Mandarin Lesson: What is a perfect job mean to us?

Mandarin Lesson What is a perfect job mean to us

Mandarin Lesson: What is a perfect job mean to us?

Alan Felstead, a professor at the Cardiff School of Social Science in the UK, conducted research which found that workers who work remotely are happier with their work. They’re more enthusiastic about their jobs and more committed to the organisation for whom they work.

英国卡迪夫社会科学学院教授阿兰·菲尔斯泰德(Alan Felstead)进行的研究发现,远程工作的人对职业满意度更强。他们对自己的工作更加热心,对自己所在的组织也更加效忠。

“The often-held assumption is that those who work from home, are skiving, they are taking it easy,” says Felstead ‘the evidence is that workers are actually working harder. So, for example, there’s a 15 percentage point gap in the proportions reporting that they often work beyond normal working hours. And a six percent point gap in the effort levels.”

“人们往往持有这样一种假设,认为在家工作的人逃避责任,拖拖拉拉。”菲尔斯泰德说,”但实际证据表明,这些人反而会更加努力地工作。例如,从自称经常加班的比例来看,他们就比普通职场人士高出15个百分点。而从努力程度来看,则要高出6个百分点。”

But it’s not all plain sailing – the research also found that working from home made it harder to switch off. Not defining a clear boundary between work and home meant that there was a danger of overworking. So what’s the use in gaining all this control over your life if you use it to start earlier, finish later and answer emails at 3am?

但过程不会一帆风顺——这项研究还发现,在家工作会加大人们停止工作的难度。无法清晰界定工作与家庭之间的界限,就可能导致加班工作。那么,如果在完全控制自己的生活之后,还要更早起床、更晚下班,甚至凌晨3点查看电子邮件,这种控制力还有什么用?

Stephen Lewandowsky, a professor of cognitive science at the University of Bristol, is also wary that while giving people more control over their work-life might make it seem less stressful, it doesn’t necessarily lead to actual happiness.

布里斯托大学认知科学教授史蒂芬·莱万多斯基(Stephen Lewandowsky)也心存疑虑:虽然让人们可以自己控制工作与生活之间的平衡似乎能够减少压力,但却未必能给他们带来真正的幸福。

He says that the temptation is to equate happiness with being successful at work. “You start working harder and harder,” he says, “to the point where all of a sudden you feel guilty if you’re not working and the moment that happens your work-life balance and your family obligations are going to suffer.”

他表示,人们往往会把幸福等同于工作上的成功。”你开始越来越努力地工作,”他说,”直到你突然发现,如果不工作就会心怀愧疚。这时,工作与生活之间的平衡以及家庭责任都会受到冲击。”

Giving people more control over their work doesn’t necessarily mean that they make good decisions. Just ask anyone who has found themselves finishing up a report at midnight or emailing clients at the weekend.

在工作上给予人们更多的控制力未必意味着他们就能做好决策。只要问问那些直到半夜才做完报告,或者要在周末给客户发邮件的人,就知道了。

What about the creative dream? Lots of people dream of crafting great art – painting, sculpting, writing comedy and turning that into their job. Surely that’s the very definition of an ideal profession?

创造力的梦想又该如何实现呢?很多人都梦想着能创造伟大的艺术品——绘画、雕塑、写作,甚至希望把这变成自己的工作。这确实是对理想职业的定义。

But if you want to do creative work you have two options. Either work for the man all day and create at night or find someone to pay you to be creative all the time. Writer, performer and podcaster Ross Sutherland has done both.

但如果你想从事创造性工作,那就面临两种选择。要么为别人工作一整天,等到晚上再去搞创作,要么找到那些出钱让你一直搞创作的人。作家、演员兼播客主播罗斯·萨瑟兰(Ross Sutherland)就这样做过。

“I read Generation X when I was about 15 which was probably the exact right age to read that book,” he says referring to the novel by Douglas Coupland in which the term “McJob” was coined meaning a low paid, low prestige job often in the service sector. “I definitely remember this thing about like there is the work that pays the bills and then your internal work which you’re doing on yourself which is the thing that drives you.”

“我大约15岁的时候就看过《X一代》,这大概是最适合读这本书的年龄。”他指的是道格拉斯·柯普兰(Douglas Coupland)创作的小说,书中还杜撰了”McJob”一词,专门指代收入和地位低下的工作,往往来自服务行业。”我肯定记得那个时候,比如,我要做一份工作来维持生计,但随后还要凭借兴趣追求内心喜欢的工作,后者会给你带来动力。”

Sutherland has certainly had his fair share of McJobs including; working in a pub, a stationery warehouse, being a compere at a wrestling match, teaching creative writing at a prison and rap workshops to primary school kids and writing the mail-out for a casino encouraging pensioners to spend their money (which he considers a career low point).

萨瑟兰显然也做过很多McJob,包括:在酒吧和文具仓库里工作,担任摔跤赛主持人,在监狱里教创意写作,教小学生学说唱音乐,帮助赌场发送邮件,从而鼓励人们花掉退休金(他认为这是他职业生涯的低谷)。

But far from despairing over this early career path, he sees it as essential to his creative inspiration.

但他并没有对早期的职业路径感到绝望,而是认为这是创作灵感不可或缺的因素。

“So often people’s early work was the stuff that’s most vital because that’s at the membrane between them being a real person and responding to it. How many great rappers – first album amazing, second album is all about being on tour and about being successful and it just eats itself so quickly.”

“所以,人们早期的工作往往最为重要,因为这是他们步入社会、寻找自己真正的位置、实现自己的人生价值并争得大家认可的突破。有多少伟大的说唱歌手第一张专辑令人惊叹,第二张专辑就完全跟巡回演唱会和成功有关了,这就说明他快速地得到了满足、开始变得平庸。”

Chasing the idea of the dream job is something that people can spend their whole lives doing. But perhaps the perfect job is an illusion?

很多人会终其一生追求梦想的工作。但真正完美的工作会不会只是一种幻觉?

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