1.6万名员工被解雇后，赫兹公司申请破产

1.6万名员工被解雇后，赫兹公司申请破产

After 100 years in business, Hertz filed for bankruptcy on Friday, proving to be yet another casualty during Covid-19.

在经营了100年之后，赫兹公司(美国赫兹汽车租赁公司)于周五申请破产，成为了新冠肺炎疫情的又一个受害者。

The old-time entity now joins the likes of J.C. Penney, J. Crew, Neiman Marcus, Gold’s Gym, Pier 1—companies that have all sought bankruptcy protection in recent weeks.

这家老公司现在加入了J.C.Penney、J.Crew、Neiman Marcus、Gold's Gym、Pier 1等最近几周都寻求破产保护的公司的行列。

Hertz was just another victim of the pandemic, people will say. It's easy to blame the company’s misfortunes, as well as the other corporate casualties, on the pandemic.

人们会说，赫兹只是另一个流行病的受害者。人们很容易将该公司的不幸，以及其他企业的受损归咎于大流病。

The reality is a different story. The failures of Hertz and the others have more to do with their own arrogant inertia and inability to recognize the fast-changing trends and a refusal to adapt their business models accordingly.

现实情况则完全不同。赫兹公司和其他公司的失败更多地与他们自身傲慢的惰性有关，他们没有能力认识到快速变化的趋势，并且拒绝相应地调整他们的商业模式。

Back in the day, Avis was Hertz’s major rival. Avis branded itself as the scrappy underdog and adopted the advertising tagline, “We Try Harder.” It was meant to convey that the folks at Avis will do whatever it takes to make its customers happy. Hertz’s slogan should’ve been “We Didn’t Try Hard Enough.”

在过去，Avis(安飞士汽车租赁公司)是赫兹的主要竞争对手。Avis将自己标榜为好斗的失败者，并采用了“我们更努力”的广告语。“这是为了传达Avis的员工会尽一切努力让顾客满意。”赫兹的口号应该是“我们不够努力”。

The Wall Street Journal reported, “Hertz Global Holdings Inc., one of the nation’s largest car-rental companies, filed for bankruptcy protection Friday, saddled with about $19 billion in debt and nearly 700,000 vehicles that have been largely idled because of the coronavirus.” The company has lost money for the past four consecutive years, including $58 million in 2019.

《华尔街日报》报道，“美国最大的汽车租赁公司之一赫兹全球控股公司上周五申请破产保护，背负着约190亿美元的债务，近70万辆汽车因冠状病毒而大量闲置。”该公司在过去连续四年亏损，包括2019年的5800万美元。

Back in March, responding to the deteriorating economic circumstances, Hertz laid off 12,000 workers and furloughed an additional 4,000 employees—25% of its workforce. Car rental companies are heavily dependent upon travel. People will rent cars for family vacation. With air travel coming to a near halt, the need for car rentals has plummeted.

今年3月，为了应对日益恶化的经济形势，赫兹公司解雇了1.2万名员工，并使另外4000名员工暂时休假，占员工总数的25%。汽车租赁公司严重依赖旅游。人们会为了家庭度假而租车。随着航空旅行几近停滞，租车的需求直线下降。

It's true that Covid-19 has had an impact on Hertz—as well as an array of other large and small companies—but it was suffering long before we even heard of the coronavirus. Hertz had to contend with tough competition in the car-rental space, in addition to the onslaught from Uber and Lyft. Customers preferred the ease of use with car-sharing apps. There wasn’t a need to take the time to fill out long and one-sided contracts, wait for your car then have to drive it yourself in an unfamiliar location. Compared to this experience, it's much more convenient to open an app, request a ride and get whisked to your location.

的确，Covid-19已经对赫兹以及一系列其他大大小小的公司产生了影响，但早在我们听说冠状病毒之前，它就已经受到了影响。除了Uber和Lyft的猛烈冲击外，赫兹还必须应对汽车租赁领域的激烈竞争。客户更喜欢使用方便的汽车共享应用程序。没有必要花时间去填写冗长的、单方面的合同，等着你的车，然后在一个不熟悉的地方自己开车。与这种体验相比，打开一个应用程序，请求搭车，然后被迅速送到你的位置，要方便得多。

Hertz’s bankruptcy will have a big impact. It's likely that there will be future layoffs, in addition to the 16,000 employees who have already lost their jobs or have been furloughed. It's reasonable to believe that the hours of the remaining staff will be reduced and furloughed workers won’t be asked to return.

赫兹公司的破产将产生巨大影响。未来可能还会有裁员，此外还有1.6万名员工已经失去工作或暂时休假。我们有理由相信，剩余员工的工作时间将会减少，而被暂时休假的员工将不会被要求返回工作岗位。