面對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)吧,,你需要休息一陣子了。如果你高風(fēng)亮節(jié)地選擇了不休假,,那就是白白地浪費(fèi)了一筆錢(畢竟帶薪休假也是工資福利的一部分),。與此同時(shí),隨著你的小本本上的待辦事項(xiàng)清單越來(lái)越長(zhǎng),,你疲憊的大腦也很難想出什么新點(diǎn)子,。就算想出來(lái)了,也沒(méi)有力氣去執(zhí)行它們,。更重要的是,,如果你內(nèi)心渴望逃離工作,但是又無(wú)能為力,,最終等待你的可能就是抑郁癥,。 于是你的下一站就是精神病院,當(dāng)然不會(huì)有人想到那兒去,。 由民調(diào)機(jī)構(gòu)易普索公共事務(wù)公司(Ipsos Public Affair)為美國(guó)安聯(lián)全球救援公司(Allianz Global Assistance USA)進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查顯示,,長(zhǎng)期不休假的工作與抑郁癥之間存在密切聯(lián)系。自從2009年以來(lái),,安聯(lián)每年春季都會(huì)對(duì)1000名成年上班族就以下問(wèn)題進(jìn)行調(diào)查:第一,,你們是否認(rèn)為休假對(duì)你們的幸福感很重要?第二,,你們是否有確切的休假計(jì)劃,,或者在此前12個(gè)月里已經(jīng)休過(guò)假了?有些人認(rèn)為休假很重要,,但又因?yàn)榉N種原因休不了,,這種人的境遇又被研究人員稱為“假期赤字”。 在最近一次調(diào)查中,受訪者還填寫(xiě)了一份簡(jiǎn)短的PHQ-9調(diào)查問(wèn)卷——醫(yī)學(xué)界常常使用該調(diào)查問(wèn)卷判斷抑郁癥的癥狀,。比如他們是否對(duì)日常生活失去了興趣,,是否感到失敗和絕望,是否有失眠,、食欲不振,、注意力難以集中等問(wèn)題。 “假期赤字”與PHQ-9的分?jǐn)?shù)之間展現(xiàn)了令人吃驚的相關(guān)性,。約三分之一(30%)遭遇“假期赤字”的受訪者出現(xiàn)了輕度到中度抑郁的跡象,。更值得重視的是,美國(guó)人口中患嚴(yán)重臨床抑郁癥的比例約為6%,,而在“假期赤字”人群中,這一比例卻翻了一倍,,達(dá)到12%,。在那些高度重視休假,但是最后一次休假的時(shí)間是在“兩年多以前”的人中,,半數(shù)以上PHQ-9的分?jǐn)?shù)高得嚇人,,表明他們患有嚴(yán)重的抑郁癥。 其實(shí)誰(shuí)都知道,,每年休一兩周的假,,將所有工作拋在一邊,無(wú)論對(duì)身體健康還是對(duì)工作效率都十分重要,。但是大家為什么不愿意休假呢,?研究顯示,通常并非是老板不愿意讓我們休假,。(一項(xiàng)研究表明,,只有3%的管理者不鼓勵(lì)下屬休假。)然而同事的態(tài)度就說(shuō)不準(zhǔn)了,。兩年前,,安聯(lián)曾經(jīng)對(duì)美國(guó)人計(jì)劃休假時(shí)的心態(tài)進(jìn)行過(guò)調(diào)查,結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn),,在各個(gè)年齡段的受訪者中,,都有25%的人表示自己有緊張和內(nèi)疚等負(fù)面情緒。這種負(fù)面情緒在“千禧一代”中甚至更普遍,,達(dá)到了37%,。 安聯(lián)公司的董事丹尼爾·杜拉索已經(jīng)連續(xù)10年負(fù)責(zé)這項(xiàng)休假調(diào)查了。他表示:“人們對(duì)于自己休假期間讓同事干更多工作感到很愧疚,。不過(guò)留下來(lái)干活的同事們對(duì)此是否真的介意,,抑或人們只擔(dān)心他們會(huì)介意,我們并不知道?!?/p> 市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷公司Acceleration Partners的創(chuàng)始人及首席執(zhí)行官鮑勃·格雷澤找到了一個(gè)解決問(wèn)題的辦法,。他表示:“休假是一個(gè)讓人們學(xué)習(xí)如何提前分配和計(jì)劃工作的好機(jī)會(huì)。我們想打造這樣一個(gè)體系,,如果你不在的話,,總有人可以代替你的工作;別人不在的時(shí)候,,你也能頂上他們的空缺,。這已經(jīng)成了我們的文化的一部分?!?/p> 為了達(dá)到這個(gè)目標(biāo),,格雷澤希望他的員工休假期間徹底不要操心工作的事,甚至與公司完全斷掉聯(lián)系,。Acceleration Partners公司的休假時(shí)間是沒(méi)有上限的,,“但大家就是不休假?!本退銌T工去休假了,,他們也會(huì)通過(guò)網(wǎng)絡(luò)遠(yuǎn)程工作,休了還不如不休,。 所以從去年開(kāi)始,,格雷澤掛出獎(jiǎng)賞,誰(shuí)能在休假期間徹底與公司失聯(lián),,不回郵件,、不接電話、不參加遠(yuǎn)程會(huì)議,,并且得到充分,、徹底的休息,就可以拿到750美元的獎(jiǎng)金,。在公司的150多名員工中,,大約有一半已經(jīng)拿到了這筆獎(jiǎng)金。格雷澤表示:“在緊急情況下,,大家會(huì)告訴同事,,如何能夠通過(guò)短信或者非工作號(hào)碼聯(lián)系到他們。但到目前為止,,這種‘緊急狀況’從沒(méi)有真正發(fā)生過(guò),。” 偶爾讓別人替你做工作,,還有另外一個(gè)好處——那就是雪亮的“群眾之眼”,。Acceleration Partners的澳大利亞高級(jí)客戶經(jīng)理米歇爾·卡利諾夫斯基指出,,在你休假期間,替你工作的同事“也有機(jī)會(huì)做一些新的事情,,他們說(shuō)不定還可以找到更好的方法來(lái)做這件事情,。”去年卡利諾夫斯基就休了兩次假,,每次10天,。在一次休假期間,頂替她的同事對(duì)她的工作做了一些調(diào)整,,將團(tuán)隊(duì)的一項(xiàng)日常任務(wù)精簡(jiǎn)了一個(gè)小時(shí)的時(shí)間,。