全球性職場焦慮癥
First his fingers, forearms and toes tingled; then he was gripped by a mental paralysis. “I couldn’t think about how to make a decision,” says the banking executive in his mid-forties. “I completely froze. I felt my IQ had dropped 50 points.” The trigger for his anxiety, he says, was unrealistic work demands. “Not making decisions made it worse as I was then not performing.”
先是手指、前臂和腳趾感到刺痛;然后他的精神陷入了麻痹。“我無法思考如何做出決定，”這名四十五歲左右的銀行業(yè)高管表示，“我完全呆住了。我感覺我的智商下降了50點(diǎn)。”他表示，不切實(shí)際的工作要求引發(fā)了他的焦慮。“不做決定讓事情變得更糟，因?yàn)檫@樣我就沒有在產(chǎn)生績效。”
Yet this City worker , who prefers not to be named, tried to conceal his anxiety because he feared his employer would think he was not cut out for the job. The prevailing culture at his office was to keep your head down, work hard, admit no weakness. He wanted to be seen as efficient and resilient. People noticed that his work — rather than his mental health — was suffering. “Given that I have always been pretty much the ‘golden boy’, when my boss took me to task I imploded.”
然而，這位希望不具名的倫敦金融城(City of London)從業(yè)人士試圖隱瞞他的焦慮情緒，因?yàn)樗ε滤墓椭鲿J(rèn)為他不適合干這份工作。在他所在的辦公室里，盛行的文化是埋頭苦干，不承認(rèn)自己有任何弱點(diǎn)。他希望被視為一個高效和抗壓能力強(qiáng)的員工。人們注意到他的工作業(yè)績——而不是他的精神健康——變差了。“由于我?guī)缀跻恢笔?lsquo;金童’，所以當(dāng)我的老板責(zé)備我的時候，我爆發(fā)了。”
Plagued by a fear that he was a fraud he considered suicide. That was in 2014.
自己其實(shí)是個騙子的念頭一直困擾著他，這讓他在2014年考慮過自殺。
After receiving psychiatric help he is now back at work and has become an expert atspotting the signs of anxiety in others. “The characteristics that contribute to stress can also be the reason high achievers have reached their positions — people pleasing, perfectionism, the need to be strong and to be hyper vigilant to emerging threats,” he says.
在接受精神治療后，他現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)回到了工作崗位。他變得特別善于發(fā)現(xiàn)其他人出現(xiàn)焦慮情緒的跡象。“造成壓力的性格特征同時也可能是高成就者取得他們現(xiàn)在的地位的原因——取悅他人、完美主義、希望做強(qiáng)人、以及對威脅的出現(xiàn)高度警覺，”他說。
His case is a stark example of the anxiety and stress that employees experience, and employers are increasingly having to pay attention to. It is a global phenomenon, but in the UK alone the most recent report from the chief medical officer estimates that the number of sick days lost to “stress, depression and anxiety” increased by 24 per cent between 2009 and 2013. The statistics are alarming: one report from Rotman School of Management in Toronto, published this year shows that 41 per cent of employees from a range of industries reported high levels of anxiety .
他的經(jīng)歷鮮明地體現(xiàn)出員工感受到的焦慮和壓力，雇主越來越有必要對此加以關(guān)注。這是一個全球性現(xiàn)象，然而僅僅在英國，據(jù)政府首席醫(yī)務(wù)官最新的`報告估計，2009年到2013年間“壓力、抑郁和焦慮”導(dǎo)致的病假天數(shù)上升了24%。統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)令人驚恐：多倫多羅特曼管理學(xué)院(Rotman School of Management)今年發(fā)表的一份報告表明，在來自一系列行業(yè)的員工中，有41%的人稱自己焦慮水平很高。
The increase is often blamed on modern working life. The constant buzz of texts, emails and tweets mangles our brains and stalks our sleep; robots are in the ascendancy, threatening to steal our jobs. New technologies emerge from left-field to flatten established companies; work appears insecure, corporate ties loose. And expectations of professional life have changed. Work, once the activity we did for money and status, is now supposed to provide personal fulfilment. The upshot? We are afflicted with unease, fear and worry.
