解讀BBC︳彈性工作制真的好嗎？

最新 06-07

畢業後的第一份工作就在新東方教雅思，前面幾年都是有課就上，沒課休息，所以這麼久以來基本沒有體驗過朝九晚五的感覺。我這樣的工作模式確實有些好處：每天上課時間不固定，所以不用趕高峰期上下班；因為總是工作日休息，可以錯峰逛街看電影...有朋友會感嘆：真羨慕你工作時間自由！然而，真的自由嗎？

事實是，我常常覺得自己除了睡覺都在工作，往往下班回家還要花時間處理工作，偶爾的休息也很難心安理得地荒廢一天，偶爾還會有莫名的愧疚感，我以為是我病了，直到看到BBC的這篇文章。

標題里的curse並非翻譯成詛咒，而是「禍害」（something causes harm or evil）的意思；副標題里deviate from表示「背離，離開」

工作時間靈活的害處

脫離朝九晚五的工作並不一定是種解脫

——這常常會成為持續的壓力來源

文章的一開始就提出了和我一樣的疑問：

You』ve found the perfect job — and you』ve got the flexibility to leave work early and finish up your emails from home later in the evening. It』s standard procedure — so why in the world do you feel so guilty about it?

你已經找到了最完美的工作——可以提早離開公司，晚上回家在家裡遠程處理郵件。這是彈性工作制的標準流程——那為什麼你會覺得如此有愧疚感呢？

Some researchers have found that many people who work flexible hours are in a permanent state of guilt: They feel they need to work longer hours and do more to prove they』repulling their weight— even when there』s no evidence they need to do so.

有一些研究者標明很多工作時間自由的人會一直處於愧疚的狀態中：他們認為自己得工作更長的時間，更加的努力，來證明他們是在盡職盡責——儘管沒有任何證據表明他們應該這麼做。

pull one"s weight 盡自己的本分

"On average, employees with working-timeautonomywork the longestovertimehours, ,」 says Heejung Chung, a senior sociology and social policy lecturer at the University of Kent in the UK. In fact, Chung"s research found that people with flexible work-time arrangementsput inalmost four hours moreovertimecompared with people who work standard, fixed hours.

Heejung Chung是英國肯特大學社會學和社會政策學的高級講師，他說道：「通常，可以自主支配自己工作時間的員工加班時間最長。」事實上，他的研究發現那些工作時間靈活的人比那些工作時間固定的工作者要多花幾乎4小時的加班時間。

autonomy 自主權

put in... 投入（時間）

overtime 加班時間

Some people may experience flexible guilt, and feel they have a responsibility to put in more hours, because workers being able to choose their own hours is seen by some employers as aprivilege. 「Theyfeel obliged to justify the legitimacy ofworking from home or in their own time, by showing they are equally or more productive,」 Moen says.

有些人可能會因為這樣的自由而感到愧疚，他們感覺自己有責任投入更多的時間，因為彈性工作時間在很多的僱主看來是對員工的優待。Moen談到：「他們覺得自己有責任通過表現他們和其他員工一樣，甚至更加的多產而讓遠程辦公這件事變得合理」。

privilege優待

feel obliged to... 有責任/義務去...

justify the legitimacy of... 證明...的合理性

Chung explains it a different way: 「In general, if you have more control over your working hours you tend to worry more when you are not at work – and this is especially the case for those workers with most control over when and where they work. This increase in tendency to worry seems to be highest in countries withhigh unemployment rates, less stablelabour marketconditions and if employees have a lack ofnegotiating power.」

Chung從另一個角度談到了這個問題：「總得來說，你對工作時間的自由支配度越大，越是容易在不工作的時候感到擔心——尤其是對於那些在時間和地點上都有極大的支配權的人來說。在高失業率，勞動力市場不穩定，員工沒有談判權的國家，這種擔心的傾向性的增長是最大的。」

unemployment rate 失業率

labour market 勞動力市場

negotiating power 談判權

Jennifer Tomlinson, professor of gender and employment relations at Leeds University Business School, believes this trend is cultural. In countries where it is acceptable to go home early, and part-time work is morenormalised, workersarelesslikely tofeel such pressure or guilt. People are more able totake up flexible work optionsandarelesslikely toexperience flexible guilt in countries where hourly pay rates are higher, the employment market is more stable and time in the office is less important than getting your work done.

Jennifer Tomlinson是利茲大學商學院性別與僱傭關係學的教授，她認為這樣的趨勢是具有文化性的。在那些人們可以提早下班回家且兼職工作較為普遍的國家，員工不太會感覺到壓力或者愧疚。有些國家的時薪較高，就業市場穩定，「完成工作」本身比在辦公室待著要更加重要，這些國家的工作者也會比較願意選擇從事工作時間靈活的工作，並且也不會感覺到愧疚。

nomarlized 常規化的

be (less) likely to (不太)可能

take up 從事，開始做（工作）

For some of us, any chance to control our work hours makes it easier tomanage work and family demands.For instance, in a family with two working parents, one parent might start work at 7:00 and be home in time for a child to come home from school, while the other might get to the office at 10am to manage the morning routine, arriving home later.

對於有些人來說，能夠自由支配工作時間可以讓我們更好地去處理工作和家庭的需求。舉例來說，雙職工的家庭，一個家長早上7點上班，這樣就可以在孩子放學前及時回家，而另一個家長可以早上照顧孩子的起居後，10點再去上班，這樣晚點回家也沒關係。

manage work and family demands 處理（平衡）工作和家庭需求

However, for many workers, the fear of being out of a job entirely will keep them in the office and fearful of asking for flexible work.「There are a few success stories of peopleoptingforthesea-changein their mid 40"s but they are the exception rather than the rule,」 says one senior manager at a large international bank in Sydney, who wished to remain anonymous. 「The reality is, most people in banking are trying to keep their jobs in a sector where themargins arebeingsqueezed.」

然而，對於很多工作者來說，對於完全失業的擔心讓他們只能老實待在辦公室，根本不敢要求彈性工作時間。悉尼的一位不願意透露姓名的大型國際銀行的高級經理說到：「雖然有些人在40多歲時應對工作的巨變時可以成功，但他們只是少數情況。事實是，大部分銀行業的人哪怕在整個行業越賺越少的情況下，也在努力地保住這份工作。」

opt for 選擇

sea-change 大轉變，巨變

margins are squeezed 利潤被壓縮

Only about 10% of Australian workerswork remotelyon a regular basis, quite low by international standards, says Rea Cooper, associate dean at the University of Sydney』s Business School.But her research of flexible workers across a range of white-collar occupations and sectors indicates that those doing it are highly productive. 「Many report working much harder in non-standard employment, than co-workers in standard-hours jobs,」 Cooper says. It』sa feelingthat a lot of flexible workers canrelate to.

悉尼大學商學院的副院長Rea Cooper提到，只有10%左右的澳大利亞的工作者經常性地遠程辦公，這比國際標準要底得多。不夠，她的面向各行各業工作時間靈活的白領的研究表明，這些員工是非常高產的。她說道：「很多人都提到選擇這種非傳統的工作方式的員工比那些工作時間固定的同事要更加努力。」這會引起很多工作時間靈活的工作者的共鳴。

work remotely 遠程辦公

on a regular basis 經常性地，常規性地

relate to （feeling）有共鳴

So, the next time you』re feeling guilty about leaving work early after an early start, remember – you』re not alone.

還不是因為窮。