This time of year, many Europeans are looking forward to their month-long holiday in August. Workers in America, however, can already feel the strangle of a collared shirt around their neck in 90-degree heat as we continue trying to be productive. As the Cadillac ad that ran nonstop during Super Bowl season hammered home, the European style is to take time off while the American style is to keep the nose to the grindstone. Cadillac may be proud of how hard Americans work and disdainful of the European way of life, but we may be hurting, not helping, ourselves with our out-of-control ethic。
Europeans don’t just look forward to more time off than us in the summer, but all year round. Some of this American work ethic is elective, but some of it is certainly imposed on us. The United States is the only advanced country that doesn't guarantee that its citizens will get paid vacation time and holidays. European countries, meanwhile, ensure at least 20 days of paid vacation, with some going as high as 30 days, and most rich countries make sure workers get at least six paid holidays. That leaves nearly a quarter of Americans without any access to paid vacation time。
The prospects are equally bleak for workers looking to take time off for other reasons. If they or their family members get sick, there’s no guarantee that they’ll be able to take a paid day off to deal with it, and about 40 percent can’t. Twenty-two other developed countries ensure paid sick leave. When a couple adopts a child or has a newborn, they’re only guaranteed 12 weeks of unpaid time off, and that’s if they qualify—40 percent don’t—unlike virtually every other country that guarantees paid leave。
We’re even one of just 16 countries that doesn’t make sure that workers get at least some time off during the seven-day week. That weekend most of us enjoy come Friday night is not backed up by American policy, but instead is a voluntary employer perk。
But it’s not just policy fueling our overwork; it’s also cultural. Professionals, managers, and executives with a smartphone spend 72 hours a week (including the weekend) checking work e-mail. It’s become a nonstop world, especially for professional workers. But all employers are offering fewer vacation days and sick days than they used to. And those who are lucky enough to get paid vacation days aren’t using them. A Glassdoor survey found that three-quarters of American employees don't use all of their vacation time. The average person takes just half of what she’s allotted. Fifteen percent don't take any time whatsoever. A different study estimated that we leave about three vacation days unused each year. Even 60 percent of those who took time off in the Glassdoor survey still worked on vacation, many of them because they felt like they couldn’t truly log off。
At the same time, we’re working harder and for longer days. The 40-hour workweek is mostly a thing of the past. Ninety-four percent of professional workers put in 50 or more hours, and nearly half work 65 or above. All workers have managed to cut down on our time on the job by 112 hours over the last 40 years, but we’re far behind other countries: The French cut down by 491 hours, the Dutch by 425, and Canadians by 215 in the same time period. Workers in Ireland and the Netherlands are also working less. We’re also increasing our productivity, getting more done in the time we spend at work. It went up by nearly 25 percent between 2000 and 2012.
This overwork shows up in our sleep. Out of five developed peers, four other countries sleep more than us. That has again worsened over the years. In 1942, more than 80 percent of Americans slept seven hours a night or more. Today, 40 percent sleep six hours or less. A lack of sleep makes us poorer workers: People who sleep less than seven hours a night have a much harder time concentrating and getting work done。
