經濟廣角:想快樂就自己當老闆

Plumbing For Joy? Be Your Own Boss
By economic yardsticks, Roger the Plumber should be feeling pretty low. Roger Peugeot, owner of the 14-employee Overland Park, Kan., plumbing company that bears his name, is part of a sector hit hard by shrunken credit and slumping sales. He has been forced to reduce staff and is battling new competition from other plumbers fleeing the construction industry.

So why is Mr. Peugeot so happy? He genuinely likes fixing plumbing messes, for one thing, and despite the worst recession he has seen, 'I'm still excited to get up and go to work every day,' he says. He relishes running into people at the local hardware store whom he has helped in the past. And in hard times, he says, his fate is in his own hands, rather than those of a manager. 'Even when things get tough, I'm still in control,' he says.

In the broadest, most-comprehensive survey yet of how occupation affects happiness, business owners outrank 10 other occupational groups in overall well-being, based on the landmark survey of 100,826 working adults set for release today. Defined as self-employed store or factory owners, plumbers and so on, business owners surpassed 10 other occupational groups on a composite measure of six criteria of contentment, including emotional and physical health, job satisfaction, healthy behavior, access to basic needs and self-reports of overall life quality.

This puts Roger the Plumber well ahead of movers and shakers typically regarded as the top of the heap in society -- professionals such as doctors or lawyers, who ranked second, and executives and managers in corporations or government, who came in third -- according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, a collaboration between Gallup and Healthways, a Franklin, Tenn., health-management concern. This is despite business owners ranking below those more-prestigious occupations in physical health and access to basic needs, such as health care.

The findings, psychologists say, reflect the importance of being free to choose the work you do and how you do it, the way you manage your time, and the way you respond to adversity. Regardless of occupational field, the survey suggests that seeking out enjoyable work and finding a way to do it on your own terms, with some control over both the process and the outcome, is likely for most people to fuel satisfaction and contentment.

'Despite the recession, it still pays to be your own boss,' says Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll. The survey, adds John Howard, director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 'reaffirms my view that the more control you have over your work, the happier you are.'

At the bottom of the heap, transportation and manufacturing workers scored lowest on well-being. These occupations tend to foster conditions Niosh has identified as contributors to unhealthy stress: lack of control or participation in decision-making, conflicting or unclear job expectations, and hectic tasks with little inherent meaning.

Management and executive jobs have gotten tougher, too, during the period the Gallup-Healthways data were gathered, the first eight months of this year. Beset by cost cuts and layoffs, corporate bosses at all levels now share more of these stress-inducing conditions.

Business owners stand in stark contrast. Even in tough times, 'you do your own thinking and no one can tell you you're wrong,' says Edwin Locke, an industrial psychologist and professor emeritus of leadership and motivation at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. 'You make your own decisions, and if you're wrong, reality gives you the feedback,' he says.

Another surprise from the survey: Farmers and other outdoor workers, from farmhands to forestry workers, scored No.1 among all groups in 'emotional health,' as measured mainly by the amount of smiling, laughter, enjoyment and happiness they report experiencing the previous day -- despite the fact that farmers ranked near the bottom in access to basic needs.

如果單看經濟指標，水管疏通公司Roger the Plumber的老闆羅傑•波杰特(Roger Peugeot)理應心情低落纔對。這家擁有14名僱員的企業位於堪薩斯州歐弗蘭帕克，它所處行業也因信貸緊縮、銷售下滑而受到了影響。波杰特不得不裁減僱員，並且和那些逃離建築領域、轉投水管疏通行業的新競爭對手爭奪生意。

那麼，爲什麼波杰特還總是樂呵呵的呢？首先，他是真的喜愛疏通清理水管這項工作；其次，按照他的話說，雖然眼下是他所經歷的最嚴重的經濟衰退，但“每天起牀上班還是讓我感到很興奮”。他喜歡在當地五金店碰到以前的客戶。他說，在困難時期，我的命運是掌握在自己、而不是哪個經理人手中的。他說，即便世道變得艱難了，我還能夠控制。

波杰特自己當老闆，他說“每天起牀上班還是讓我感到很興奮”。一項針對100,826名員工進行的大範圍調查顯示，在什麼職業的人幸福感最強的問題上，企業主的得分從整體上超過了其他十種職業。這裏所指的企業主包括自營商店或工廠的所有人以及水管工等等。從情感及身體健康狀況、工作滿意度、良好行爲習慣、對基本需求的實現程度以及自我彙報的整體生活質量這六個綜合方面衡量，企業主的幸福程度超過了其他十種職業。

這就使波杰特這樣的小業主在幸福感指數的排名上遠遠超過了那些在社會中倍受推崇的高端職業人羣，比如醫生、律師、政府或企業高管等。在由蓋洛普公司(Gallup Organization, Inc.)和田納西州健康管理公司Healthways共同編制的這個蓋洛普-Healthways幸福指數(Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index)中，企業主、律師和企業、政府領導分別排名前三，儘管企業主在身體健康以及對基本需求（如醫療護理）的實現程度這兩個分項指標上不如那些佔據了社會階梯高層的人。

心理學家指出，這些發現表明自由選擇工作以及工作方式、自由選擇時間管理方式以及自由選擇如何應對困境對人來說具有多麼重要的意義。這份調查顯示，對絕大多數人來說，不論從事何種職業，在對過程和結果均有所控制的情況下，找到喜歡的工作和自己喜歡的工作方法都能提高其滿意度和滿足感。

蓋洛普公司主任編輯弗蘭克•紐波特(Frank Newport)說，即便現在正在經歷經濟衰退，自己當老闆還是有好處的。美國國家職業安全衛生研究所(NIOSH)主任約翰•霍華德(John Howard)也表示，這再次證實了我一貫的觀點，即你對自己工作的控制感越強，你就越快樂。

在排名靠後的行業中，運輸業及製造業工人的幸福感指數排最末。在這些職業中充滿了NIOSH所定義的有害壓力：缺乏控制力或對決策的參與、矛盾或模糊的工作預期、工作任務重而又意義不大。

蓋洛普-Healthways調查所收集的數據表明，今年頭八個月裏，管理工作變得更具難度了。受困於成本削減及裁員的影響，各個階層的公司老闆們都更多地暴露於那些能帶來壓力的環境之中。

而企業主的情況則和他們完全相反。工業心理學家、馬利蘭大學史密斯商學院領導與激勵學名譽教授愛德溫•洛克(Edwin Locke)說，即便是在困難時期企業主也可以自己進行思考，而且沒有人跑過來說你做錯了；你能自主決策，如果你錯了，現實會給你反饋。

此次調查中另一個出人意料的地方是，農民和其他戶外工作者（包括僱農和林場工人）在情感健康的分項指標中排位最高，超過了所有人。該指標主要衡量一個人在之前一天中微笑、大笑、以及感到快樂和幸福的頻次，儘管事實上農民在基本需求的實現程度方面排名幾乎墊底。