Too much work, too little money and not enough opportunity for growth are stressing us out on the job, according to a new survey from the American Psychological Association.
美国心理学会(American Psychological Association)新近的一项调查显示，工作太繁重，薪水太微薄，向上发展的机会又不多，这一切都让我们在工作中备感压力。One-third of employees experience chronic stress related to work, the survey found. Women report higher levels of work stress than men, as well as a gnawing sense that they are underappreciated and underpaid.
图：男性与女性工作压力比较该调查发现，有三分之一的就业者长期经受着工作相关压力的困扰。女性自述的工作压力程度要高于男性，而且与男性相比，认为自己没有获得充分赏识、薪酬过低而痛苦煎熬的女性所占比例也更高。Fifty-four percent of the 1,501 employed adults surveyed say they feel they are paid too little for their contributions, and 61% said their jobs don't offer adequate opportunities to advance. Only half of the adults polled said they feel valued at work.
参与调查的1,501名成年就业者中有54%的人认为自己酬不抵劳，61%的人称工作没有为自己提供足够多的晋升机会。只有一半的受调查者称自己觉得在工作中受到了重视。
Women feel especially stuck and tense, the association survey indicates. Thirty-two percent of women said their employers don't provide sufficient opportunities for internal advancement, compared with 30% of men. Women are more likely to feel tense during a typical workday, reporting more often that their employer doesn't appreciate what they do.
这项调查表明，女性比男性更容易感到紧张焦虑、觉得身陷困境难以前行。32%的女性称她们的雇主没有提供足够多的内部晋升机会，有30%的男性持有同样的观点。在一天的日常工作中，女性更易感到焦虑不安，更多的女性在报告中称自己的雇主没有赞赏她们在工作中的付出。The annual survey, conducted in January and released Tuesday, found the proportion of chronically stressed individuals has shrunk to 35% this year, compared with 41% in 2012, suggesting an improving economy and job market are making some people's work lives easier. But smaller percentages reported satisfaction with their jobs and work-life balance compared with 2012 -- two areas that had been on the upswing.
这份在一月份进行调研、于三月初发表的调查报告指出，受长期压力折磨的人数比例在今年已减少至35%，而在2012年这一数据为41%。这表明，不断好转的经济形势和就业市场正让一些人的职场生活变得比以前轻松。但与2012年相比，那些自述对工作感到满意且能兼顾生活与工作、平衡二者关系的人数比例今年却在下降。而在过去，这两方面的人数比例一直都呈上升态势。Women's stress is rising as families rely more on women's earnings. An employed wife's contribution to family earnings has hovered, on average, at 47% since 2009. But in that year, it jumped from 45% -- the biggest single-year rise in more than two decades, said Kristin Smith, sociology professor at the University of New Hampshire. The comparable figure in 1988 was 38%.
随着现代家庭对女性收入的依赖性越来越高，女性的压力也在日益上升。新罕布什尔大学(University of New Hampshire)的社会学教授克里斯汀•史密斯(Kristin Smith)说，自2009年以后，一名在职妻子对全家总收入的贡献比例均值一直在47%上下徘徊。这一数 是从2009年的45%飙升起来的，创下了二十多年来的最高年度涨幅。在1988年这一数据仅为38%。Emotional responses to stress often divide along gender lines, with men more likely to have a 'fight or flight' reaction while women are more likely to have a 'tend and befriend' response, seeking comfort in relationships and care of loved ones, according to research by Shelley E. Taylor, health psychology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and others.
加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校(University of California, Los Angeles)健康心理学教授雪莱•E.泰勒(Shelley E. Taylor)与他人合作进行的一项研究表明，人们对压力的情绪反应常常因性别的不同而不同。男性在面对压力时更易产生一种“或打或逃”的反应，而女性则易产生一种“照料+交友”的反应，她们会从友好关系中寻求安慰、从所爱的人身上找寻关怀。Physically, the body responds to stress by secreting hormones into the bloodstream that spur accelerated heart rate and breathing and tensing of muscles. People who experience stress as a positive often have increased blood flow to the brain, muscles and limbs, similar to the effects of aerobic exercise. Those who feel frightened or threatened, however, often have an erratic heart rate and constricting blood vessels. Their blood pressure rises and hands and feet may grow cold. They may become agitated, speak more loudly or experience lapses in judgment.
