Chiaki Arai, who has written about the hodo-hodo phenomenon in newspapers, blames Japan's economic woes during the long slump in the 1990s and early 2000s. He says young workers saw older generations throw themselves into their work, only to face job and pay cuts as companies restructured. Now, young employees are cautious about giving too much of themselves -- even if it means less money or prestige, Dr. Arai says.
Chiaki Arai在报纸上写过关于“不好不坏一族”的文章，他把这种现象归咎于日本20世纪90年代到21世纪初的长期经济低迷。他说，年轻的上班族看到前辈们全身心地投入工作，却只能眼睁睁地看着自己在企业重组时面对失业和减薪。现在，年轻员工刻意不要太尽心工作，即使放弃一些名利也在所不惜，Arai博士说道。

Moreover, getting a promotion no longer means getting such a big pay raise. The wage difference between managerial and rank-and-file positions has shrunk over the past decade as companies cut compensation amid restructuring. In 2005, division managers were paid about 2.2 times the rank-and-file worker, down from about 2.7 times in 1985.
而且，现在的晋升也不意味着得到很多的加薪。由于企业重组导致减薪，管理岗位和普通岗位的工资差距近10年来不断缩小。2005年，部门经理的工资是普通员工的2.2倍左右，比1985年时的2.7倍有所降低。

With management posts increasingly harder to fill, Sanyo recently started holding compulsory career-training retreats for workers turning 30. At the retreats, executives give pep talks 'to remind them their best years are still ahead,' says Jun Nakamura, Sanyo's head of human resources. 'We want to tell this generation that though it's been tough, they shouldn't give up yet.'
由于越来越难为管理岗位找到人选，三洋最近开始为那些临近30岁的员工举行强制性的职业培训。在培训中，公司高管给员工做励志演讲，“提醒他们最好的时光还在将来，”三洋的人力资源负责人Jun Nakamura说。“我们想告诉这一代员工，虽然高级别的职位压力大，但他们不该轻言放弃。”

Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Co. is finding it so hard to identify managerial candidates that it has turned to the clerical workers it calls office ladies to fill positions. Promoting these women -- most of whom are in their 40s and joined the company in a non-career track -- would have been unthinkable 10 years ago, employment experts say. 'I never imagined I'd be called on for a management post,' says Saori Kakegawa, a participant in the program.
日本第一生命保险公司(Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance)觉得管理人员的人选太难找了，以至于开始在“办公室女郎”这类文员中挑选合适的人员来填补这些职位。这些女性大多40出头，并不是以专业人员的身份加入公司。就业专家表示，提拔这批人在10年前是不可想像的。“我从没想到自己会被提拔到管理岗位，”被选中的Saori Kakegawa说道。

Law firms say the trend has companies scrambling to seek legal counsel on whether they can fire employees who refuse promotions. CyberAgent Inc., a Tokyo-based Internet advertising agency, is offering the unambitious a different way out. The company puts these workers on a 'specialist' track where they can remain rank-and-file employees but have similar salaries as managers. This ensures the company 'doesn't lose qualified employees by pressuring them to accept promotions,' says Tetsuhito Soyama, general manager for personnel at the company.
律师事务所说，这一趋势导致公司纷纷寻求法律帮助，咨询是否可以解雇那些拒绝晋升的雇员。东京一家互联网广告公司CyberAgent Inc.为没有进取心的员工提供了另外一条出路。它把一些雇员纳入“专家”序列，他们仍是普通职员，但能享受与经理大致相当的工资，从而确保该公司“不会因为迫使他们接受晋升而失去合格的员工”，公司主管人事的总经理Tetsuhito Soyama说道。

Tsugumi Uemura, a public-relations worker at the company, opted out of the management track in April in part because she didn't feel ready. 'I want to be a different kind of role model,' says Ms. Uemura, who is 30.
CyberAgent Inc.公关部的Tsugumi Uemura在今年4月份拒绝了进入管理序列的晋升机会，部分原因是她觉得没有准备好。“我想成为一个不同的榜样，”30岁的Uemura说道。

For older-generation managers, and even some younger ones, the hodo-hodo mentality is difficult to understand.
对老一代的经理甚至一些较年轻的经理来说，“不好不坏一族”的想法很难为他们所理解。

Miya Matsumoto, manager of the laid-back Mr. Nishikido, says she's tried everything -- from screening success-themed films like 'The Devil Wears Prada' to throwing after-work drinking parties -- to push her subordinates to be more ambitious. But her team members rarely show interest in bigger responsibilities, she says. She recently caught one of them napping on a train during work.
Miya Matsumoto是Hidekazu Nishikido这个懒惰员工的经理，她说自己什么办法都试过了，从放映励志电影《时尚女魔头》(The Devil Wears Prada)到举办下班后的酒会等，力图使下属变得更有进取心。然而，她说，她的团队成员并未表现出有承担更大责任的兴趣。最近，她抓到其中的一个上班时打盹。

The 31-year-old Ms. Matsumoto says she threw herself into her job, often staying overnight in the office to get work done. 'Don't you want to get ahead? Don't you want to get rich and drive a nice car?' she prodded Mr. Nishikido recently.
31岁的Matsumoto说自己全身心投入工作，经常在办公室通宵加班把工作做完。“难道你不想出人头地吗？难道你不想变得富有，开一辆好车吗？”最近她对Nishikido说道。

But Mr. Nishikido says he finds Ms. Matsumoto's enthusiasm off-putting. He says he was especially turned off when he learned she had left her sick baby at home with her husband to come to the office (Ms. Matsumoto says work emergencies sometimes must come first.)
但是Nishikido表示，Matsumoto对工作的热情让他感到厌烦。他表示，当他了解到Matsumoto把生病的孩子留给丈夫、而自己赶来上班时，觉得特别反感。（Matsumoto说，有时候必须把工作上的紧急事件放在第一位。）

'That's definitely not the life I want,' Mr. Nishikido says. 'No way.'
“那绝不是我想过的生活，”Nishikido说。“完全不是！”