十大最幸福的工作

In my article on the Ten Most Hated Jobs, there were some surprises. There are also some surprises in the ten happiest jobs, as reported a General Social Survey by the National Organization for Research at the University of Chicago. (I am indebted to Lew Perelman in drawing my attention to the Christian Science Monitor article.)

我所撰寫的那篇有關(guān)“十大最令人厭惡的工作”的文章驚異不斷。在“十大最幸福的工作”中也有很多驚奇之處，由芝加哥大學(xué)國(guó)家研究組織進(jìn)行的綜合社會(huì)調(diào)查對(duì)此進(jìn)行了報(bào)道。（我非常感激盧·佩爾曼引起了我對(duì)《基督教科學(xué)箴言報(bào)》中的這篇文章的關(guān)注。）

1.  Clergy:  The least worldly are reported to be the happiest of all

1. 神職人員：最不世俗的工作據(jù)說(shuō)是最幸福的工作

2. Firefighters: Eighty percent of firefighters are “very satisfied” with their jobs, which involve helping people.

2. 消防員：80%的消防員對(duì)自己的工作“非常滿意”，這份工作是在給予人們幫助。

3. Physical therapists: Social interaction and helping people apparently make this job one of the happiest.

3. 理療師：社會(huì)互動(dòng)和幫助他人明顯使得這份工作是最幸福的工作之一。

4. Authors: For most authors, the pay is ridiculously low or non-existent, but the autonomy of writing down the contents of your own mind apparently leads to happiness.

4. 作家：對(duì)于大多數(shù)作家來(lái)說(shuō)，他們的報(bào)酬少得可憐，或者根本沒(méi)有，但是寫下自己心中所想的自由顯然會(huì)帶來(lái)幸福。

5.  Special education teachers: If you don’t care about money, a job as special education teacher might be a happy profession. The annual salary averages just under $50,000.

5. 特殊教育老師：如果你不在乎金錢，特殊教育老師這個(gè)工作或許是個(gè)幸福的職業(yè)。這份工作每年的平均薪水僅在5萬(wàn)美元以下。

6. Teachers: Teachers in general report being happy with their jobs, despite the current issues with education funding and classroom conditions. The profession continues to attract young idealists, although fifty percent of new teachers are gone within five years.

6. 教師：盡管當(dāng)前存在著教育經(jīng)費(fèi)和教室條件的問(wèn)題，一般來(lái)說(shuō)教師們還是感到自己的工作很幸福的。這一職業(yè)繼續(xù)吸引著年輕的理想主義者，盡管在五年以內(nèi)有50%的新教師已經(jīng)轉(zhuǎn)行了。

7. Artists: Sculptors and painters report high job satisfaction, despite the great difficulty in making a living from it.

7. 藝術(shù)家：雕刻家和畫家據(jù)稱是工作滿意度最高的職業(yè)，盡管在這一職業(yè)上謀生有著相當(dāng)大的困難。

8. Psychologists: Psychologists may or may not be able to solve other people’s problems, but it seems that they have managed to solve their own.

8. 心理學(xué)家：心理學(xué)家可能會(huì)也可能不會(huì)解決其他人的問(wèn)題，但是似乎他們能夠解決自己的問(wèn)題。

9. Financial services sales agents: Sixty-five percent of financial services sales agents are reported to be happy with their jobs. That could be because some of them are clearing more than $90,000 dollars a year on average for a 40-hour work week in a comfortable office environment.

9. 金融理財(cái)銷售代理：據(jù)報(bào)道80%的金融理財(cái)銷售代理認(rèn)為自己的工作很幸福。這大概是因?yàn)樗麄冎械囊恍┤嗽谑娣霓k公環(huán)境中工作，每周工作40個(gè)小時(shí)，平均每年掙9萬(wàn)多美元。

10. Operating engineers: Playing with giant toys like bulldozers, front-end loaders, backhoes, scrapers, motor graders, shovels, derricks, large pumps, and air compressors can be fun.  With more jobs for operating engineers than qualified applicants, operating engineers report being happy.

10. 施工工程師：擺弄那些大型玩具可能是很有趣的，比如推土機(jī)、前載車、反向鏟、刮運(yùn)機(jī)、平地機(jī)、鏟車、起重機(jī)、大型水泵以及空氣壓縮機(jī)。施工工程師的工作供大于求，這使得他們很幸福。

It’s interesting to compare these jobs with the list of the ten most hated jobs, which were generally much better paying and have higher social status. What’s striking about the list is that these relatively high level people are imprisoned in hierarchical bureaucracies. They see little point in what they are doing. The organizations they work for don’t know where they are going, and as a result, neither do these people.

