中年經(jīng)歷職場“動力減退”

The idea of burnout at work has been with us for decades. But recently, executive coaches and business psychologists have started talking about “brownout”, which is a sort of junior sibling. Staff affected by brownout become disengaged, demotivated and lose interest in their jobs.

職業(yè)倦怠這個概念已經(jīng)伴隨我們幾十年了。不過最近，主管培訓(xùn)師和商務(wù)心理學(xué)家們開始討論“動力減退”，這似乎是職業(yè)倦怠的初級階段。受“動力減退”影響的員工會變得工作不投入，沒有動力，對工作失去興趣。

As the name suggests, brownout is not as serious as burnout, but it is much more prevalent. Brownout can be fairly mild and is usually reversible, but in the long term can cause serious problems.

從名字可以看出來，“動力減退”沒有“倦怠”那么嚴(yán)重，但是，在員工中更加普遍。“動力減退”的癥狀表現(xiàn)相對溫和，而且通常是可逆的，但是從長期來看，可能會導(dǎo)致嚴(yán)重問題。

The more usual symptoms of brownout tend to be disengagement, discontent, and lethargy. You’ll turn up for work (and may even put in very long hours) but your heart isn’t in it. You’re not interested in new ideas, you’re not proactive and you’re less communicative and sociable. You’ll use any excuse to not show up. A cold becomes flu.

“動力減退”常見的癥狀有：工作不投入、不滿意，沒有精神。你會照常在單位出現(xiàn)(而且可能下班了也不走)但你的心已經(jīng)不在那里了。你對新的想法沒有興趣，你不會積極主動，不愿意交流和社交。你會找任何借口請假。普通的感冒變成了流感。

The causes of brownout are very much linked with the new world of work and changes that have taken place. One of the main factors behind it is very large amounts of rather dull work. Technology has played a role too, by allowing work to eat into our home lives. With smartphones, we are often never truly not at work. Our evenings, weekends and holidays are no longer our own and so we never switch off and recharge.

引發(fā)“動力減退”的原因可能跟工作環(huán)境的變化有關(guān)。其中一個主要因素是大量枯燥的工作。另一個因素是科技的發(fā)展，使得工作蠶食了我們的家庭生活。有了智能手機，我們似乎永遠在工作。我們的夜晚、周末和假期都不再屬于我們自己，我們永遠都不會關(guān)機，所以也不會有時間充電。