真正完美的工作會不會只是一種幻覺?

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.

英國卡迪夫社會科學(xué)學(xué)院教授阿蘭·菲爾斯泰德(Alan Felstead)進行的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，遠程工作的人對職業(yè)滿意度更強。他們對自己的工作更加熱心，對自己所在的組織也更加效忠。

“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.”

"人們往往持有這樣一種假設(shè)，認為在家工作的人逃避責(zé)任，拖拖拉拉。"菲爾斯泰德說，"但實際證據(jù)表明，這些人反而會更加努力地工作。例如，從自稱經(jīng)常加班的比例來看，他們就比普通職場人士高出15個百分點。而從努力程度來看，則要高出6個百分點。"

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?

但過程不會一帆風(fēng)順——這項研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，在家工作會加大人們停止工作的難度。無法清晰界定工作與家庭之間的界限，就可能導(dǎo)致加班工作。那么，如果在完全控制自己的生活之后，還要更早起床、更晚下班，甚至凌晨3點查看電子郵件，這種控制力還有什么用?

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.

布里斯托大學(xué)認知科學(xué)教授史蒂芬·萊萬多斯基(Stephen Lewandowsky)也心存疑慮：雖然讓人們可以自己控制工作與生活之間的平衡似乎能夠減少壓力，但卻未必能給他們帶來真正的幸福。

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，人們往往會把幸福等同于工作上的成功。"你開始越來越努力地工作，"他說，"直到你突然發(fā)現(xiàn)，如果不工作就會心懷愧疚。這時，工作與生活之間的平衡以及家庭責(zé)任都會受到?jīng)_擊。"

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.

在工作上給予人們更多的控制力未必意味著他們就能做好決策。只要問問那些直到半夜才做完報告，或者要在周末給客戶發(fā)郵件的人，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?

創(chuàng)造力的夢想又該如何實現(xiàn)呢?很多人都夢想著能創(chuàng)造偉大的藝術(shù)品——繪畫、雕塑、寫作，甚至希望把這變成自己的工作。這確實是對理想職業(yè)的定義。

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.

但如果你想從事創(chuàng)造性工作，那就面臨兩種選擇。要么為別人工作一整天，等到晚上再去搞創(chuàng)作，要么找到那些出錢讓你一直搞創(chuàng)作的人。作家、演員兼播客主播羅斯·薩瑟蘭(Ross Sutherland)就這樣做過。

“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.”

"我大約15歲的時候就看過《X一代》，這大概是最適合讀這本書的年齡。"他指的是道格拉斯·柯普蘭(Douglas Coupland)創(chuàng)作的小說，書中還杜撰了"McJob"一詞，專門指代收入和地位低下的工作，往往來自服務(wù)行業(yè)。"我肯定記得那個時候，比如，我要做一份工作來維持生計，但隨后還要憑借興趣追求內(nèi)心喜歡的工作，后者會給你帶來動力。"

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).

薩瑟蘭顯然也做過很多McJob，包括：在酒吧和文具倉庫里工作，擔(dān)任摔跤賽主持人，在監(jiān)獄里教創(chuàng)意寫作，教小學(xué)生學(xué)說唱音樂，幫助賭場發(fā)送郵件，從而鼓勵人們花掉退休金(他認為這是他職業(yè)生涯的低谷)。

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

但他并沒有對早期的職業(yè)路徑感到絕望，而是認為這是創(chuàng)作靈感不可或缺的因素。

“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，人們早期的工作往往最為重要，因為這是他們步入社會、尋找自己真正的位置、實現(xiàn)自己的人生價值并爭得大家認可的突破。有多少偉大的說唱歌手第一張專輯令人驚嘆，第二張專輯就完全跟巡回演唱會和成功有關(guān)了，這就說明他快速地得到了滿足、開始變得平庸。"

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?

很多人會終其一生追求夢想的工作。但真正完美的工作會不會只是一種幻覺?