最佳工作时长探秘

 
In an uncertain job market, fortunate people with steady paying gigs often think twice before shutting down for the day. But is there any benefit to responding to those additional emails or hanging around the office for that extra hour? Is there a weekly hour sweet spot?
当前，就业市场充满了不确定因素。因此，那些拥有稳定报酬的幸运儿们在收工之前通常都会三思而行。但是，再多回复几封电子邮件，或者在办公室无所事事地多呆一个小时，到底有没有好处呢？每周的工作时长是否有一个最佳上限呢？

It's a tricky question. One hour per week is too little to do a job well, and 168 -- the total number of hours in a week -- isn't right either. Such a sleep-deprived person would be non-functional (not to mention smelly from a lack of showering).
这个问题非常棘手。每周工作1小时，肯定不可能做好工作；每周工作168个小时——整整一周全天24小时工作——也并不合适。因为一个睡眠不足的人不可能正常工作（更不用说长时间不洗澡还会产生难闻的异味）。

The answer must be somewhere in the middle; a point of diminishing returns where previous hours boost productivity by a large margin, and additional work hours wouldn't help much. But what amount of hours could that be?
答案肯定是介于两者之间的收益递减点，在这个节点之前的工作时间可以大幅提高生产效率，但之后的额外工作时间却并没太大好处。问题是，到底多少个小时最合适呢？