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?

你有沒有極限點?你每周最多可以工作多少個小時才會感覺自己犧牲了太多的家庭時間?你到極限點的征兆是什么?

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.

根據(jù)新近一項對國際商業(yè)機器公司在75個國家的22,436名員工進行的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在員工是否可以有部分時間在家辦公這個問題上，各人的極限點差異很大。

In a startling finding, 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.

研究人員得出了驚人的發(fā)現(xiàn)。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，與完全在辦公室工作的人相比，在工作和家庭出現(xiàn)沖突之前，實行彈性工作制的在家辦公者每周可以多擠出19個小時工作。研究的主持者之一是楊百翰大學家庭生活學院教授、工作家庭問題資深研究人士希爾。

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.

希爾發(fā)現(xiàn)，完全在辦公室辦公的人在工作了38小時后開始抱怨工作與家庭出現(xiàn)沖突。然而，那些通過在家辦公延長了工作時間、而不是在辦公室花更長時間的人，在開始感到壓力之前可以工作57個小時(把在辦公室和在家工作的時間都計算在內)。

The size of the 19-hour gap in this study, however-about two additional workdays a week-is surprising.

不過，研究中顯示的19個小時差距──相當于每周多兩天──確實讓人吃驚。

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.

時間的計算是根據(jù)兩組員工——在辦公室工作和實行彈性工作制、在家辦公室的人中——各有25%表示工作與家庭出現(xiàn)沖突。研究結果將發(fā)表在本月的《家庭心理學期刊》上。

Do you have a "breaking point" for your juggle-a point where long work hours send you over the edge into work-family conflict?

你忙里忙外的生活中是否會出現(xiàn)極限點?漫長的工作時間是否讓你走到了工作和家庭出現(xiàn)沖突的邊緣?