者的一些最低健康和安全要求，包括：保持“双脚平放在地面或脚凳上”，以及“前臂与地面平行，弯曲成90度角”。

But even if a company provides the latest in office furniture, there is a chance that the overhead lighting will not have changed for a couple of decades. Many offices are over-lit, catering for paper rather than screens. “Having the workspace lit correctly will drive posture,” says Tim Hutchings, president of the international arm of the US office equipment company Humanscale.

但即便一家公司的办公室陈设是最新式的，其办公室的顶灯可能仍将在数十年内保持不变。许多办公室照明过亮，适合纸面办公，而不是电脑办公。美国办公设备公司Humanscale国际部总裁蒂姆•哈钦斯(Tim Hutchings)表示：“将办公室照明调整至合适的亮度将消除不良坐姿。”

What is more, an open-plan space is more likely to suffer from noise pollution. It is a wonder with all these hazards that we manage to get any work done at all.

另外，开放式办公室出现噪音污染的可能性也更大。面对所有这些不利因素，我们仍设法完成了自己的工作，这简直是个奇迹。

But if staff must sit in one place for much of the day, there is some equipment on the market that is intended to make that experience more bearable.

但如果员工每天必须在一个地方久坐，那么，市场上有一些设备可以减轻久坐带来的痛苦。

The general trend, however, is for equipment to adapt to the user, rather than the user having to adapt to their equipment. And companies that are prepared to invest in some of the ergonomic designs out there could realise a financial benefit. Fellowes calculates that unhealthy workspaces cost UK businesses more than £7bn a year in sick pay.

不过，整体趋势是，让设备适应使用者，而不是让使用者适应他们的设备。如果有企业准备花钱购买符合人类环境改造学的办公产品，那么它们可能会在财务上受益。据Fellowes估算，不健康的办公场所令英国企业每年损失70亿英镑——用于支付医疗费。