研究：休完假後工作表現提高82%

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.據《新共和》雜誌網站報道，每年這個時候，許多歐洲人都在期盼着他們長達一個月的八月長假。然而，美國的上班族早已感受到了高溫下那種襯衫領勒着脖子的那種窒息感了，即使如此，我們還得繼續工作。此時，凱迪拉克的廣告在家中的電視上不停地播放，超級碗的比賽還在繼續，歐洲人在休息，而美國人依然在工作。凱迪拉克也許會爲美國人的努力工作感到驕傲，而不屑歐洲人的生活方式，但是不停地工作會對我們造成傷害，而不會有益，甚至可能會讓我們的行爲失控。

歐洲人不只是夏季的時候比美國人的休息時間長，而是全年都是。美國人的一些工作是可以自願選擇參加與否的，但有些工作是公司強加的。美國是唯一一個不向公民提供帶薪休假的發達國家。歐洲國家確保公民每年有至少20天的帶薪假期，有些甚至高達30天，絕大多數發達國家會保證上班族至少有6個帶薪假期。而在美國，將近四分之一的人沒有帶薪休假。

而對美國的上班族來說，用其他理由來請假也是十分困難的，如果他們自己或是家人生病了，並不能保證他們可以帶薪休假一天，至少將近40%的人不行。22個發達國家保證帶薪病假。在美國，如果一對夫妻收養一個孩子或者是家裏有孩子出生，他們只有12周的無薪假期，這還只是說他們有可能會有12周的無薪假期，事實上有40%的人是沒有的，這不像其他國家會保證帶薪休假。

在16個不能確保在一週七天的工作後，人們可以有時間休息的國家中，美國是其中的一個。一個週末中，我們至多能享受一下星期五晚上的歡樂時光，這與美國的國家政策是相悖的，而且這還是無償的加班。

然而，不僅僅是政策使我們加班，同時還有文化的影響。專業人士和經理一週會花72個小時在智能手機上查看工作郵箱。這已經是一個不會停滯的世界，尤其是對專業人士來說。

但是所有老闆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的一項調查顯示有四分之三的美國職員不會用光他們所有的假期。

一般人只用了一般的假期，15%的人根本就沒有使用這些假期。另一個研究表明，我們每年有三個假期沒有使用。在Glassdoor的調查中，有60%的人在度假期間仍在工作，因爲他們中的大多數人都覺得他們並沒有真正結束工作。

與此同時，我們工作更加努力，工作時間也越來越長。每週40個小時的工作時間規定已經成爲過去。94%的專業人士的每週工作時間在50個小時以上，將近一半的人每週工作時間在65個小時以上。在過去40年裏，美國職工的工作時間已經減少了112個小時，但我們仍遠遠落後於其他國家：在同一時期，法國減少了491個小時，荷蘭減少了425個小時，加拿大減少了215個小時。愛爾蘭和荷蘭的職員工作時間也減少了。我們還提高了生產效率，在固定的工作時間裏完成更多的任務。從2000年至2012年，這十年間，美國的生產效率提高了將近25%。

過度工作影響了我們的睡眠。在五個發達國家中，其他四個國家的職員睡得都比我們多。而且多年以來，這一情況還在不斷惡化。1942年，有超過80%的美國人每天的睡眠時間是8小時，甚至更多。而今天，40%的人每天的睡眠時間是6個小時，甚至更少。睡眠不足讓我們工作質量下降。每天的睡眠時間在7小時以下的人會更難集中精神工作。

也許更努力工作和工作時間更長會產生更好的結果，可以刺激經濟，爲每個人創造財富。

但這是不可能的。事實上，休息一段時間能提高工作效率。Ernst & Young的一項研究顯示，十個小時的假期時間會讓員工提高8%的年終績效評估，還能降低週轉。

美國航空航天局的科學家們發現，那些休假回來的員工會提高82%的工作表現，假期越長，表現越明顯。

另一方面，工作時間過長也會產生不良影響。最開始的時候，每週工作60個小時會有一個小小的生產效率的暴漲，但3、4個星期之後生產效率就開始衰退。其他的研究也表明，在經過最初的一個生產效率的暴漲之後，生產效率就開始衰退了。

但這一切到底是爲了什麼呢？美國人努力工作卻看不到工作的成果。儘管生產效率提高了，但是工人、白領和藍領的工資在這十年以來卻沒有太多的增長。從1976年至2007年，生產效率提高了47%，而工資卻只提高了1%。職工們又被凱迪拉克稱爲“瘋狂而勤勞的信徒”，他們爲了那剩下的99%而努力工作。