提高工作滿意度？這些方法其實無效
If only you had a bigger salary, a nicer boss, a more flexible you’d love your job! But if you’re convinced that a few minor tweaks would turn your ho-hum nine-to-five into your dream job, you very well might be mistaken. Here, we show you five common things we all believe would make our professional lives infinitely better, but that simply may not deliver the boost we expect.
要是你有更高的工資、更好的老闆、更靈活的工作時間，那麼你會喜歡自己的工作！但是，如果你相信一些小調整會把沉悶的朝九晚五變成夢想工作的話，你很可能想錯了。在這裏，我們將給您看大家都相信會讓工作境況變好，但可能達不到預期的五個常見事情。
1. The So-Called Happiness Boost: A Shorter Workweek
1. 據說能增加幸福感的事：更短的工作時間
Why you think it will make you happier: Who doesn’t think that the solution to workplace happiness is working fewer hours? Spending less time at work means having time to devote to the activities that really make you happy. You can hang out more with your family and friends, participate in your hobbies, get more exercise and blessed sleep—you believe.
爲什麼你認爲它讓你更快樂：有誰不認爲工作時間減少能帶來職場幸福感呢？在工作上花更少的時間意味着有更多的時間參加真正讓你快樂的活動。你可以與家人和朋友出去玩、做喜歡的事情、有更多時間運動和睡覺——所以你相信。
Why it doesn’t always work: It turns out people aren’t very good at using their newly freed-up time on happiness-boosting activities. A recent study reported on an experiment that occurred when South Korea reduced its workweek from 44 hours per week to 40 hours a week. And employees could only work five days instead of six. The result: Worker hours decreased by about 10 percent, but self-reported job satisfaction and life satisfaction didn’t budge. Translation: A happier worker isn’t always the one who works fewer hours in a week.
爲什麼它不總是有效：原來人們不擅長把多出來的時間用在令人開心的活動上。最近的研究報道了發生在韓國的實驗，他們把工作時間從每週44小時減少到每週40小時，而且員工一週只要工作五天而不是6天。結果是：工時下降了約10%，但員工認爲自己的工作滿意度和生活滿意度沒有改變。也就是說：更快樂的員工並不總是那些一週工作時間更少的。
2. The So-Called Happiness Boost: More Vacation Time
2. 據說能增加幸福感的事：更多的休假時間
Why you think it will make you happier: You already cherish your time off, so having more of it seems like just what the doctor ordered. Maybe that way you could replace a few desk-bound days with the ski trip or yoga retreat you can never find time to take. In fact, maybe an extra week would put an end to “vacation math”—trying to figure out how you’re going to squeeze in all the trips you want to take with the days you have left—altogether!
爲什麼你認爲它讓你更快樂：你珍惜不工作的光陰，所以有更多時間似乎正合你心意。也許這樣你可以用埋頭苦幹的日子去一直沒時間計劃的滑雪旅行或瑜伽。事實上，也許一個星期就能通通結束“假期計算”——弄清楚你如何在剩下的日子裏擠時間去旅行！
Why it doesn’t always work: A recent article compared the number of vacation days in the U.S. with those in similar countries and found that many of our European neighbors, from Austria to Switzerland, had at least 20 legally mandated paid vacation days—while the U.S. has zero. However, here’s the rub: People who live in countries with more vacation days aren’t necessarily happier. 73% percent of Americans report job satisfaction, whereas only 57% of Italians, who receive 20 paid vacation days and 11 paid holidays per year, are happy with their jobs.
爲什麼它不總是有效：最近一篇文章把美國的假期天數與和它情況類似的國家比較，發現從奧地利到瑞士的很多歐洲鄰國都至少有20天的法定帶薪年假——而美國沒有。然而問題在於：有更多法定假期的人不一定更快樂。73%的美國人表示對工作滿意，而意大利人每年有20天的帶薪年假和11天帶薪假期，卻只有57%的人滿意他們的工作。3. The So-Called Happiness Boost: A Promotion or Raise
3. 據說能增加幸福感的事：晉升或加薪
Why you think it will make you happier: Gaining a better title will earn you more respect at work, right? And we all perpetually covet a boost in pay to afford whatever luxuries are currently on our Just Out of Reach list, be it a gorgeous winter coat or newly renovated kitchen.
