爲什麼你身邊的職場牢騷特別多

Bankers, brokers and asset managers were complaining about their jobs this week. They told a New York-based consulting and headhunting firm that they did not like the pay, their prospects or their colleagues.

銀行家、經紀人和資產管理經理最近在抱怨他們的工作。這些人向一家總部位於紐約的諮詢和獵頭公司表示，他們對薪酬、發展前景或者同事不滿意。

There were too many rules these days and too many “greedy senior managers only interested in protecting their own privileges”, they said.

他們說，近來有太多的條條框框，還有太多“只關心維護自身特權的貪婪的高級經理”。

“A lot of people are unhappy and they’re looking for greener pastures,” said Options Group, which conducted the survey.

“有許多人不滿意，他們在尋找更好的去處，”進行此次調查的Options Group表示。

What struck me about the bankers’ moan was that I had recently read reports about how many British teachers and doctors were also so miserable that they were leaving their professions.

我對銀行家的牢騷感到驚訝，因爲我在最近還讀到一些報告說，有許多英國教師和醫生很不快樂並因此決定離職。

In other fields people were apparently doing the same. I searched a news database for articles that included the words “leaving the profession” and discovered that all these people were thinking of quitting: Californian accountants, South African gynaecologists, UK barristers, Australian women lawyers, Australian prison officers, Irish childcare workers, Atlanta school-bus drivers and Indian autorickshaw drivers.

其他行業的人們顯然也是一樣。我搜索了一個新聞數據庫，找出所有包含“離職”的文章，發現所有人都想着辭職：加利福尼亞州的會計師、南非的婦科醫生、英國的律師、澳大利亞的女律師、澳大利亞的獄警、愛爾蘭的保育員、亞特蘭大的校車司機以及印度的機動三輪車車伕。

Teachers were said to be resigning not just in the UK but in New Zealand and the US states of Idaho, Indiana, Minnesota, Florida and Georgia.

據說不僅是英國的教師要辭職，新西蘭以及美國的愛達荷州、印第安納州、明尼蘇達州、佛羅里達州和佐治亞州的教師也要辭職。

Why are so many so unhappy at work that they are ready to give up?

爲什麼有這麼多人對工作如此不滿意，以至於準備放棄？

Some of these articles are scare stories drummed up by unions or professional associations trying to fend off changes in pay and conditions.

這些文章有的是工會或行業協會爲了抵制薪酬和工作條件變動而鼓吹的聳人聽聞的故事。

Some are related to specific circumstances. TheAustralian female lawyers’ problem, seen in other countries too, is that firms cannot find ways to match the crippling hours with women’s family commitments.

還有一些文章則與特定情況有關。澳大利亞女律師遇到的問題是，企業沒有辦法讓女員工在長時間的工作以外兼顧家庭職責，其他國家也有這種情況。

The Indian rickshaw drivers, based in Kerala, were objecting to a rule requiring them to install meters to prevent them overcharging.

印度喀拉拉邦(Kerala)的三輪車車伕，反對的是一條要求他們安裝里程錶以防宰客的新規。

But most of the unhappiness was about overwork, stress and lack of respect. All the teachers had the same complaints: too much form-filling, intrusive monitoring and over-prescriptive curricula.

但牢騷大多與工作負擔過重、壓力大和缺乏尊重有關。所有的教師都抱怨同樣的事情：有太多表格要填、干預式監管，以及過於死板的課程。

Has work got worse? Are all these jobs so much more stressful than they used to be?

工作變得更糟糕了嗎？所有這些工作都比過去壓力大了？

Lawyers have always worked ridiculous hours. I remember as a student visiting a friend at home and finding her barrister father with his law books strewn over the kitchen table on a Saturday night.

律師們的工作時間一直都很不合理。我還記着上學的時候到一位朋友家中做客，發現她當律師的父親週六晚間還在餐桌旁工作，桌上散落着許多法律書籍。

“Don’t ever think of doing this job,” he told me. “In the beginning you have no work and you’re miserable. Then the work starts flooding in and, boy, are you miserable.”

“根本不要想着做這份工作，”他告訴我說，“開始你接不到工作，你很慘。然後工作開始像潮水一般涌來，孩子，那時你就真的慘了。”

Doctors have never worked manageable hours. In some respects, it was once worse. Doctors used to make home visits. In 1995 (when The Times reported that one-fifth of UK junior doctors were leaving the profession) the government promised to act when a young medic died after working an 86-hour week.

醫生們的工作時間也從來都不可控。從某些方面來說，過去比現在還要糟糕。醫生們過去還要進行家訪。1995年——當時《泰晤士報》(The Times)報道稱，英國有五分之一的初級醫生離職——一名年輕醫生在一週工作了86個小時後死亡，此後政府許諾採取行動。

What has changed is the regulatory intrusiveness. While the collecting of students’ achievements and patient survival rates may be necessary for teachers’ and doctors’ public accountability, it does undermine their professional autonomy. And autonomy and trust do make for happier workplaces.

真正有所改變的是監管式干預。儘管收集學生成績和病人存活率是教師和醫生的公共責任的必要組成部分，但這的確削弱了他們的職業自主性。而自主性和信任也確實有助於讓工作環境變得更加愉悅。

What can be done? I think we need to separate the bankers, lawyers, doctors and teachers from the prison officers, childcare workers, bus and rickshaw drivers. The first group tends to have had better educational opportunities and are usually more highly paid — in the case of bankers, lawyers and, often, doctors, very much more highly.

我們能做些什麼？我認爲我們有必要把銀行家、律師、醫生和老師同獄警、保育員、公交司機、三輪車車伕分開來看。前一組人往往有更好的教育機會，通常收入也更高——就銀行家、律師以及大多數醫生而言，他們的收入要高得多。

Even when the pay is not great, as in teaching, the non-financial rewards can be high. I have done some classroom teaching and worked as a volunteer in schools and I know how tiring it is: the standing, the speaking, the need to maintain concentration if you are not to lose the class.

即使是薪資不算太高的職業，比如教師，也可能有很高的非經濟性回報。我教過幾堂課，在學校裏當過志願者，知道那有多累：一直站着講課、爲了不走神而集中精力。

But being told by a student at the end of it all that she is going off to do something she had not previously thought she was capable of produces a feeling you do not get in many other jobs.

但是當課程結束後，有學生告訴你，她要去做一些之前從未想過自己能夠做到的事情，那種感覺是你從很多其他工作那裏得不到的。

Above all, those with professional skills and qualifications are more mobile and have retraining options that people in less-exalted fields do not.

最重要的是，那些擁有職業技能和資歷的人流動性更強，還可以選擇再培訓，而這是那些較低層次領域的工作者所不具備的。

If you really are that miserable at work, change jobs rather than complaining. Those unhappy bankers could try teaching. With all those people leaving the profession there must be plenty of vacancies.

如果你的工作真的讓你覺得自己很慘，那就別抱怨了，換工作吧。鬱悶的銀行家可以試試教書。那麼多人都離開這個行業，肯定會有很多職位空缺。