Turns out a good night's rest is good for business.
原来,夜晚的良好睡眠对企业有利。
One-third of American workers aren't sleeping enough to function at peak levels, and that chronic exhaustion is costing billions of dollars in lost productivity, according to researchers from Harvard Medical School.
哈佛医学院(Harvard Medical School)的科研人员表示,三分之一的美国劳动者由于睡眠不足不能在工作时达到最佳状态,劳动者的长期疲惫还给生产力带来了巨大的损失。
Managers at a growing number of concerns, among them Procter & Gamble Co., PG +0.01%and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., GS +1.04%are waking up to the problem, investing in programs from sleep-hygiene courses to melatonin-regulating lighting to help employees improve their slumber.
越来越多企业──其中包括宝洁公司(Procter & Gamble Co.)和高盛集团(Goldman Sachs Group Inc.)──的管理者开始逐渐意识到了这个问题。为了帮助员工提高睡眠质量,这些企业花钱投资了从睡眠卫生课程到褪黑素调节灯具等一系列项目。
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 40.6 million American workers, or 30% of the civilian workforce, don't get enough rest. And the Harvard scientists estimated in 2011 that sleep deprivation costs U.S. companies $63.2 billion in lost productivity per year, mainly because of 'presenteeism,' people showing up for work but operating at subpar levels. One example, from a separate team at Singapore Management University: Workers waste an extra 8.4 minutes online岸checking email, refreshing the TMZ.com home page, and so on岸for every hour of interrupted sleep the previous night.
美国疾病控制与预防中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)估计,约有4,060万美国劳动者──即全美就业人数的30%──没有得到充分的休息。哈佛医学院的科学家们在2011年曾预计,睡眠剥夺每年给美国企业带来的生产力损失达632亿美元,其中的主要原因是“出勤主义”,即劳动者出现在工作岗位上但工作效率低下。新加坡管理大学(Singapore Management University)的一个科研团队发现:劳动者前一个晚上被打扰的每一个小时的睡眠会导致他们第二天多浪费8.4分钟上网,比如查邮件、刷新八卦网站等。
Managers struggle to motivate exhausted workers. During busy holiday periods at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek resort in Avon, Colo., long hours sometimes lead to short fuses among staff. 'You have to try to figure out who's feeling frustrated and help them cut loose to get some rest,' said Scott Gubrud, director of sales and marketing at the hotel, which last week began a series of better-sleep initiatives for both employees and guests.
为激励疲惫不堪的员工,管理人员使出了浑身解数。在位于科罗拉多州埃文(Avon)的比佛溪柏悦度假村(Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort),度假旺季的长时间工作有时会令员工之间产生摩擦。该度假村销售和市场主管古布鲁德(Scott Gubrud)称,你必须要设法找出情绪沮丧的员工,并帮他们放下活儿去休息一会儿。本月,该度假村针对员工和客人发起了一系列“好眠”倡议。
'If we treated machinery like we treat the human body, there would be breakdowns all the time,' said James Maas, a former Cornell University psychologist and author of 'Sleep for Success.'
前康奈尔大学(Cornell University)心理学家、《有睡眠才会成功》(Sleep for Success)一书的作者马斯(James Maas)表示,如果用对待身体的方式来对待机器,机器随时都会崩溃。
Companies have been slow to grasp the effects of sleep deprivation on productivity, but it is now a hot topic even in hard-driving industries, such as finance, where pulling all-nighters is often viewed as crucial to getting ahead.
企业在领会睡眠剥夺对生产力的影响上向来迟钝,但是现在这已然成为了热门话题,即使在金融业等压力繁重的行业也是如此。在这些行业,熬夜常被视为成功的关键因素。
Mr. Maas, who says he coined the phrase 'power nap' 36 years ago, gave a talk about sleep hygiene at Goldman Sachs in 2011 that was so oversubscribed it had to be broadcast via conference call to accommodate the 1,000 or so people who wanted to attend. He spoke last year at hedge-fund firm D.E. Shaw & Co., which has nap pods sprinkled around its offices.
马斯2011年曾在高盛举办过一场关于睡眠卫生的讲座,想要报名参加讲座的员工多到高盛不得不通过电话会议的方式对讲座进行广播,才能满足大约1,000名员工的需求。马斯称,他在36年前就创造了“能量小盹”这个词。去年,他在对冲基金公司德劭集团(D.E.Shaw & Co.)也举办了一次讲座,现在该公司的办公室内摆满了睡眠舱。
Yet perceptions linger that sleep is for sissies and loafers, and neither Goldman nor Shaw would comment directly about why they're addressing employees' sleep habits. A 2012 University of Southern California study of young investment bankers suggests that punishing hours, and resulting sleep deprivation, contributed to physical and emotional ailments within four years on the job.
然而,有关睡觉是娘娘腔和懒汉们专利的看法仍然挥之不去,而且无论是高盛还是德劭都不愿意就关注雇员睡眠习惯的原因直接置评。南加利福利亚大学(University of Southern California) 2012年一项针对青年投资银行家的研究表明,加班以及由此导致的睡眠剥夺,对最近四年工作期间内出现的身体及情绪疾病负有责任。
'People in investment banking have been my main clients for the last few years because they're so exhausted and under so much pressure,' said Mr. Maas, adding that bankers usually don't want to hear about how to get more sleep. Instead, they want tips for performing well on five or six hours' rest.
马斯称,在过去的几年里,投资银行从业人员一直是我的主要客户,因为他们疲惫不堪,并且承受着巨大的压力。他补充道,银行家们通常不愿意听取有关如何增加睡眠的建议,他们更想要的是只睡五、六个小时就能生龙活虎的高招。
The risks of fatigue are especially acute in professions like health care and manufacturing, which involve overnight shifts and where a single careless error can put lives in danger.
