企业如何为员工减压最有效？

Some 70% of Americans know the feeling: Some time during the workday, the stomach tightens. The heart races. Palms grow damp, breathing becomes shallow.

差不多70%的美国人都有过这种体会：在工作日，有时会感觉胃部发胀、心跳加速、手掌潮湿、呼吸也变得很浅。

Job pressures are the No. 2 cause of stress after financial worries, a recent survey shows. And while most of us struggle to manage the stress of a demanding boss or a mounting workload on our own, more employers are trying to help. Efforts include earnest-sounding techniques like 'mindful communication' and 'cognitive behavioral training' as well as office designs featuring leafy, plant-covered walls.

最近的一项调查显示，工作压力是精神紧张的第二大诱因，仅次于财务上的担忧。我们大多数人都在竭力应对着严苛上司或是繁重工作给自己带来的紧张情绪，与此同时，越来越多的企业也在为此采取行动。一些企业采取了一些听起来煞有介事的方法，比如“正念沟通以及“认知行为训练，或是在设计办公室时用树叶或绿植装饰 壁。

Such stress-busting attempts may have some rolling their eyes, but recent research shows they can actually change the way the brain and body react to stressors. Researchers are using brain imaging and hormone-sampling technology to measure the techniques' physiological impact.

有些人可能会怀疑这样的减压方法是否有效，但是最近的研究显示，这些方法真的能够改变大脑和人体对紧张性刺激的反应。研究人员正在用脑成像和荷尔蒙取样技术衡量这些方法在心理上产生的影响。

One of the most effective stress-beaters, research shows, is a training program called 'mindfulness-based stress reduction,' developed years ago at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, but adapted in recent years for the office. Numerous studies link training in the technique to increased activity in regions of the brain involved in self-control and the ability to pay attention and process sensory input.

研究显示，最有效的消除紧张感的方法之一，是一种叫做“正念减压的训练，这种方法是由麻省州立大学医学院(University of Massachusetts Medical School)多年之前开发出来的，但是最近几年针对上班族的减压需要进行了修改。大量研究认为，这种方法中所包含的训练可以使大脑中与自我控制以及集中注意力、处理感觉输入能力有关的区域更加活跃。

That is, assuming harried employees can find the time for it. The program, which typically involves eight, two-hour weekly sessions, plus a final full-day retreat, teaches meditation techniques like breathing and bringing thoughts back when they wander, says Diana Kamila, a senior teacher at the university's Center for Mindfulness. Participants also learn stretching, yoga and 'body scans' -- noticing their responses to stress, softening their muscles through breathing and tuning in to the feelings and sensations of the moment.

不过，受到紧张压力折磨的上班族必须首先有接受项目培训的时间。这所大学的正念中心(Center for Mindfulness)的高级教师卡米拉(Diana Kamila)说，这种方法通常需要每周训练一次，每次两个小时，共八次，此外还要加上最后的长达一整天的静修，教给人冥想的技巧，比如深呼吸，以及如何在走神的时候让思绪回来。参与者还学习拉伸运动、瑜伽和自我审视──即注意到自身对压力的反应，以及通过呼吸使肌肉放松，使思想专注于当下的感觉和感受。

Employees learn to practice periodic 'check-ins' while working, walking, driving or eating. And they are encouraged to blend the techniques into their daily routines, at their desks, in meetings or during talks with colleagues.

员工们在项目中学习在工作、走路、开车或是吃饭时有规律地进行练习。培训师鼓励他们把这些方法融入生活中的例行公事，比如伏案工作、开会或是与同事交谈的时候。

At Dow Chemical Co. in Midland, Mich., researchers recently tested a seven-week version of the program, delivered via a one-hour weekly Web conference, workbook and online exercises, for 90 managers, administrators and manufacturing-plant workers. Employees were coached on accepting daily hassles without judgment. If stuck in traffic, for example, they were encouraged to appreciate the sights, sounds and smells around them without stressing out, says Kristin Levanovich, a partner in the Petoskey, Mich., corporate-health research firm, The Aikens Approach, that developed the program.

