自从经济危机在美国开始以来，各大公司裁员的消息一直不断。被裁的员工失去了工作，侥幸留下来的也还得谨小慎微地行事，生怕成为下一拨离开的人。我们都知道公司里每个人的岗位和工作内容都是有所区别的，那些被裁的员工走了以后，他们原本负责的工作就需要留下的同事接手，这些工作在英语里就被叫做ghost work。

Ghost work refers to the work that used to be done by the former employees and that must now be handled by the remaining staff after a round of layoffs¹ or firings.

Ghost work指经过一轮裁员之后，被裁员工之前从事的、需要留下的员工接手的工作。

Inevitably², the bosses have to ask their employees to do not only their regular jobs but also the work of axed colleagues — and without additional pay. The result is that no one gets the training needed to do this "ghost work".

老板们不可避免地会让员工在完成自己日常工作的同时接手被裁员工的工作，而且没有额外的报酬。结果是，员工们在接手这些“遗留工作”时都不能得到必要的培训。