Perhaps it would be worth all of this if working longer and harder produced better results, fueled the economy, and created wealth for everyone. But that’s not likely. Taking some time off actually improves a worker’s productivity at work. A study from Ernst & Young found that every ten hours of vacation time taken by an employee boosted her year-end performance rating by 8 percent and lowered turnover. Former NASA scientists found that people who take vacations experience an 82 percent increase in job performance upon their return, with longer vacations making more of an impact than short ones. Putting in too many hours, on the other hand, does the opposite. More than 60 hours a week will create a small productivity flurry at first, but it’ll start to decline again after three or four weeks. Other studies have found the same initial burst followed, but a worse decline。
But what is it all for? Americans are working harder but not seeing the fruits of their labor. Workers, white collar and blue collar alike, have seen a decade go by without much of an increase in wages despite their increasing productivity. The infamous one percent have taken home 47 percent of total income growth between 1976 and 2007. Turns out, being “crazy, driven, hard-working believers,” in Cadillac’s words, isn’t working out so well for the 99 percent。
譯文：
據(jù)《新共和》雜志網(wǎng)站報(bào)道，每年這個(gè)時(shí)候，許多歐洲人都在期盼著他們長(zhǎng)達(dá)一個(gè)月的八月長(zhǎng)假。然而，美國(guó)的上班族早已感受到了高溫下那種襯衫領(lǐng)勒著脖子的那種窒息感了，即使如此，我們還得繼續(xù)工作。此時(shí)，凱迪拉克的廣告在家中的電視上不停地播放，超級(jí)碗的比賽還在繼續(xù)，歐洲人在休息，而美國(guó)人依然在工作。凱迪拉克也許會(huì)為美國(guó)人的努力工作感到驕傲，而不屑?xì)W洲人的生活方式，但是不停地工作會(huì)對(duì)我們?cè)斐蓚�，而不�?huì)有益，甚至可能會(huì)讓我們的行為失控。
歐洲人不只是夏季的時(shí)候比美國(guó)人的休息時(shí)間長(zhǎng)，而是全年都是。美國(guó)人的一些工作是可以自愿選擇參加與否的，但有些工作是公司強(qiáng)加的。美國(guó)是唯一一個(gè)不向公民提供帶薪休假的發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家。歐洲國(guó)家確保公民每年有至少20天的帶薪假期，有些甚至高達(dá)30天，絕大多數(shù)發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家會(huì)保證上班族至少有6個(gè)帶薪假期。而在美國(guó)，將近四分之一的人沒(méi)有帶薪休假。
而對(duì)美國(guó)的上班族來(lái)說(shuō)，用其他理由來(lái)請(qǐng)假也是十分困難的，如果他們自己或是家人生病了，并不能保證他們可以帶薪休假一天，至少將近40%的人不行。22個(gè)發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家保證帶薪病假。在美國(guó)，如果一對(duì)夫妻收養(yǎng)一個(gè)孩子或者是家里有孩子出生，他們只有12周的無(wú)薪假期，這還只是說(shuō)他們有可能會(huì)有12周的無(wú)薪假期，事實(shí)上有40%的人是沒(méi)有的，這不像其他國(guó)家會(huì)保證帶薪休假。
在16個(gè)不能確保在一周七天的工作后，人們可以有時(shí)間休息的國(guó)家中，美國(guó)是其中的一個(gè)。一個(gè)周末中，我們至多能享受一下星期五晚上的歡樂(lè)時(shí)光，這與美國(guó)的國(guó)家政策是相悖的，而且這還是無(wú)償?shù)募影唷?/p>
然而，不僅僅是政策使我們加班，同時(shí)還有文化的影響。專業(yè)人士和經(jīng)理一周會(huì)花72個(gè)小時(shí)在智能手機(jī)上查看工作郵箱。這已經(jīng)是一個(gè)不會(huì)停滯的世界，尤其是對(duì)專業(yè)人士來(lái)說(shuō)。
但是所有老板卻提供比以前更少的假期和病假。而那些有幸可以帶薪休假的人可以不必使用這些假期和病假。 Glassdoor的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查顯示有四分之三的美國(guó)職員不會(huì)用光他們所有的假期。
一般人只用了一般的假期，15%的人根本就沒(méi)有使用這些假期。另一個(gè)研究表明，我們每年有三個(gè)假期沒(méi)有使用。在Glassdoor的調(diào)查中，有60%的人在度假期間仍在工作，因?yàn)樗麄冎械拇蠖鄶?shù)人都覺(jué)得他們并沒(méi)有真正結(jié)束工作。
與此同時(shí)，我們工作更加努力，工作時(shí)間也越來(lái)越長(zhǎng)。每周40個(gè)小時(shí)的工作時(shí)間規(guī)定已經(jīng)成為過(guò)去。94%的專業(yè)人士的每周工作時(shí)間在50個(gè)小時(shí)以上，將近一半的人每周工作時(shí)間在65個(gè)小時(shí)以上。在過(guò)去40年里，美國(guó)職工的工作時(shí)間已經(jīng)減少了112個(gè)小時(shí)，但我們?nèi)赃h(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)落后于其他國(guó)家：在同一時(shí)期，法國(guó)減少了491個(gè)小時(shí)，荷蘭減少了425個(gè)小時(shí)，加拿大減少了215個(gè)小時(shí)。愛(ài)爾蘭和荷蘭的職員工作時(shí)間也減少了。我們還提高了生產(chǎn)效率，在固定的工作時(shí)間里完成更多的任務(wù)。從2000年至2012年，這十年間，美國(guó)的生產(chǎn)效率提高了將近25%。
過(guò)度工作影響了我們的睡眠。在五個(gè)發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家中，其他四個(gè)國(guó)家的職員睡得都比我們多。而且多年以來(lái)，這一情況還在不斷惡化。1942年，有超過(guò)80%的美國(guó)人每天的睡眠時(shí)間是8小時(shí)，甚至更多。而今天，40%的人每天的睡眠時(shí)間是6個(gè)小時(shí)，甚至更少。睡眠不足讓我們工作質(zhì)量下降。每天的睡眠時(shí)間在7小時(shí)以下的人會(huì)更難集中精神工作。
也許更努力工作和工作時(shí)間更長(zhǎng)會(huì)產(chǎn)生更好的結(jié)果，可以刺激經(jīng)濟(jì)，為每個(gè)人創(chuàng)造財(cái)富。
但這是不可能的。事實(shí)上，休息一段時(shí)間能提高工作效率。Ernst & Young的一項(xiàng)研究顯示，十個(gè)小時(shí)的假期時(shí)間會(huì)讓員工提高8%的年終績(jī)效評(píng)估，還能降低周轉(zhuǎn)。
美國(guó)航空航天局的科學(xué)家們發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些休假回來(lái)的員工會(huì)提高82%的工作表現(xiàn)，假期越長(zhǎng)，表現(xiàn)越明顯。
另一方面，工作時(shí)間過(guò)長(zhǎng)也會(huì)產(chǎn)生不良影響。最開(kāi)始的時(shí)候，每周工作60個(gè)小時(shí)會(huì)有一個(gè)小小的生產(chǎn)效率的暴漲，但3、4個(gè)星期之后生產(chǎn)效率就開(kāi)始衰退。其他的研究也表明，在經(jīng)過(guò)最初的一個(gè)生產(chǎn)效率的暴漲之后，生產(chǎn)效率就開(kāi)始衰退了。
但這一切到底是為了什么呢?美國(guó)人努力工作卻看不到工作的成果。盡管生產(chǎn)效率提高了，但是工人、白領(lǐng)和藍(lán)領(lǐng)的工資在這十年以來(lái)卻沒(méi)有太多的增長(zhǎng)。從1976年至2007年，生產(chǎn)效率提高了47%，而工資卻只提高了1%。職工們又被凱迪拉克稱為“瘋狂而勤勞的信徒”，他們?yōu)榱四鞘Ｏ碌?9%而努力工作。
