科技时代的加班文化 The death of the 40 hour week is killing us

In the 19th century the slogan “eight hours’ labour, eight hours’ recreation, eight hours’ rest” became the rallying cry of unions and social justice reformers on both sides of the Atlantic.

19世纪，“8小时工作，8小时娱乐，8小时休息”成为欧美工会和社会正义改革人士的战斗口号。

More than a century later, that hard-won victory is under threat. In many cases it has already been overturned.

一个多世纪后，这一来之不易的胜利正面临威胁。在很多情况下，它已被推翻。

“The 40-hour week is long gone,” says Karyn Twaronite, global diversity and inclusiveness officer at Ernst & Young. Its study of nearly 10,000 full-time managers in eight countries found that working hours have increased sharply since the financial crisis hit in 2007-8.

安永(Ernst & Young)全球多样性和包容性主管卡里恩礠荲坬耐特(Karyn Twaronite)表示：“每周40小时工作制早已成为过去。”安永对8个国家近1万名全职管理者进行的研究发现，自2007年至2008年全球金融危机爆发以来，工作时间已大幅延长。

“It’s not just a US phenomenon,” says Ms Twaronite. “Many other countries are tipping the scales. Since the financial crisis, working more than 40 hours has become the ‘new normal.’”

“这种现象不仅出现在美国，”特沃罗耐特表示，“其他很多国家的天平也在倾斜。自此次金融危机以来，每周工作超过40小时已变成‘新常态’。”

About half of managers work more than 40 hours, the study found. A third say they are working an additional five or more hours a week.

研究发现，约有一半的管理者每周工作超过40小时。其中三分之一表示，他们每周会多工作5小时或更长时间。

But the extra hours do not necessarily translate into higher productivity. According to a study by Stanford University, productivity declines sharply after 50 hours, and plummets to almost nothing after 55 hours, so much so that the extra 15 hours is of little value.

但这些额外工作时间未必转化为更高的生产率。根据斯坦福大学(Stanford University)的一项研究，一周工作50小时以上生产率将大幅下滑，超过55小时生产率将几乎锐降至零，因此多出的15小时几乎没有任何意义。

John Pencavel, the study author, says this could be because “employees at work for a long time may experience fatigue or stress that not only reduces [their] productivity, but also increases the probability of errors, accidents and sickness that impose costs on the employer.”

这份调查的作者约翰堠慯韦尔(John Pencavel)表示，这可能是因为“长时间工作的员工可能会感到疲惫或压力，这不仅会降低他们的生产率，还会增加失误、事故和疾病的几率，给雇主带来损失。”

Technology is partly to blame for the rise in working hours, combined with the increasingly insecure job market. Although smartphones and remote work software have brought flexibility, too often the need to be “always in touch” is piled on top of — rather than during — the traditional eight-hour day, according to EY’s Ms Twaronite.

工作时间延长在一定程度上要归咎于技术以及越来越缺乏保障的就业市场。安永的特沃罗耐特表示，尽管智能手机和远程工作软件带来了灵活性，但“一直保持联络”的必要性经常叠加在传统的8小时工作日以外，而不是其间。

“People are tethered to technology,” she says. “They can’t just go home and switch off. You can be finished for the day but it will be morning in China and you will be expected to respond. Count all those extra minutes online and the hours add up very quickly,” she adds.

“人们被技术束缚住了，”她表示，“他们不能回家就关掉设备。你可能结束了当天的工作，但中国即将迎来早晨，你需要作出答复。把下班后所有在线的时间包括在内，工作时间总长就会迅速增加。”

Sarah Moore, professor of psychology at the University of Puget Sound, who has studied the decline in working conditions in the US, says that workloads have grown because businesses have downsized so that employees now have to do the work that used to be done by two or more co-workers.

