Holidays Are Good for Both Workers and Their Companies

休假对员工和公司都有好处

 

The swimming trunks have been dug out of the chest of drawers. The beach shoes (still caked with last year’s sand) have been retrieved from the shed. Like tens of millions of others, Bartleby is about to go on his annual holiday.

从抽屉里翻出泳裤，从棚屋里找出沙滩鞋（鞋底还沾着去年的沙子）。和几千万人一样，本专栏作者要去休年假啦。

A vacation gives workers a chance to recharge their mental batteries. For Bartleby, this means reading books that do not have titles like “Beyond Performance 2.0” (sadly, a genuine example of a management tome). Heading to a new location allows employees to clear their thoughts. After all, there is more to life than spreadsheets and sales forecasts. To misquote Timothy Leary, the 1960s hippie guru, a holiday is time to “turn off and drop out”.

度假让人在工作之余有机会为大脑充充电。对本专栏作者来说，这意味着拿来看的书不再是《超越绩效2.0》（Beyond Performance 2.0）这类标题（抱歉啊，这可是一本经典管理学著作）。去一个全新的地方旅行可以让员工放空大脑。毕竟，生活除了数据表和销售预测还有其他东西。把上世纪60年代的嬉皮士大师蒂莫西·利里（Timothy Leary）的话改一改，假期就是“静心，出离”的时候。

It also means workers get more sleep by escaping the tyranny of the early-morning alarm. In addition, they no longer suffer the agonies of the daily commute: the cramped railway carriages or gridlocked roads. And best of all, there are no meetings to endure – no need to sit with a vaguely interested expression on your face while time seems to slow to a crawl. In short, holidays reduce stress. And in the long run, stress makes workers less likely to perform well.

度假还能让人躲过清晨残酷的闹铃声，获得更多睡眠。此外，人们还可避过每日通勤中那拥挤的车厢或拥堵的道路。最重要的是，不用再忍受会议的煎熬——无需在简直度秒如年的会议上摆出饶有兴趣的表情。简而言之，度假可以减压。而从长远看，压力会导致工作表现不佳。

That means going away for at least a week. An extended weekend break, favoured by many Americans, risks adding to the stress, as a high proportion of the vacation period is spent travelling to and from the desired destination. No sooner do you arrive than you have to think about packing for the trip back.

这就需要休至少一周的假。许多美国人喜欢过一个“大周末”，但这样反而可能增加压力，因为周末的很大一部分时间都花在了往返度假地的路上，感觉是刚到地方就得考虑收拾行李往回赶。

Although it does lead to congested traffic and crowded airports, there is something to be said for the European tradition of cramming everyone’s holidays into August. The predictability of the season means that companies can adjust their plans accordingly. Even those people who are in the office can enjoy an easier pace of life. Most of their customers and suppliers are on a break so there is not much that anyone can do.

虽然集中放假确实会导致道路和机场拥挤，但欧洲把假期都安排在8月的传统还是有好处的。固定的休假季让公司可以相应地调整工作安排。即使是还在上班的人也可以轻松一些。大多数客户和供应商都休息了，所以也没多少事可做。

 

For those on vacation, the occasional work-related thought might occur when walking quietly along the beach, or through a wood. Often such ideas will be all the more original for being dreamed up in a moment of detachment. Returning to 3,000 unread emails is also not an appealing prospect, so five minutes deleting the detritus while the rest of the family is in the shower seems like a reasonable compromise. Some favour an “out of office” message but such devices can easily generate automated replies that subsequently clog up the in-box.

对于那些去度假的人来说，在海滩或林间静静地散步时，脑海中偶尔会蹦出与工作有关的想法。由于是在超然的状态下想出来的，这样的想法通常更有新意。休完假后要处理三千封未读邮件可不是件有意思的事情，所以休假期间趁家人洗澡时花五分钟时间删除一些垃圾邮件似乎是个合理的妥协。有些人喜欢设置“不在公司”的自动回复邮件，但这样做很容易生成大量自动回复，堵塞收件箱。

The one thing that workers certainly do not need is contact from their managers. Answering the phone to a work-related call should be a complete no-no. Just occasionally, a genuine crisis might require the company to be in contact. In 2007 Bartleby was paddling in the Atlantic next to an analyst from a credit-rating agency receiving frantic messages on his BlackBerry about the collapse of the credit system. But most of the time, executives should really be able to rely on staff who remain in the office.

休假期间最不想发生的事就是被上司找。接听工作电话应该是完全不可接受的。只有在很少的情况下，出现真正的危机时可能才需要公司与员工联系。2007年，本专栏作者在大西洋划船的时候，旁边一家信用评级机构的分析师的黑莓手机响个不停，净是关于公司评级系统崩溃的信息。但大多数时候里，公司高管真的应该做到能依赖留在公司上班的员工来解决问题。

Indeed, just as employees need a break from the workplace, companies sometimes need a break from their employees. After a trading scandal at Société Générale, a French bank, in 2008, Britain’s then regulator, the Financial Services Authority, recommended that all traders take a two-week break at some point in the year. The aim was to ensure that any unusual dealing patterns would be discovered while the miscreant was away from their desk.

事实上，正如员工需要离开公司休假一段时间，公司有时也需要让员工离开一段时间。2008年法国兴业银行的交易丑闻发生后，英国当时的监管机构金融服务管理局（Financial Services Authority）建议所有交易员都在这一年里找时间休息两周。这是为了确保能在有问题的员工离开办公室期间发现任何不寻常的交易模式。

Senior managers can also benefit from seeing what happens when their juniors head to the beach. Does office morale improve as soon as a mid-level manager disappears? If so, this suggests that he or she is not running the department well. Does an underling impress when standing in for their boss? In that case, they may be overdue a promotion.

高层管理者也可以趁下级管理者去海边度假期间观察公司里的情况。是不是中层管理者一离开，办公室士气马上就提高了？如果是，就表明该主管对部门管理不当。在上司度假期间，代理其职的下属是否表现不俗？如果是，他可能早该升职了。

Some Americans are reluctant to take a long holiday for fear that their employer will find they can easily manage without them. None of that nonsense at The Economist. Ambitious young writers will be eager to fill the vacant space left by this column with insights into the business world. The business editor will be relieved of the need to remove some of this writer’s questionable puns [much appreciated, ed.].

有些美国人不愿意休长假，因为担心雇主会发现离开了他们公司照常转。在本刊可没有这样的荒唐事。雄心勃勃的年轻作者们将热切地用他们对商业世界的洞见填补本专栏留下的空白。商业版块的编辑也将不再需要费力删除本作者的某些未必合适的双关语（辛苦了，编辑）。

Work can be irritating but, as any unemployed person will tell you, it is better than the alternative. It gives purpose to people’s days and, on occasion, can even be fun. But not every day. Some days it is better to be reading a paperback. By a pool, in the sunshine. Enjoy.

工作有时很烦人，但任何一个失业人士都会告诉你，烦人总比没工作强。工作让人的生活有了目的，有时甚至还会带来乐趣，尽管不是天天都如此。最好一年中能躲几天清净，在游泳池边，读本书，晒晒太阳。好好享受吧。

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