卡利諾夫斯基表示:“這個(gè)新方法要快得多了,,給我們節(jié)省了很多時(shí)間,。” 當(dāng)然,,不是每個(gè)老板都愿意給休假期間玩失蹤的人額外發(fā)工資,。不過(guò)格雷澤指出,他有很多好點(diǎn)子都是休假期間或是坐在某個(gè)海灘上時(shí)想出來(lái)的,。他相信,如果公司能夠讓員工在工作之外有自己的生活,,包括讓他們通過(guò)休假來(lái)洗刷疲憊的身心,,給自己充電,公司的效率(以及人才保留率)就會(huì)大幅提高,。格雷澤表示:“企業(yè)文化的重點(diǎn),,就在于你鼓勵(lì)員工去做什么。如果你鼓勵(lì)員工不間斷地工作,,大家就只好這樣去做,。”但是在長(zhǎng)期來(lái)看,,這樣做的效果不可能會(huì)好,。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)) 譯者:樸成奎 |
Let’s face it, you need some time off. Not only are you leaving money on the table by not taking vacations (which are, after all, part of your compensation) but, as your already humongous to-do list keeps getting longer, it’s harder to come up with fresh ideas, or the energy to execute them. What’s more, if you yearn to get away and haven’t felt able to, you may be headed for a nasty case of clinical depression. Next stop: Burnout City. And nobody wants to go there. A strong link between nonstop work and depression turns up in a fascinating study, conducted by pollsters Ipsos Public Affairs for Allianz Global Assistance USA. Every spring since 2009, Allianz has surveyed 1,000 working adults and asked, first, whether they consider vacations important to their well-being and, second, whether they have definite plans to get away, or have done so in the preceding 12 months. People who rate the importance of vacations highly, but say they are unlikely to get one, are suffering what the researchers call a “vacation deficit.” Here’s the twist: In the most recent survey, respondents also filled out a short questionnaire called a PHQ-9, which the medical profession uses to identify symptoms of clinical depression—including loss of interest or pleasure in daily life, feelings of failure or hopelessness, insomnia, loss of appetite, and trouble concentrating. The correlation between “vacation deficit” and PHQ-9 scores is startling. Consider: About one in three (30%) of people reporting a “vacation deficit” showed signs of mild to moderate depression. It gets worse. An estimated 6% of the U.S. population suffers from severe clinical depression. Among non-vacationers, the percentage doubles to 12%. Among people who rated the importance of time off highly but said their last vacation was “more than two years ago,” over half (56%) showed sky-high PHQ-9 scores, indicating severe depression. It’s pretty well-known by now that getting away from it all for a week or two is essential for both physical health and productivity, so why do we hesitate to do it? Research suggests it’s not usually bosses who stand in the way. (One study found that only 3% of managers discourage their direct reports from using their vacation time.) Coworkers, however, might be a different story. Two years ago, the Allianz survey asked people to