把時間都獻給工作的“殉道者”

Binal Patel is the first person to admit he’s a work martyr and that he’s been suffering from mild burnout by sacrificing all of his free time for his career.

比納爾·帕特爾(Binal Patel)是第一個承認自己是"工作殉道者"的人，他因為把所有的自由時間都奉獻給工作而感到精疲力盡。

The 25-year old data scientist from Raleigh, North Carolina in the US, says his problems began two years ago when he dove headfirst into a new job at a start-up running analytics for the healthcare industry. There were just 12 employees at the time, and Patel remembers setting the bar a bit too high, working “12 hours a day at 200%.”

這位來自美國北卡羅來納州羅利市的25歲數(shù)據(jù)科學家表示，他的問題始于兩年前，他當時一心想著加入一家創(chuàng)業(yè)公司，為醫(yī)療行業(yè)分析數(shù)據(jù)。該公司當時只有12名員工，而帕特爾清楚地記得自己當時把標準定得過高："每天工作12小時，完成200%的工作量。"

At first, the positive recognition was addicting, but the recent university graduate soon realised that taking on masochistic amounts of work was unsustainable.

他人的積極認可起初令人上癮，但這個剛剛從大學畢業(yè)不久的年輕人很快意識到，這種自虐式的工作方式根本不可持續(xù)。

“Over time, your company expects you to work at that initial level because that’s what you’ve done before, and you expect yourself to be at that level because that’s what you’ve been putting in,” he says. “But working that hard all the time just isn’t feasible.”

"久而久之，你的公司會期望你按照最初的水平來工作，因為你之前就是這么干的。你自己也希望達到這種水平，因為你的確做到過。"他說，"但一直這么努力工作根本不可行。"

Patel found himself becoming less productive and efficient the more hours he put in. He says it took an emotional toll, too, “because you expect yourself to be at a higher level.”

帕特爾發(fā)現(xiàn)，工作時間越長，工作效果和工作效率就越差。這還會影響情緒，"因為你希望自己能達到更高的水平。"

Patel is not alone in this predicament. According to a new study from The Workforce Institute at Kronos, 81% of salaried employees in the US report that they work outside of their standard work hours, with 29% doing it three or more days per week. A separate study from the US-based Project: Time Off campaign found that millennials, in particular, are much more likely to become work martyrs than their older peers at a rate of 43%, compared with an average of just 29% across all workers.

帕特爾并非個例。根據(jù)克勞羅斯勞動力研究院(The Workforce Institute at Kronos)的數(shù)據(jù)，美國有81%受薪雇員有過加班經(jīng)歷，29%每周至少加班3天。另外一項名為Project：Time Off的研究也發(fā)現(xiàn)，"千禧一代"比老一輩更有可能成為"工作殉道者"，比例達到43%;而所有勞動者的平均比例僅為29%。

Experts caution that more time in the office doesn’t equate to a better worker, and that bosses need to set clear goals to prevent building potential team burnout into their plans. If not, the repercussions of a stressed-out workforce will become more pronounced as millennials move into management roles and expect the same level of presenteeism from their subordinates.

專家警告稱，在辦公室里待的時間越長，未必表示員工越稱職，而老板也需要設定明確的目標，避免因為自己制定的計劃導致整個團隊精疲力盡。否則，當千禧一代擔任管理職位時，過量工作產(chǎn)生的影響就會更加嚴重，因為他們會期待自己的手下也表現(xiàn)出同等程度的"出勤主義"。

“What’s the future of our work-life balance if this is the mentality we’re fostering,” says Katie Denis, lead researcher at Project: Time Off. There needs to be a drastic change in attitude among millennials, “or we’ll see much bigger problems on the horizon.”

"如果我們正在形成這樣的心態(tài)，那么工作與生活之間的平衡未來將變成什么樣子?"Project：Time Off首席研究員凱蒂·丹尼斯(Katie Denis)說。千禧一代需要大幅調(diào)整自己的態(tài)度，"否則會引發(fā)更加嚴重的問題。"

Studies from Marianna Virtanen of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health have linked overworking with numerous stress-related health problems, including depression, impaired sleep and heavy drinking. Meanwhile, a new study of American, Australian and European workers found that those putting in 55 hours or more per week had a 33% greater risk of stroke and 13% greater risk of coronary heart disease when compared with their peers working a standard 40-hour week.

芬蘭勞動衛(wèi)生研究所的瑪麗安娜·維爾塔寧(Marianna Virtanen)進行的研究，將過度工作跟很多與壓力有關的健康問題關聯(lián)起來，包括抑郁癥、睡眠障礙和嚴重酗酒。與此同時，針對美國、澳大利亞和歐洲職場人士的一份新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，與每周工作40小時的人相比，每周至少工作55小時的人中風風險增加33%，冠心病風險也增加13%。

Fear and uncertainty 害怕與不確定

The current work martyr trend among 18- to 35-year-olds relates to both healthy ego needs (like striving for a sense of accomplishment) and unhealthy levels of anxiety, says Denis. “You hear this popular narrative that millennials are entitled and spoiled but what we’re finding is that they actually have a lot of fear.”