人們常常將這種壓力的增加歸咎于現(xiàn)代工作方式。短信、郵件和Twitter持續(xù)不斷的提示音把我們的大腦攪得一團(tuán)亂，甚至在我們睡覺的時候也如影隨形;機(jī)器逐漸占據(jù)優(yōu)勢地位，威脅著要偷走我們的工作。意想不到的新技術(shù)輕而易舉地?fù)魯±吓乒?工作似乎沒有保障，企業(yè)紐帶很松散。對職業(yè)生活的期望也改變了。以前我們工作是為了錢和地位，現(xiàn)在我們據(jù)說應(yīng)該通過工作實(shí)現(xiàn)自我價值。結(jié)果呢?不安、恐懼和憂慮困擾著我們。
“After a decade of disruption, cutbacks and lay-offs, anxiety among employees is running very high,” says Bill George, a senior fellow at Harvard Business School.
“經(jīng)過10年的擾亂、削減和裁員后，員工的焦慮已經(jīng)非常嚴(yán)重了，”哈佛商學(xué)院(Harvard Business School)高級研究員比爾吠治(Bill George)表示。
The diagnosis
診斷
Anxiety is typically described as a feeling of unease, worry or fear. When it becomes acute the effects can be debilitating. Some people are more vulnerable to it than others, at different periods in their lives. It is not something we can ever wholly eliminate and it can, at times, be helpful in improving our performance. But too much and it can be corrosive, on occasion leading to alcohol and drug abuse.
焦慮通常是指不安、擔(dān)憂或恐懼的感覺。當(dāng)焦慮變嚴(yán)重時，會使人萎靡。在人生的不同階段，有些人會比別人更容易被焦慮影響。我們不能完全消除焦慮，有時焦慮有助于提升我們的表現(xiàn)。但過度焦慮就會變得有害了，有時候會導(dǎo)致酗酒和吸毒。
Absenteeism is just one problem for employers. The loss of productivity — dubbed “presenteeism” — is another. This occurs when employees come to work but function below par because of ill health. Research suggests this trend predominantly affects white-collar workers and that the costs can be high. One report estimated that presenteeism, including all medical and mental health issues, shaved 2.7 per cent off Australia’s gross domestic product in 2010. A study in the Journal of Applied Psychology, published earlier this year, reported: “Anxiety interferes with people’s ability to process immediate events, resulting in lower performance.”
對于雇主來說，缺勤只是焦慮造成的問題之一。另一個問題是工作效率降低——又稱“假性出勤”。這是指雖然員工來上班了，但是由于健康狀況欠佳，工作效率低于一般水平。研究表明，受這種影響的主要是白領(lǐng)，其代價可能十分高昂。一份報告估計，2010年，包括所有身體和精神健康問題在內(nèi)，假性出勤使澳大利亞國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值(GDP)損失了2.7%�！稇�(yīng)用心理學(xué)期刊》(Journal of Applied Psychology)今年早些時候發(fā)表的一份論文稱：“焦慮干擾了人們處理即時事件的能力，從而導(dǎo)致表現(xiàn)低下。”
In response, companies are introducing programmes to help workers cope better with stress and anxiety. Even in hyper-competitive industries such as finance or technology, there is increased understanding that attending to their employees’mental wellbeing may be good for profits.
因此，一些公司引入了一些項目，幫助員工更好地應(yīng)對壓力與焦慮。甚至在金融和科技這樣競爭極為激烈的行業(yè)，也有越來越多的公司認(rèn)識到關(guān)注員工的心理健康可能有助于提高利潤。
The causes
起因
Michael Sinclair, a psychologist in the City of London, sees a “tremendous” number of bankers and lawyers with work-induced anxiety. “They work at a relentless pace,” he says. “The pressure is always on and there is a culture of incessant email communication.”