爲什麼你認爲它讓你更快樂：獲得更好的職位頭銜將幫你在工作中贏得更多的尊重，對吧？而且我們都渴望漲工資去買任何差一點就能買到的東西，不管是華麗的冬衣還是新裝修的廚房。
Why it doesn’t always work: Our brain adapts really quickly in regard to how we perceive that new figure on our paycheck. We set goals because we believe we will be happy when we achieve them. But as soon as we do, our brain changes the goalposts of the success.
爲什麼它不總是有效：我們的大腦對工資單上的新數字適應得很快。我們設定目標是因爲相信當實現它們時我們會很開心。但是一旦我們完成了，大腦會改變成功的目標。
4. The So-Called Happiness Boost: A New Job
4. 據說能增加幸福感的事：一份新工作
Why you think it will make you happier: You swear that you dream of telling your boss to “take this job and shove it.” Then, or so the fantasy goes, you’d never have to deal with the horrible commute again. You’d never waste another minute in another pointless meeting. You’d get a shiny new job and it would be everything that your old job wasn’t, with the “new is always better” rule in full effect.
爲什麼你認爲它讓你更快樂：你發誓你做夢都想告訴老闆“接手自己的工作。”然後就像你幻想的那樣，你再也不用面對可怕的通勤。你不再浪費時間參加毫無意義的會議。你會得到一份嶄新的工作，它和舊工作完全不同，“新的總是更好的”充分發揮了效果。
Why it doesn’t always work: Maybe you are over your job. Maybe it is time to move on. But there are also plenty of times that it’s not necessarily the gig itself, but your attitude toward it that’s holding you back. Before you throw in the towel, try this happiness-boosting trick: You can train your brains to be grateful and appreciative of the environment that you’re in, and to find ways to improve it.
爲什麼它不總是有效：也許你的能力超出了工作要求。也許是時候向前走了。但也有很多時候不一定是工作本身，而是你的態度在阻礙你。你放棄之前，試試這種小把戲：你可以讓大腦對工作環境心存感激和珍惜，並想辦法改善它。
5. The So-Called Happiness Boost: “More Meaningful” Work
5. 據說能增加幸福感的事：“更有意義”的工作
Why you think it will make you happier: As human beings, we want to feel a sense of meaning and purpose in our lives, that’s why people fantasize about ditching their corporate jobs to volunteer overseas or teach in a struggling classroom. We dream of curing cancer or climbing mountains, and think, without that, our work lacks import.
爲什麼你認爲它讓你更快樂：作爲人類，我們想讓生命有意義和目的，這就是爲什麼人們幻想拋棄工作去當跨國志願者或支教。我們夢想治癒癌症或者攀登高峯，而且覺得如果沒有這些，我們的工作缺乏意義。
Why it doesn’t always work: When Dan Ariely, a leader in the field of behavioral economics, conducted a study to explore what makes people find meaning in their work, the outcome truly surprised him. In one experiment, he asked subjects to build sculptures out of Legos for $3 a piece. Then, he gradually lowered the price he would pay them for making the same creations. Surprisingly, his participants kept on toiling as the price they were paid got steadily lower.
爲什麼它不總是有效：當行爲經濟學領域的權威丹·艾瑞里，進行了一項探究什麼東西能使人們找到工作意義的研究時，結果真的令他驚訝不已。在一項實驗中，他要求實驗者搭樂高積木，每個3美元。然後他漸漸降低願意爲同樣物品支付的價格。令人驚訝的是，當得到的報酬穩步降低時，他的參與者繼續辛苦的做着。