丹尼斯表示，18至35歲人群目前形成的"工作殉道者"趨勢與健康的自我需要(例如追求成就感)和不健康的焦慮感都有關系。"很多人都聽說千禧一代嬌生慣養(yǎng)，但我們卻發(fā)現(xiàn)，他們內(nèi)心其實充滿恐懼。"

Denis says many millennials entered the workforce at the height of the recession when jobs were scarce. Not only that, they’re dealing with an office culture where technology is ubiquitous, yet its boundaries remain unclear with many feeling chained to their devices.

丹尼斯表示，在經(jīng)濟衰退高峰進入職場的千禧一代都很沒有安全感。不僅如此，他們還要應對充滿各種科技元素的辦公室文化，但由于工作與生活的邊界至今仍未明確，所以很多人感覺自己被束縛在自己的設備上無法掙脫。

“There’s very little guidance in the workplace about what’s appropriate [with technology], so it gives us this feeling that we need to be reachable at all times,” she says. “This fuels a kind of hyper-intense desire to prove yourself that’s playing out really strongly with millennials.”

"目前很少有一份指南能告訴我們，如何在職場中使用技術才是合適的，所以我們才感覺自己應該隨時待命。"她說，"這會激發(fā)一種證明自己的強烈意愿。這在千禧一代中表現(xiàn)得尤其明顯。"

The Project: Time Off report found zero correlation between time spent working and career progression. Quite the contrary, “people reach a maximum threshold,” Denis explains. “Even though they may be at the office longer — or are working longer hours — it doesn’t mean they’re producing any more than their peers.”

Project：Time Off的報告發(fā)現(xiàn)，工作時間與職業(yè)發(fā)展之間沒有任何相關性。恰恰相反，"人們達到了最大閾值。"丹尼斯解釋道，"即便他們在辦公室里待的時間更長——或者工作時間更長——但并不意味著他們比同事創(chuàng)造的價值更多。"

A preventable pattern 預防措施

Ty Tucker, CEO of performance management platform REV, says it’s simple to prevent this type of workplace behaviour from occurring in the first place. “Management needs to define personal employee goals and identify how people are to be judged around performance,” he explains.

REV績效管理平臺CEO泰-塔克(Ty Tucker)表示，其實很容易從一開始就避免這種職場行為的出現(xiàn)。"管理人員需要確定每個員工的目標，還要確定每個人的績效評估標準。"他解釋道。

A manager should know what could reasonably be accomplished in a 40-hour week in order to prevent burnout and make appropriate choices about budgeting, staffing and measurable objectives, he says. By working off the clock, particularly when starting out, many employees unwittingly make this task harder on their managers.

管理者應該知道一周40小時所能完成的合理工作量，避免員工精疲力竭，從而在制定預算、人員和可以衡量的目標時做出適當?shù)倪x擇。通過加班工作，很多員工會在不知不覺間讓管理者的任務越來越難以完成，項目初期尤其如此。

Tucker believes bosses are often the biggest offenders of work martyrdom. Not only do they set the wrong tone for their employees, but they’re ultimately slowing down the business when they make themselves so indispensable to the company that nothing can happen without them.

塔克認為，老板往往是造成"工作殉道者"的罪魁禍首。他們不光為員工制定了錯誤的基調(diào)，還會最終拖累企業(yè)的發(fā)展，因為他們讓企業(yè)離不開自己，以至于沒有他們就無法推進任何事情。

“When you create these bastions of isolated knowledge you are ultimately going to be less effective as an organisation,” he says.

"當你創(chuàng)造了這些由孤立的知識構(gòu)成的堡壘時，作為一個組織，你的表現(xiàn)就會變差。"他說。

Martyrs vs heroes 殉道者vs英雄

While work martyrs can fall into a toxic trap of long hours and low productivity, Tucker believes there is a healthy alternative: the work hero.

雖然"工作殉道者"可能陷入時間長、效率低的怪圈，但塔克認為還有可能得到另外一種健康的結(jié)果：工作英雄。

“A work hero is someone who can come in, do a great job and save the day when something goes wrong,” Tucker explains. “This person is usually results driven, not time driven, and may not even be cognisant that he or she is viewed as a hero.”

"工作英雄會在出問題時介入進來，通過優(yōu)異的表現(xiàn)挽回敗局。"塔克解釋道，"此人通常看重結(jié)果，而非時間，他們甚至不知道自己被人當做英雄。"

Patel, the data scientist from Raleigh, is now striving toward the latter. He starts a new job in 2017 and says he’s going to do the exact opposite of what he did when he entered his current company.

來自羅利的數(shù)據(jù)科學家帕特爾目前正在向后一個方向努力。他2017年開始了一份新工作，希望能夠采取跟剛加入這家公司時截然相反的工作方式。

“When I start my new role it won’t be about me jumping into everything,” he says. “I’ll still do my job, of course, but I’ll make it much more of a team-based effort.”

"當我開始新的工作時，肯定不會事必躬親。"他說，"當然，我還是會認真完成自己的工作，但我會更加重視團隊合作。"