Do you have a 'breaking point' for your juggle-a point where long work hours send you over the edge into work-family conflict?
忙里忙外的生活中是否会出现极限点，也就是漫长的工作时间让你走到了工作和家庭出现冲突的边缘？
Based on new research on 22,436 IBM employees in 75 countries, many people do, and that breaking point varies dramatically based on whether employees are free to work from home part of the time, or not.
根据新近一项对国际商业机器公司(IBM)在75个国家的22,436名员工进行的研究，很多人有这个问题；根据员工是否可以有部分时间在家办公，各人的极限点差异很大。
In a startlingfinding, researchers discovered telecommuters on flextime schedules can cram in 19 more hours of work a week, compared with people who work entirely in the office, before they begin to report work-family conflict. The study was co-authored by E. Jeffrey Hill, a professor in the School of Family Life at Brigham Young University and a long-time researcher on work-family issues.
研究人员得出了惊人的发现。他们发现，相比完全在办公室中工作的人，在工作和家庭出现冲突之前，实行弹性工作制的在家办公者每周可以多挤出19个小时工作。研究的主持者之一是杨百翰大学(Brigham Young University)家庭生活学院教授、工作家庭问题资深研究人士希尔(E. Jeffrey Hill)。
Those who did all their work in the office began to complain of work-family conflict after 38 hours of work. However, those who were able to extend their workday from home by telecommuting, rather than putting in longer hours at the office, could log 57 total hours before starting to feel the strain, counting both hours at the office and at home, Dr. Hill found. The hourly tallies are based on the point at which 25% of each of the two groups of employees-the office-bound workers and the telecommuters on flextime-reported work-family conflict. The study is set for publication in this month's issue of the Journal of Family Psychology.
全部工作都在办公室中完成的人在工作了38个小时后开始抱怨工作与家庭出现冲突。不过希尔发现，那些通过在家办公延长了工作时间、而不是在办公室花更长时间的人，在开始感到压力之前可以工作57个小时（把在办公室和在家工作的时间都计算在内）。时间的计算是根据两组员工──在办公室工作和实行弹性工作制、在家办公室的人──中各有25%表示工作与家庭出现冲突的时间。研究结果将发表在本月的《家庭心理学期刊》(Journal of Family Psychology)上。
This basic pattern rings true to me. Since I began telecommuting years ago, I have found I could happily log longer work weeks than when I was confined to the newsroom. The size of the 19-hour gap in this study, however-about two additional workdays a week-is surprising.
这个基本模式在我看来是真的。自多年前开始在家办公以来，我发现自己比关在编辑部里可以快乐地工作更长时间。不过，研究中显示的19个小时差距──相当于每周多两天──确实让人吃惊。
Readers, do you have a 'breaking point'? What's the maximum number of hours each week you can work without feeling that you are giving up too much family time? What are the signs that you've reached your breaking point? And how big a difference does the freedom to telecommute on a flexibleschedule make in your ability to work long hours without experiencing work-family conflict?
读者们，你有没有极限点？你每周最多可以工作多少个小时，然后才会感觉自己牺牲了太多的家庭时间？你到极限点的征兆是什么？实行弹性工作制、在家办公对你长时间工作、而工作和家庭不会出现冲突的能力有多大的影响？
Sue Shellenbarger
- research [ri´sə:tʃ]
n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中英语单词) - conflict [´kɔnflikt, kən´flikt] n.&vi.战斗；抵触 (初中英语单词)
- complain [kəm´plein] vi.抱怨，叫屈；控诉 (初中英语单词)
- journal [´dʒə:nəl] n.日记；日报；杂志 (初中英语单词)
- additional [ə´diʃənəl] a.附加的，额外的 (初中英语单词)
- ability [ə´biliti] n.(办事)能力；才干 (初中英语单词)
- startling [´stɑ:tliŋ] a.惊人的 (高中英语单词)
- finding [´faindiŋ] n.发现物；判断；结果 (高中英语单词)
- strain [strein] vt.拉紧 vi.拖 n.张力 (高中英语单词)
- publication [,pʌbli´keiʃən] n.发表；公布；发行 (高中英语单词)
- maximum [´mæksiməm] n.极点 a.最大的 (高中英语单词)
- schedule [´ʃedju:l] n.目录；清单；一览表 (高中英语单词)
- flexible [´fleksəbəl] a.灵活的，柔韧的 (英语四级单词)
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