describe how they felt about scheduling a breather. About 25% of Americans in every age group—and even more millennials (37%)—reported negative emotions, like nervousness and guilt. “People felt especially guilty about leaving colleagues with extra work to do in their absence,” says Daniel Durazo, the Allianz director who has overseen these vacation studies for the past 10 years. “But whether coworkers who would be picking up the slack really will mind, or whether people just fear they will, we really don’t know.” Bob Glazer, founder and CEO of marketing firm Acceleration Partners, has found a way to moot that question. “Vacations are a great chance for people to learn how to delegate and plan ahead,” he says. “We want to create a system where there is always someone else who can do your job if you’re not around, and you can do theirs. It’s become part of our culture.” To build that bench strength, Glazer wants his employees not just to take off, but to stay offline, and completely out of touch with the office, while they’re gone. Although Acceleration Partners has an unlimited-vacation policy, “people just weren’t using it,” he says—or, if they did go away, they checked in to work electronically so often that they might just as well have stayed there. So last year, Glazer started paying $750 to anyone who disappears on a real, relaxing getaway: No answering emails, for instance, or fielding phone calls, or sitting in on teleconferences. About half of his 150 staffers worldwide have taken him up on it. “In case of an emergency, people tell their colleagues how to reach them by text on a non-work phone,” Glazer says. “But so far, that’s never actually happened.” One benefit of having someone else cover for you now and then: A fresh pair of eyes. Team members left to fend for themselves “get a chance to do something new, and they may even find a better way to do it,” notes Michelle Kalinowski, an Acceleration Partners senior account manager in Australia who has gone off on two 10-day jaunts in the past year. During one of them, someone filling in for her made a few changes that cut an hour from a routine task the team had been doing. “The new way is much quicker,” Kalinowski says. “It’s saved us a lot of time.” Not every employer is prepared to pay people extra to get lost, of course. Still, Glazer, who says he gets his best ideas while traveling or sitting on a beach somewhere, believes companies would see a big jump in productivity (not to mention retention) if they gave employees the green light to have lives outside of work, including vacations that refresh and recharge them. “Culture is all about what you reward,” Glazer says. “If you reward nonstop work, that’s what you’ll get.” In the long run, it’s unlikely to be pretty. |