將這些工作與十大最令人厭惡的工作相比還是挺有意思的，那些最令人厭惡的工作通常收入較高，帶來(lái)的社會(huì)地位也較高。其中顯著的一點(diǎn)是，那些相對(duì)處于高層次的人被監(jiān)禁于等級(jí)森嚴(yán)的官僚體制中。他們?cè)谧约鹤龅氖虑橹姓也坏揭稽c(diǎn)意義。他們所服務(wù)的機(jī)構(gòu)不知道他們到底在做什么，結(jié)果，這些人自己對(duì)此也不清楚。

1. Director of Information Technology

1. 信息技術(shù)主管

2. Director of Sales and Marketing

2. 市場(chǎng)銷售主管

3. Product Manager

3. 產(chǎn)品經(jīng)理

4. Senior Web Developer

4. 高級(jí)網(wǎng)頁(yè)開(kāi)發(fā)員

5. Technical Specialist

5. 技術(shù)專家

6. Electronics Technician

6. 電子技師

7. Law Clerk

7. 法官助理

8. Technical Support Analyst

8. 技術(shù)支持分析師

9. CNC Machinist

9. 計(jì)算機(jī)數(shù)控機(jī)械師

10. Marketing Manager

10. 市場(chǎng)銷售經(jīng)理

The meaningfulness of lives

生活富有意義

Why were these jobs with better pay and higher social status less likely to produce happiness? Todd May writing in the New York Times argues that “A meaningful life must, in some sense then, feel worthwhile.  The person living the life must be engaged by it.  A life of commitment to causes that are generally defined as worthy — like feeding and clothing the poor or ministering to the ill — but that do not move the person participating in them will lack meaningfulness in this sense. However, for a life to be meaningful, it must also be worthwhile. Engagement in a life of tiddlywinks does not rise to the level of a meaningful life, no matter how gripped one might be by the game.”

為什么這些收入高、社會(huì)地位高的工作卻很少會(huì)帶來(lái)幸福呢？托德·梅在紐約時(shí)報(bào)中的文章中提出，“富有意義的生活必須在一定意義上讓人感到值得。過(guò)這種生活的人必須全身心投入其中。如果一個(gè)人的生活奉獻(xiàn)給了普遍被認(rèn)為有價(jià)值的事業(yè)，比方說(shuō)給貧苦人提供衣食或照顧病患，但是這并不能驅(qū)使這個(gè)人參與到其中，那么在這一意義上，生活就失去了意義。然而，要富有意義的人生必須也是值得擁有的。充斥著挑圓片游戲的人生并沒(méi)有上升到有意義的人生的高度，不管一個(gè)人因這個(gè)游戲可能會(huì)變得多么有影響力。”

This is what underlies the difference between the happiest jobs and the most hated jobs. One set of jobs feels worthwhile, while in the other jobs, people can’t see the point. The problems in the most hated jobs can’t be solved by job redesign or clearer career paths. Instead the organizations must undertake fundamental change to manage themselves in a radically different way with a focus on delighting the customer through continuous innovation and all the consequent changes that are needed to accomplish that. The result of doing this in firms like Amazon , Apple and Salesforce.com is happy customers, soaring profits and workers who can see meaning in their work.

這就是最幸福的工作與最令人厭惡的工作的根本區(qū)別。一組工作讓人覺(jué)得值得去做，而在另一些工作中，人們無(wú)法看到這點(diǎn)。最令人厭惡的工作中存在的問(wèn)題并不能通過(guò)工作再設(shè)計(jì)或者更清晰的職業(yè)道路來(lái)解決。這些機(jī)構(gòu)必須進(jìn)行根本的轉(zhuǎn)變來(lái)以一種徹底不同的方式進(jìn)行自我管理，專注于通過(guò)持續(xù)創(chuàng)新和達(dá)到創(chuàng)新所需要的隨之而來(lái)的所有變化來(lái)取悅顧客。在亞馬遜、蘋果和Salesforce.com公司這樣的公司進(jìn)行這樣轉(zhuǎn)變的結(jié)果就是，顧客更加滿足，利潤(rùn)不斷上升，員工可以從工作中看到價(jià)值。