从生理角度来说，身体对压力的反应表现在会有荷尔蒙分泌到血液中去，导致心跳加速、呼吸加剧、肌肉紧缩。那些将压力视为积极因素的人常常会使流向大脑、肌肉和四肢的血液增加，这同进行有氧运动的效果相似。而那些在重压下感到害怕、如受胁迫的人则常常会心率不稳、血管收缩。他们的血压会升高，手脚可能会变得冰凉。他们还可能会烦躁不安、嗓门变大或出现判断失误的情况。Either way, too much stress is harmful to individuals and companies, says David Posen, a physician and author of the book 'Is Work Killing You? A Doctor's Prescription for Treating Workplace Stress.'
《工作会杀了你吗？一位医生为治疗工作压力而开的处方》(Is Work Killing You? A Doctor's Prescription for Treating Workplace Stress)一书的作者、内科医生大卫•波兹南(David Posen)称，不论是上述哪种情况，过多的压力对个人和公司而言都没有好处。'Chronic stress reduces all of the things that help productivity -- mental clarity, short-term memory, decision-making and moods,' Dr. Posen says.
波兹南博士还称：“长期的压力会减少一切有助于提高生产率的因素──思路的清晰度，短期记忆力，决策力和情绪。”Karen Herbison, 46, experienced symptoms of chronic stress after management changes in her department three years ago, and her management style was criticized as not tough enough, she says. She says she was told that while her bosses liked her, 'there's just something missing.'
46岁的凯伦•赫比森(Karen Herbison)在三年前她所在的部门实施管理改革后就出现了长期压力的症状。赫比森说，她的管理方式被指责为不够严厉。赫比森还称，当时她被告知，虽然老板们很喜欢她，但“就是缺了点儿什么”。She stretched her 45-hour workweek to 55 hours. Even so, Ms. Herbison recalls. 'I felt like I was doing everything wrong.'
赫比森将一周45小时的工作时间延长至55小时。她回忆道，即便如此，“我当时觉得自己做的每一件事都是错的”。She began to experience insomnia and irritability, and she had heart palpitations at work. 'I was short-tempered and yelling at my kids,' she recalls. 'I felt like I was losing my mind.' She saw a psychiatrist briefly and decided, 'I have to remove myself from the situation. This is not who I am.'
赫比森开始失眠、易怒，她在工作的时候还曾出现过心悸。她回忆说：“我那时爱发脾气，总冲我的孩子们大吼大叫，我觉得自己正在失去理智。”她去一个精神病医生那里简单地看了看，然后做出决定：“我必须得从这个境况中走出来，这不是我应该有的状态。”Ms. Herbison's stress vanished as soon as she left her former employer earlier this year to open a senior home-care company, Visiting Angels, with her husband in Eau Claire, Wis.
今年年初，赫比森离开了之前工作的地方，与丈夫在威斯康星州欧克莱尔市(Eau Claire)开办了一家名叫“天使来访”(Visiting Angels)的老年人居家护理公司，她的压力也随之消失了。Such a reaction isn't uncommon in healthy individuals who leave a highly stressful situation. But if harmful levels of stress continue for too long, a person may lose the ability to relax, a condition linked in research to numerous health problems.
这样的反应在那些从高压环境中抽身出来的健康人群中很常见。但如果压力的危害性持续时间太长的话，人可能就会丧失放松身心的能力。研究表明，这种状况与众多健康问题息息相关。Women tend to 'internalize,' which contributes to their stress, says Lois Barth, a New York-based business and relationship coach. Many women hesitate to speak up for themselves or challenge behavior they see as unfair. 'Women have to give themselves a voice,' she says.
纽约的职场与人际关系咨询师路易斯•巴斯(Lois Barth)称，女性倾向于“内化”，这是她们压力形成的原因之一。许多女性有所顾虑，不愿坦言内心想法、为自己发声，不愿挑战那些在她们看来并不公平的行为。巴斯说：“女性亟须为自己发声。”Sarah Broadbent Manago, 41, was used to meeting deadlines as an information technology consultant. But she says she began to doubt herself when she felt undermined by a manager. She now works as a senior information-technology project manager for another company and says the experience left her believing women in particular 'feel stressed when they are challenged or devalued by their managers.'
