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还是那句话，工作时间长并不等同于做了很多事。效率，或许是更重要的因素。超长的工作时间不仅是效率低下，很可能让你错误率上升，而之后不得不再次返工。
测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：
rallying cry战斗口号
hard-won来之不易的；难得的
fatigue疲劳，疲乏[fə'tiːg]
jeopardise使…受危险['dʒepədaiz]
breadwinner养家糊口的人['bredwɪnə]
阅读马上开始，建议您计算一下阅读整篇文章所用的时间，对照下方的参考值就可以评估出您的英文阅读水平。
In the 19th century the slogan“eight hours’labour,eight hours’recreation,eight hours’rest”became the rallying cry of unions and social justice reformers on both sides of the Atlantic.
More than a century later,that hard-won victory is under threat. In many cases it has already been overturned.
“The 40-hour week is long gone,”says Karyn Twaronite,global diversity and inclusiveness officer at Ernst & Young. Its study of nearly 10,000 full-time managers in eight countries found that working hours have increased sharply since the financial crisis hit in 2007-8.
“It’s not just a US phenomenon,”says Ms Twaronite.“Many other countries are tipping the scales. Since the financial crisis,working more than 40 hours has become the‘new normal.’”
About half of managers work more than 40 hours,the study found. A third say they are working an additional five or more hours a week.
But the extra hours do not necessarily translate into higher productivity. According to a study by Stanford University,productivity declines sharply after 50 hours,and plummets to almost nothing after 55 hours,so much so that the extra 15 hours is of little value.
John Pencavel,the study author,says this could be because“employees at work for a long time may experience fatigue or stress that not only reduces [their] productivity,but also increases the probability of errors,accidents and sickness that impose costs on the employer.”
Technology is partly to blame for the rise in working hours,combined with the increasingly insecure job market. Although smartphones and remote work software have brought flexibility,too often the need to be“always in touch”is piled on top of — rather than during — the traditional eight-hour day,according to EY’s Ms Twaronite.
“People are tethered to technology,”she says.“They can’t just go home and switch off. You can be finished for the day but it will be morning in China and you will be expected to respond. Count all those extra minutes online and the hours add up very quickly,”she adds.
Sarah Moore,professor of psychology at the University of Puget Sound,who has studied the decline in working conditions in the US,says that workloads have grown because businesses have downsized so that employees now have to do the work that used to be done by two or more co-workers.
“In addition,especially since the 2008 economic downturn,many workers have reported to us that they are grateful for a job and are unwilling,for example,by turning down overtime hours,to jeopardise their employment.”
Nicola Smith,head of economics at the UK’s Trades Union Congress,says the move away from the 40-hour week is part of a long-term shift driven by seven-day-a-week opening for shops,the decline of unions and increasing numbers of women in the workplace.
“It now takes two earners to keep a household going,not just one. We’ve moved away from the traditional breadwinner model,”she says.
The TUC has coined the phrase“Burnout Britain”to describe the long-hours working culture. Its study of Office for National Statistics data found that the number of people working more than 48 hours per week had risen by 15 per cent since 2010 to 3,417,000.
Ben Willmott,head of public policy at Britain’s Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development,says the shift away from the 40 hour week is“gradual but the trend is definitely in train”.
Even though technology has the power to unshackle workers from their desks,the CIPD says there is an increase in“presenteeism”— the need to be seen in the office. It found that 30 per cent of employers have seen an increase in people coming in to work while they are sick and 40 per cent a rise in mental health problems in the past 12 months.
“Although the job market has picked up,the outlook is still pretty uncertain,which is one reason why some people are reluctant to take time off sick even when they are ill.”says Mr Wilmott.
“The overall net effect is that many employees find themselves working more hours simply because it is possible and the workplace culture expects it,”says Ms Moore.
请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：
A.since 19th century
B.since 20th century
C.since the First World War
D.since the financial crisis
答案 (1)
A.15
B.35
C.50
D.55
答案 (2)
A.policy
B.life stress
C.technology
D.globalization
答案 (3)
A.the inefficient working culture
B.the long-hours working culture
C.the errors after long-hours working
D.the standard 40-hour week
答案 (4)
(1) 答案：D.since the financial crisis假设：不只是在美国，自金融危机之后，一周工作40个小时成为了“新常态”。
(2) 答案：C.50解释：根据这份报告，在工作50小时之后工作效率锐减，工作55个小时后几乎没有生产力了。
(3) 答案：C.technology解释：工作时长的拉长除了对市场的不安全感，也要归咎于科技。尽管智能手机和软件增加了工作的灵活性，但也让人不得不在8小时以外“随时保持联系”，无形中延长了工作时间。
(4) 答案：B.the long-hours working culture解释：英国工会大会提出“筋疲力尽的英国”(Burnout Britain)这个词来形容长时间工作的文化。