Why you shouldn’t work at full capacity
为什么不应该竭尽全力工作？
Have you ever felt like you couldn’t take time off work because nobody could do your job while you’re away? Do you drop all of your personal plans to work late nights and weekends, and feel guilty simply leaving the office on time?
你是否感觉不能休假，因为没人能在你离开的时候接替你的工作？你是否会放弃所有的个人计划，利用晚上和周末的时间加班工作？甚至会因为按时下班感到愧疚？
If any of the above sounds familiar, then you may be one of the growing number of so-called “work martyrs” who are drastically changing company culture and leading to a rise in cases of stress and burnout.
如果你很熟悉这些感受，你或许正是不断增多的所谓"工作殉道者"中的一员。这些人给企业文化带来了巨大改变，导致同事压力倍增，身心俱疲。
恐惧会催生"工作殉道者"——千禧一代尤其如此
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.
比纳尔·帕特尔（Binal Patel）是第一个承认自己是"工作殉道者"的人，他因为把所有的自由时间都奉献给工作而感到精疲力尽。
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%.”
这位来自美国北卡罗来纳州罗利市的25岁数据科学家表示，他的问题始于两年前，他当时一心想着加入一家创业公司，为医疗行业分析数据。该公司当时只有12名员工，而帕特尔清楚地记得自己当时把标准定得过高："每天工作12小时，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.
他人的积极认可起初令人上瘾，但这个刚刚从大学毕业不久的年轻人很快意识到，这种自虐式的工作方式根本不可持续。
“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，你的公司会期望你按照最初的水平来工作，因为你之前就是这么干的。你自己也希望达到这种水平，因为你的确做到过。"他说，"但一直这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.”
帕特尔发现，工作时间越长，工作效果和工作效率就越差。这还会影响情绪，"因为你希望自己能达到更高的水平。"
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.
帕特尔并非个例。根据克劳罗斯劳动力研究院（The Workforce Institute at Kronos）的数据，美国有81%受薪雇员有过加班经历，29%每周至少加班3天。另外一项名为Project：Time Off的研究也发现，"千禧一代"比老一辈更有可能成为"工作殉道者"，比例达到43%；而所有劳动者的平均比例仅为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.
专家警告称，在办公室里待的时间越长，未必表示员工越称职，而老板也需要设定明确的目标，避免因为自己制定的计划导致整个团队精疲力尽。否则，当千禧一代担任管理职位时，过量工作产生的影响就会更加严重，因为他们会期待自己的手下也表现出同等程度的"出勤主义"。
“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.”
"如果我们正在形成这样的心态，那么工作与生活之间的平衡未来将变成什么样子？"Project：Time Off首席研究员凯蒂·丹尼斯（Katie Denis）说。千禧一代需要大幅调整自己的态度，"否则会引发更加严重的问题。"
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.
芬兰劳动卫生研究所的玛丽安娜·维尔塔宁（Marianna Virtanen）进行的研究，将过度工作跟很多与压力有关的健康问题关联起来，包括抑郁症、睡眠障碍和严重酗酒。与此同时，针对美国、澳大利亚和欧洲职场人士的一份新研究发现，与每周工作40小时的人相比，每周至少工作55小时的人中风风险增加33%，冠心病风险也增加13%。
Fear and uncertainty
害怕与不确定
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岁人群目前形成的"工作殉道者"趋势与健康的自我需要（例如追求成就感）和不健康的焦虑感都有关系。"很多人都听说千禧一代娇生惯养，但我们却发现，他们内心其实充满恐惧。"
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，在经济衰退高峰进入职场的千禧一代都很没有安全感。不仅如此，他们还要应对充满各种科技元素的办公室文化，但由于工作与生活的边界至今仍未明确，所以很多人感觉自己被束缚在自己的设备上无法挣脱。
“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诉我们，如何在职场中使用技术才是合适的，所以我们才感觉自己应该随时待命。"她说，"这会激发一种证明自己的强烈意愿。这在千禧一代中表现得尤其明显。"
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的报告发现，工作时间与职业发展之间没有任何相关性。恰恰相反，"人们达到了最大阈值。"丹尼斯解释道，"即便他们在办公室里待的时间更长——或者工作时间更长——但并不意味着他们比同事创造的价值更多。"
A preventable pattern
预防措施
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绩效管理平台CEO泰-塔克（Ty Tucker）表示，其实很容易从一开始就避免这种职场行为的出现。"管理人员需要确定每个员工的目标，还要确定每个人的绩效评估标准。"他解释道。
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.
管理者应该知道一周40小时所能完成的合理工作量，避免员工精疲力竭，从而在制定预算、人员和可以衡量的目标时做出适当的选择。通过加班工作，很多员工会在不知不觉间让管理者的任务越来越难以完成，项目初期尤其如此。
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.
塔克认为，老板往往是造成"工作殉道者"的罪魁祸首。他们不光为员工制定了错误的基调，还会最终拖累企业的发展，因为他们让企业离不开自己，以至于没有他们就无法推进任何事情。
“When you create these bastions of isolated knowledge you are ultimately going to be less effective as an organisation,” he says.
"当你创造了这些由孤立的知识构成的堡垒时，作为一个组织，你的表现就会变差。"他说。
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.
虽然"工作殉道者"可能陷入时间长、效率低的怪圈，但塔克认为还有可能得到另外一种健康的结果：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.”
"工作英雄会在出问题时介入进来，通过优异的表现挽回败局。"塔克解释道，"此人通常看重结果，而非时间，他们甚至不知道自己被人当做英雄。"
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.
来自罗利的数据科学家帕特尔目前正在向后一个方向努力。他2017年开始了一份新工作，希望能够采取跟刚加入这家公司时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.”
"当我开始新的工作时，肯定不会事必躬亲。"他说，"当然，我还是会认真完成自己的工作，但我会更加重视团队合作。"
来源：好英语网
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