在美国密歇根州米德兰(Midland)的陶氏化学公司(Dow Chemical Co.)，研究人员最近测试了一个持续七周的正念减压项目，90名经理、管理人员和制造厂的工人通过每周一小时的网络会议、练习册和在线练习完成了这个项目。这些企业员工接受的训练要求他们接受日常生活中发生的不愉快的事情，不去指责。开发了这个项目的美国密歇根州佩托斯基(Petoskey)企业健康研究公司The Aikens Approach的合伙人李万诺维奇(Kristin Levanovich)说，比如，如果遇上堵车，那么项目参与者最好是欣赏周围的景色、声音或是气味，而不是感到紧张。

To reduce the stress of boss interactions, they were also taught 'mindful communication' -- visualizing themselves in the meeting while focusing on breathing, paying attention to what is being said, and asking questions rather than blaming, criticizing or becoming defensive, says Kim Aikens, a physician and lead researcher on the project. Researchers are still measuring the effects on stress and health. Dow Chemical's chief health officer, Catherine Baase, says preliminary results are promising.

内科医生、项目主要研究人员艾肯斯(Kim Aikens)说，为了减少与上司打交道时产生的紧张，这些员工还学习了正念沟通──想象自己在会议中，同时专注于呼吸，注意聆听发言人的讲话内容，并且提出问题，而不是指责、批评或是变得具有防御性。研究人员仍然在衡量这种方法对压力和健康的影响。陶氏化学的首席健康长巴阿斯(Catherine Baase)说，初步的结果让人乐观。

Older stress-management programs like teaching employees to close their eyes and count backward from 10, or holding 'self-guided group therapy' sessions to vent 'were naive and didn't work very well,' says Kenneth R. Pelletier, director of the Corporate Health Improvement Program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

亚利桑那大学医学院(University of Arizona College of Medicine)企业员工健康改善项目的主任佩里提埃(Kenneth R. Pelletier)说，更早的压力管理项目是通过让训练者闭上眼睛，倒着从10数数，或是举行自助团体疗法的活动来减轻压力，这些方法很幼稚，效果不是很好。

Another emerging tactic involves training employees in cognitive-behavioral skills, or the ability to screen out negative thoughts and focus on hopeful or positive aspects. In a 2010 study in Brain Imaging and Behavior, swimmers watched videos of themselves failing in Olympic races. Then, they were coached to regard the failure as a learning opportunity. Brain imaging of participants before and after the coaching showed a decrease in activity in regions linked to sadness, and greater activity in brain areas that help regulate emotion.

另一种新近开始被采用的策略是训练员工进行有意识的行为，也就是过滤掉消极想法、并专注于充满希望或是积极方面的能力。在一项于2010年进行的关于脑成像和行为的研究中，游泳运动员观看了自己在奥运比赛中失利的视频。然后，他们被训练把失败看作是一个学习的机会。参与者在接受训练之前和之后的脑成像显示，接受训练后，大脑中与悲伤有关的区域的活动减弱，帮助管理情绪的区域活动增强。

At railroad company Union Pacific Corp. in Omaha, Neb., employees recently tried telephone coaching and online training in cognitive behavioral and other skills to try to reduce stress, in a test run by Healthways, a Franklin, Tenn., provider of health and wellness programs. In the six-month test, 680 engineers, conductors, mechanics and trainmen were encouraged to identify a compelling life purpose, such as being a good parent or staying healthy into retirement, and ask themselves throughout the day whether their actions were helping or defeating that purpose, says Jim Purvis, a Healthways vice president.