疲劳的风险在医疗和制造等行业中尤为严重。这些行业涉及夜班,稍有疏忽就会导致生命危险。
At Aurora Health Care, the largest hospital system in Wisconsin, more than 2,600 employees in 2012 took a six-week online course for insomnia sufferers after managers surmised that sleep deprivation was likely a problem among its workforce. The course, one of several health-coaching sessions offered at Aurora and developed by Johnson & Johnson's JNJ -0.74%Wellness & Prevention unit, requires participants to keep a sleep diary, and then makes recommendations based on individual sleep patterns.
2012年,有超过2,600名奥罗拉医疗保健系统(Aurora Health Care)的员工学习了为期六周的为失眠患者设计的网上课程,该机构的管理人士认为睡眠剥夺可能是全体员工的普遍问题。奥罗拉医疗保健系统是威斯康辛州最大的医疗体系。这项课程由强生公司(Johnson & Johnson's)旗下的保健与预防部门开发,是奥罗拉提供的健康培训项目之一。该课程要求学员记睡眠日记,并会根据个人的睡眠模式给出建议方案。
Barb Stollenwork, age 53 and a wellness program coordinator at Aurora, kicked her nightly Tylenol PM habit after finishing the program at the end of 2011. For years, she said, she woke at 4 a.m., then lay in bed worrying about how she'd function that day. By changing her behavior岸for instance, going to bed later岸she began sleeping until her alarm rang at 5:30 a.m.
斯托伦沃克(Barb Stollenwork)是奥罗拉的一名健康项目协调员,现年53岁。在2011年底结束了失眠治疗项目的学习后,她戒掉了每晚吃泰诺安(Tylenol PM)的习惯。她说,多年以来,她总是在凌晨四点醒来,然后就躺在那儿发愁这一天怎样才能保持状态。通过调整自身习惯,比如晚点儿上床,她又能一直睡到五点半闹钟响了。
Based on follow-up surveys that asked about both sleep and work habits, Aurora sees an average of $672 in productivity savings per participant in the insomnia module, said Dr. David Smith, an Aurora vice president.
奥罗拉副总裁史密斯(David Smith)博士称,基于对睡眠和工作习惯的跟踪调查,奥罗拉发现参加失眠治疗课程的学员平均每人节省了672美元的生产力。
Procter & Gamble is talking with sleep expert Nancy Rothstein about creating a multiweek pilot program for two of its plants, one in Belleville, Ontario, that makes Always feminine-hygiene products, and the other in Lima, Ohio, that makes liquid laundry detergents. Paul DeLuca, North American learning and development manager, said he hopes to have both courses running by June, starting with a group of 15 to 20 workers in Lima and up to 300 in Belleville.
宝洁公司正与睡眠专家罗斯坦(Nancy Rothstein)就在旗下两家工厂开设为期数周的试点项目进行沟通。其中一家工厂位于加拿大安大略省贝尔维尔(Belleville),生产的是Always牌女性卫生用品;另一家工厂位于美国俄亥俄州利马(Lima),生产的是洗衣液。宝洁北美培训及发展经理德卢卡(Paul Deluca)称,他希望两家工厂都能在6月前开课,利马工厂初期参与课程的有15至20名工人,贝尔维尔工厂则有多达300名。
The plants operate day and night, so many employees work unconventional hours, a known risk for poor sleep and overall bad health. If the program helps workers get better rest, with resulting gains in productivity and concentration, Mr. DeLuca will argue for a broader rollout of the initiative.
这些工厂日夜开工,所以很多工人需要在非常规时段工作,众所周知,这有引发低质睡眠和整体健康状况恶化的风险。如果这一课程能帮助工人休息得更好,并能提高生产力和注意力,德卢卡将力争扩大试点的范围。
P&G brought Ms. Rothstein to its headquarters in Cincinnati last year to give a 50-minute presentation emphasizing, among other things, the importance of shutting off screen devices an hour before bed because the blue light emitted by the screens interferes with production of the sleep hormone melatonin.
去年,宝洁邀请诺斯坦到其位于辛辛那提的总部做了一个五十分钟的报告。在诸多注意事项中,报告着重强调了睡前一小时关闭屏幕设备的重要性,因为屏幕发出的蓝光会干扰睡眠荷尔蒙褪黑素的分泌。
That's no easy order in the age of smartphones, laptops and late-night conference calls with the Beijing or London office. 'The line between work and what's outside of work is graying,' Mr. DeLuca said.
在这个充满了智能手机、笔记本电脑和连线北京或伦敦办公室的深夜电话会议的时代,执行这个建议实属不易。德卢卡说,工作内外的界限变得越来越模糊。
At the more extreme end of the intervention scale, some are calling upon Litebook Company Ltd., a Canadian maker of lights that help regulate the body's melatonin levels. The company, which supplies devices to the Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators to help athletes cope with jet lag and game schedules, said it is getting calls from corporations interested in making the lights available at workstations and desks.
还有一种更为激进的睡眠干预方式:有些人求助于加拿大灯具制造商Litebook Company Ltd.的产品,该公司生产的灯具有助于调节人体的褪黑素水平。Litebook为费城飞人队(Phiadelphia Flyers)和渥太华参议员队(Ottawa Senators)供应灯具,以帮助运动员们应对飞行时差和赛程安排所带来的问题。该公司表示,他们不断地接到从其他公司打来的电话,表示有兴趣在工作间和办公桌上安装这种灯具。
上一篇: 职场英语:30岁前必须改掉的理财习惯
下一篇: 盘点外企职场英语口语常用句型