最佳工作时长探秘

In an uncertain job market, fortunate people with steady paying gigs often think twice before shutting down for the day. But is there any benefit to responding to those additional emails or hanging around the office for that extra hour? Is there a weekly hour sweet spot?

当前，就业市场充满了不确定因素。因此，那些拥有稳定报酬的幸运儿们在收工之前通常都会三思而行。但是，再多回复几封电子邮件，或者在办公室无所事事地多呆一个小时，到底有没有好处呢？每周的工作时长是否有一个最佳上限呢？

It's a tricky question. One hour per week is too little to do a job well, and 168 -- the total number of hours in a week -- isn't right either. Such a sleep-deprived person would be non-functional (not to mention smelly from a lack of showering).

这个问题非常棘手。每周工作1小时，肯定不可能做好工作；每周工作168个小时——整整一周全天24小时工作——也并不合适。因为一个睡眠不足的人不可能正常工作（更不用说长时间不洗澡还会产生难闻的异味）。

The answer must be somewhere in the middle; a point of diminishing returns where previous hours boost productivity by a large margin, and additional work hours wouldn't help much. But what amount of hours could that be?

答案肯定是介于两者之间的收益递减点，在这个节点之前的工作时间可以大幅提高生产效率，但之后的额外工作时间却并没太大好处。问题是，到底多少个小时最合适呢？

In a competitive economy where people still value their family and leisure time, figuring out the answer could give businesses a strategic advantage, so it's no surprise that plenty of people have conflicting opinions on the matter.

在竞争激烈的经济体中，人们依然重视家人和自己的休闲时间，找到这个问题的答案将使企业拥有战略性的优势。所以，在这个问题上，很多人的观点相互冲突也就不足为奇了。

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg tells graduates in his usual commencement address that "it never hurts to be the first one in in the morning -- and the last one to leave."

美国纽约市市长迈克尔•布隆伯格曾经在一次例行的毕业典礼演讲中告诫毕业生们：“第一个到公司，最后一个离开，这样做绝对没坏处。”

In last year's bestselling book Rework, 37 Signals co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson complain about people who "try to fix problems by throwing sheer hours at them.... This results in inelegant solutions." Workaholics "aren't heroes," they write. "They don't save the day, they just use it up. The real hero is already home because she figured out a faster way to get things done."

在去年的一本畅销书《重来》（Rework）中，37信号公司（37 Signals）联合创始人贾森•弗莱德与戴维•海涅迈尔•汉森抱怨，有些人“指望靠单纯投入时间来解决问题……结果却拿不出什么好办法。”他们在书中写道：“工作狂并不是英雄。他们不是在节约时间，而是在耗时间。真正的英雄已经回到家中，因为她已经找到了更快捷的方法去完成工作。