普吉特海湾大学(University of Puget Sound)心理学教授萨拉椠尔(Sarah Moore)研究了美国工作条件下滑的现象。他表示，由于企业裁员，工作量增加，员工现在必须一个人完成以前两个或更多同事的工作。

“In addition, especially since the 2008 economic downturn, many workers have reported to us that they are grateful for a job and are unwilling, for example, by turning down overtime hours, to jeopardise their employment.”

“另外，特别是自2008年经济低迷以来，很多员工跟我们说，他们很感激手中这份工作，因而不愿拒绝加班，以免威胁到这份工作。”

Leon Grunberg, professor of sociology at the University of Puget Sound, blames the changes on “more aggressive business targets, more pressure to reduce costs, more technology, and, as a result, more stress,” he says. “Additionally, support functions, for example, human resources, were cut and shifted to managers.”

普吉特海湾大学社会学教授莱昂格伦伯格(Leon Grunberg)将这些变化归咎于“更为激进的业务目标、更大的降低成本压力，更多技术以及这一切造成的更大压力，”他表示，“另外，人力资源等配套职能被裁撤并移交给管理者。”

“As salaried employees who don’t have to clock in, managers are also subject to sometimes subtle and sometimes not so subtle pressure from supervisors and peers to show that they are good, loyal employees by coming early and staying late.”

“作为不需要打卡上班的领薪员工，管理者也处在上级主管和同行有时微妙有时不那么微妙的压力之下，他们要通过早到晚归显示出他们是优秀、忠诚的员工。”

Nicola Smith, head of economics at the UK’s Trades Union Congress, says the move away from the 40-hour week is part of a long-term shift driven by seven-day-a-week opening for shops, the decline of unions and increasing numbers of women in the workplace.

英国工会大会(Trades Union Congress)经济学主管尼古拉史密斯(Nicola Smith)表示，放弃每周40小时工作制是长期变迁的一部分，商店每周营业7天、工会衰落以及工作女性增加推动了这一趋势。

“It now takes two earners to keep a household going, not just one. We’ve moved away from the traditional breadwinner model,” she says.

她表示：“现在要维持一个家庭的生活，需要两个人工作，不能只有一个。我们正改变传统的养家模式。”

The TUC has coined the phrase “Burnout Britain” to describe the long-hours working culture. Its study of Office for National Statistics data found that the number of people working more than 48 hours per week had risen by 15 per cent since 2010 to 3,417,000.

英国工会大会提出“筋疲力尽的英国”(Burnout Britain)这个词来形容长时间工作的文化。该组织对英国国家统计局(Office for National Statistics)数据的研究发现，自2010年以来，每周工作超过48小时的员工数量增加了15%，达到341.7万人。

Ben Willmott, head of public policy at Britain’s Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development, says the shift away from the 40 hour week is “gradual but the trend is definitely in train”.

英国特许人事与发展协会(Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development)公共政策主管本威尔莫特(Ben Willmott)表示，改变每周40小时工作制的过程是“渐进的，但这个趋势肯定在持续”。

Even though technology has the power to unshackle workers from their desks, the CIPD says there is an increase in “presenteeism” — the need to be seen in the office. It found that 30 per cent of employers have seen an increase in people coming in to work while they are sick and 40 per cent a rise in mental health problems in the past 12 months.

尽管科技可以让员工摆脱办公桌的束缚，但英国特许人事与发展协会表示，“出勤主义”（指出现在办公室的必要性）升温。该协会发现，过去12个月期间，30%的雇主发现带病上班的员工数量增加，40%的雇主发现精神健康问题增加。

“Although the job market has picked up, the outlook is still pretty uncertain, which is one reason why some people are reluctant to take time off sick even when they are ill.” says Mr Wilmott.

威尔莫特表示：“尽管就业市场升温，但前景仍相当不确定，这就是为什么一些人不愿在生病时请病假。”

“The overall net effect is that many employees find themselves working more hours simply because it is possible and the workplace culture expects it,” says Ms Moore.

摩尔表示：“由此带来的影响是，很多员工发现他们加班的原因是加班是有可能做到的，而且职场文化期望他们加班。”