最近在田纳西州富兰克林市(Franklin)的健康和福利项目供应商Healthways进行的一项测试中，内布拉斯加州奥马哈市(Omaha)铁路公司联合太平洋公司(Union Pacific Corp.)的员工们尝试了有关认知行为和其他技能的以减压为目的的电话指导和在线培训。Healthways的副总裁珀维斯(Jim Purvis)说，在六个月的测试中，我们鼓励680名工程师、列车长、技工和乘务员找到一个有吸引力的人生目标，比如成为一个好父（母）亲，或是在退休之前保持健康，并要求他们每天问自己，他们的行为是否有助于实现这个目标。

Coaches asked employees how they talked and thought about themselves, exploring whether negativity and self-criticism were holding them back. Some workers carried an index card through the workday, making a mark every time they noticed themselves saying or thinking something negative, Mr. Purvis says. They also did exercises to replace negative thoughts with hopeful ones.

教练询问了这些公司员工谈论和看待自己的方式，以便探究他们是否被消极思想和自我批评困扰。珀维斯说，一些员工在工作日随身携带一张指数卡，每次注意到自己有消极的语言或是想法时，就做个标记。他们还练习用让人感到充满希望的想法代替消极的想法。

The experiment led to a reduction in stress. Participants who said yes to the question, 'Did you experience happiness yesterday?' rose to 94% after the program, from 79% previously, Mr. Purvis says.

这次试验确实达到了减轻压力的效果。珀维斯说，项目结束后，对于“你昨天感到快乐了吗这一问题，给出肯定回答的参与者比例增加到了94%，之前的比例是79%。

And at some offices, the house plant takes on a bigger role. The thinking: research shows that exposure to nature can help lower blood pressure, pulse rates and levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

在一些办公场所，室内植物扮演起了比以往更重要的角色，因为有研究显示，置身于自然环境中可以有助于降低血压、脉搏率和应激激素皮质醇的水平。

At Vertical Screen, a Warminster, Pa., maker of employment-screening programs, natural light streams through the building's three glass walls; 900 plants adorn a 'living wall,' a kind of indoor vertical garden; and an outdoor employee cafe sits at the edge of a five-acre meadow of wildflowers. Senior account manager Jacqueline Smith says she could almost feel her blood pressure rising one day recently. Going to the cafe for a few minutes to watch butterflies in the meadow, she says, 'really does change your mind. It alleviates all that pressure.'

在位于宾夕法尼亚州沃明斯特(Warminster)的应聘者筛查程序公司Vertical Screen，阳光穿过办公楼的三面玻璃 倾泻而入，900株植物为另一面 赋予了生命，使公司拥有了一个室内垂直花园，此外，该公司还在一个五英亩的草坪边上设立了一个户外的员工餐厅。高级客户经理史密斯(Jacqueline Smith)说，最近有一天，她几乎已经感觉到自己血压在升高了。而去餐厅坐上几分钟，看看草坪上的蝴蝶，真的会改变自己的精神状态，减轻所有的压力。

Of course, there are limits. 'These techniques aren't going to make up for having a jerk for a boss,' says Patti Johnson, chief executive of PeopleResults, a Dallas human-resource consulting company. 'When you're under major stress doing three projects at a time, the meadow and meditation aren't going to help with that.'

达拉斯人力资源咨询公司PeopleResults的首席执行长约翰逊(Patti Johnson)说，当然，这么做的效果也有局限。当你处在同时做三个项目的压力之下时，草坪和冥想一点用也没有。

And some companies, without easy access to the world of wildflowers and butterflies, are simulating it. At American Specialty Health in San Diego, employees can retreat to a 'relaxation room' decorated with large tropical-beach photos, a trickling fountain and herbal aromatherapy scents. Greg Lane, a manager there, says he uses the room about 10 times a month to meditate. He says his shoulders drop, his breathing deepens and tension drops away.

一些没有办法很容易地接触到大量野花和蝴蝶的公司也在尽力地仿造出类似的环境。在圣迭戈的American Specialty Health公司，员工们可以到一个放松室进行休息，室内挂有巨大的热带沙滩的照片，配有一个流水潺潺的喷泉，并散发着植物的芳香。该公司的经理雷恩(Greg Lane)说，他每月会来这个房间做10次冥想。他说，做完冥想后，他的肩膀放松了、呼吸变深沉了，紧张感也消失了。