经济学人:巴托比专栏: 休息一会(2)（打印版）

At some point after the war Europeans decided to take more time off, while Americans opted (or were persuaded) to keep their shoulders to the wheel for longer. 战后的某时刻，欧洲人决定休息更长时间，而美国人选择（或被说服）奋力拼搏更长时间。

A survey by Project Time Off found that the main reason why Americans are reluctant to take all their vacation is fear of being replaceable. Project Time Off的一项调查发现美国人不愿意休完所有假期的主要原因是害怕被替换掉。

Other factors are heavy workloads and lack of cover from fellow employees. 其他因素有工作繁重以及没有同事可以顶他们的班。

One useful feature of public holidays is that workers worry less about bunking off if everyone else does the same. 公共假期的一个有益特点是如果其他所有人都做一样的工作，那么他们就不用太担心早退的影响。

Forgoing holiday time does not always please the boss. 放弃假期并不总能取悦老板。

A study by the Harvard Business Review in 2016 found that those who took 11 or more days off a year 《哈佛商业评论》2016年的一项研究发现一年休假11天或更长时间的员工

were almost twice as likely to get a raise or a bonus as those who took ten days off or fewer 与那些一年少休10天或更多的员工相比，前者加薪和拿到奖金的可能性是后者的近两倍

(although the causation could be the other way around; star workers may feel they can afford to take a break). （虽然因果关系可能正好相反；明星员工或许觉得他们可以休息一会）。

Nor do extra hours automatically lead to higher productivity. An analysis of figures from the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, 加班也不一定有更高产出。富裕国家的俱乐部OECD2013年的一项数据分析发现

in 2013 found a negative correlation between GDP per hour and the number of hours worked across member countries. 每小时的GDP和成员国工作时长之间呈负相关。

Again, the causation is unclear—workers in richer nations may feel they can take more time off. But there is plenty of other evidence. 其中因果关系仍不明确—富裕国家的员工或许会觉得他们休息天数可以更长。但还有很多其他证据。

A study of munitions workers in the first world war found that their output per hour tended to decline once they spent over 50 hours a week toiling. 对一战军火工人的研究发现一周工作时长一旦超过50小时，他们每小时的产出就会下降。

The Institute for Employment Studies in Britain reviewed academic research on the subject 英国劳动研究所对该主题的学术研究进行评估

and concluded that "long hours working (more than 48 hours a week) was associated with (but was not proved to cause) various negative effects, 并总结到“工作时长（每周超过48小时）和各种负面影响相联系（但这种因果关系未得到证实），

such as decreased productivity, poor performance, health problems, and lower employee motivation." 比如效率下降、工作表现不佳、健康问题和较低的员工激励。”

The danger is that long hours simply lead to wasted effort. C. Northcote Parkinson, a management theorist, wrote that "work expands to fill the time available". 危险之处在于长时间的工作会导致事倍功半。管理理论家诺思科特·帕金森写到“工作会扩张到占满所有可用时间”。

Every editor knows that many journalists only deliver their articles when the deadline is imminent. 每位编辑都知道很多记者都是在临近截止日期的时候才交稿子。

Workers may be staring at their computers, but how many have disappeared down the rabbit hole of Twitter spats? 员工们可能会盯着他们的电脑，但有多少人已经迷失在了推特口水战中？

The modern world is supposedly moving in a direction where routine tasks are automated, leaving the more creative processes to the humans. 现代世界可能正朝着这样一个方向前进—日常任务自动化，更加创造性的工作由人类处理。

And humans are undoubtedly more creative when they are not feeling tired or jaded. 毫无疑问，人们在感觉不疲惫的时候会更具创造力。

So enjoy the break, American workers, and maybe take the next week off as well. 所以享受假期吧，美国员工们，或者下周再休息一周。

经济学人:巴托比专栏: 休息一会(2)（在线收听）