41岁的莎拉•布罗德班特•玛纳戈(Sarah Broadbent Manago)曾是一名信息技术顾问，习惯于在截至日期前完成任务。但玛纳戈称，当她感觉有位经理在质疑她时，她开始怀疑自己。玛纳戈现在在另外一家公司工作，出任高级信息技术项目经理一职。她说，之前的经历让她觉得，当受到来自上司的质疑或被上司低估时，女性尤其会感到有压力。Women managers in male-dominated fields sometimes find the stress of juggling family responsibilities intolerable. Interior designer Kay Keaney, 40, rose fast at a California medical group, taking on responsibility for interior and facility planning and construction management for health-care facilities. With her 60-hour workweeks, plus early-morning and late-night meetings and a 1.5-hour commute each way, she seldom had time with her two small children. Yet she hesitated to complain.
在男性占主导地位的领域里，女性管理人员有时会觉得边工作还得边承担家庭责任的压力是难以忍受的。40岁的室内设计师凯•基尼(Kay Keaney)曾在加州一家医疗集团工作，她升职很快，负责室内与设施规划以及健康护理设备的施工管理。基尼每周工作60个小时，还要早出晚归参加晨会和深夜的会议，而上班花在路上的时间单程就需要一个半小时。这样一来，她很少有时间陪在两个幼子身边。即便如此，她还是不敢抱怨。'There was too much work to be done, and playing the Mommy card was bad form,' Ms. Keaney says.
基尼说：“手头有太多工作要做，但若以自己是两个孩子的妈妈为借口缓一缓又不合适。”Whether stuck in traffic on her way to a 6 p.m. pickup at day care, or torn between her children and urgent work emails, 'I just wanted to crawl out of my skin,' she says. 'I was overwhelmed.'
基尼有时在下午六点前必须赶到日托所去接孩子却被堵在了路上，有时必须在照顾孩子与处理紧急工作邮件中做出选择，她说：“那时我都要抓狂了，我已不堪重负。”Ms. Keaney had feelings of panic, headaches and a racing heart. It was a wake-up call, she says, when her 2-year-old son Stanley grabbed her BlackBerry from her while she was cooking dinner and hurled it angrily across the kitchen.
基尼还曾出现过恐慌、头痛和心跳加速的感觉。她说，有次她边做饭边在黑莓手机上通话，两岁的儿子斯坦利(Stanley)从她手里抢走了手机，生气地将它扔到了厨房的另一头，这件事让她幡然醒悟。The Keaneys moved from San Jose to Media, Pa., where Ms. Keaney now works as a consumer-experience specialist for a homeopathic products company. She is home with her children after school, she has shed 20 pounds, and her kids are much happier, Ms. Keaney says. Her stress is near zero, she says. High-paying jobs seem to require 'selling your soul,' she says. 'We decided the rat race wasn't really worth it.'
基尼一家后来从圣何塞(San Jose)搬到了宾夕法尼亚州的米堤亚(Media)。她现在在当地的一家顺势治疗产品公司从事消费者体验专员的工作。基尼说，孩子们放学以后，她就在家陪着他们。如今她已瘦身20磅，孩子们也快乐多了。她说她现在几乎是零压力。她说，高薪工作似乎都要求你“出卖自己的灵魂，我们认为，这种激烈无情的竞争不值得我们搭上灵魂”。Work has invaded every hour of the day, including time once reserved for personal care. Experts say we can't even count on vacations to help us decompress.
工作已经侵占了每一天当中的每一个小时，包括那些为个体关怀而预留出的时间。专家说，我们甚至不能指望通过度假来帮助自己减压。A survey released last week by the consulting firm Accenture found 75% of respondents work frequently or occasionally during paid time off. The most common activity was checking email -- 71% reported doing this -- but 30% said they participated in conference calls, and 44% said they use these nominal days off to catch up on work. 'The running joke is that you can take time off, but when you come back, you pay the price for it,' said Nellie Borrero, Accenture's managing director of global inclusion and diversity.
埃森哲咨询公司(Accenture)最近发布的一份调查显示，75%的被访者经常或偶尔在带薪休假期间工作。最常做的事情就是查看电子邮件──71%的人自述有这种行为，另有30%的人称，他们会参加电话会议，44%的人称他们会利用这些名义上的假期赶完工作任务。埃森哲全球包容性与多元化部门主管内尔•波瑞罗(Nellie Borrero)说：“坊间流传着这样一个笑话：你当然能休假，但当你回来工作的时候，你得为此付出代价。”