在倫敦金融城工作的心理學(xué)家邁克爾鬠克萊博士(Michael Sinclair)發(fā)現(xiàn)，因?yàn)楣ぷ鞲械浇箲]的銀行家和律師數(shù)目“巨大”。“他們無休無止地工作，”他說，“壓力如影隨形，而且有一種不間斷郵件溝通的文化。”
But he also believes there is a bigger problem for companies: such anxiety can be infectious. “A company’s fear of failure breeds the same fear among its employees creating a ‘company sickness’ and culture of anxiety,” says Dr Sinclair. “Ironically this backfires and impacts the bottom line.”
但他還相信，對企業(yè)來說還有一個更大的問題：這種焦慮會傳染。“一家公司對失敗的恐懼會造成員工產(chǎn)生同樣的恐懼，引起‘企業(yè)病’和焦慮的企業(yè)文化，”辛克萊博士說，“諷刺的是，這適得其反，反而影響了公司的利潤。”
Technology is a contributing factor, says Nigel Jones, a lawyer and co-founder of the City Mental Health Alliance, a non-profit organisation for London’s financial services workers. He believes the intensity has increased since he started work 30 years ago.
針對倫敦金融服務(wù)業(yè)員工成立的非營利性組織倫敦金融城心理健康聯(lián)盟(City Mental Health Alliance)的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人、律師奈杰爾瓊斯(Nigel Jones)表示，科技是一個促成焦慮的因素。他認(rèn)為，從他30年前參加工作開始，工作的強(qiáng)度就一直在增加。
“Clients want more in terms of speed, quality. There is more pressure at work and the risk of anxiety is higher,” he says, adding that 27 City employers have become members of the network within two years. “Expectations of a speedy response [to a client] have got higher but the expectations of the quality of work have not gone down.”
“客戶對速度和質(zhì)量的要求提高了。工作的壓力變得更大，出現(xiàn)焦慮情緒的風(fēng)險也就更高，”他說，并補(bǔ)充道兩年內(nèi)已有27家倫敦金融城的雇主加入了該聯(lián)盟，“(客戶)對于反饋速度的預(yù)期提高了，但對于工作質(zhì)量的預(yù)期卻沒有降低。”
Gianpiero Petriglieri, associate professor of organisational behaviour at Insead Business School, sees the rise of social media as triggering what has become known as “presentation anxiety”, making people feel vulnerable. We suffer from “being always on”, he says.
歐洲工商管理學(xué)院(Insead)組織行為學(xué)副教授詹皮埃羅簠靟里利埃里(Gianpiero Petriglieri)認(rèn)為社交媒體的崛起引發(fā)了所謂的“展示焦慮”，讓人們感到脆弱。他說，“總是在線”讓我們感到困擾。
Although unemployment in the UK is at a seven-year low, short-term contracts and overall job insecurity have risen for millions of people, from steelworkers to nurses and bankers.
雖然英國的失業(yè)率處于7年來的低點(diǎn)，但對從鋼鐵工人、護(hù)士到銀行家的數(shù)百萬計的人來說，短期合同和總體上的工作不安全感還是增加了。
Some argue that it is impossible to calculate the impact of changing technology and employment conditions on the rise in reported cases of anxiety.
有人認(rèn)為，無法推算出不斷變化的科技和就業(yè)條件對焦慮增加的影響。
“Trying to directly compare levels of anxiety between eras is a fool’s errand,” says Scott Stossel, author of My Age of Anxiety. “Modern poll data and statistics about rising and falling levels of tranquilliser [use] aside, there is no magical anxiety meter that can transcend the cultural particularities of place and time.”
“想要直接比較不同時代的焦慮水平只會徒勞無益，”《我的焦慮時代》(My Age of Anxiety)的作者斯科特施托塞爾(Scott Stossel)表示，“排除現(xiàn)代民意調(diào)查數(shù)據(jù)和有關(guān)鎮(zhèn)靜劑使用水平起伏的統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)，根本不存在一個能夠超越不同時空文化特點(diǎn)來衡量焦慮水平的神奇尺度標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。”
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