经济学人下载:自助,我的远大前程

Karl Marx thought that much modern industrial work was essentially dehumanising, reducing people to factors of production. These days a growing number of people are doing jobs they find fulfilling because they involve things they actually like doing. This has always been true for sports stars, authors and the like, but the idea that work can be a source of positive pleasure is spreading into other fields.

卡尔.马克思认为现代的工业劳作使人沦为一种生产要素，本质上是不人道的。现在，越来越多工作的人找到了满足感，因为他们做的是真正喜欢的事情，这一点对体育明星、作家和类似的人来说尤为真确，而工作可能成为快乐之源的观点也正逐渐在其他领域传播开来。

One indication of this trend is the rapid growth of employment in non-profit organisations, where many jobs offer a sense of social purpose as well as a salary (which in return might be lower than it would otherwise be). Surveys consistently find that many of today’s under-30s in rich countries want to spend their working day trying to make the world a better place as well as being properly paid, and turn down jobs that do not offer such satisfaction. Employers have cottoned on to this and now often mention a “social purpose” in their recruitment advertisements.

这一趋势（工作可能成为快乐之源这一观点的传播）的一个结果就是，既提供薪水又提供社会使命感的非盈利组织的雇佣的快速增加（这里的薪水会比类似但没有社会使命感的工作低）。调查不断揭示，现在富裕国家有许多30岁以下的人想要的工作是既能将世界变得更好、同时又能得到合理的薪水，而且他们愿意拒绝那些没有提供类似满足感的工作。雇主喜欢这一现象，现在常常在招聘面试中提到“社会使命”。

The talented, sought-after few, for their part, are encountering problems of their own as work takes up an ever-expanding part of their lives. The waves of lay-offs that followed the global financial crisis left a lot of extra work to do for those who remained, and the ubiquity of communications tools makes it difficult for them to get away from their job. But most employees just want the opportunity to do something they enjoy and balance their work obligations with other parts of their life. Many mothers of young children would like to keep working, at least part-time, and many older people who are still in good health when they reach the formal retirement age would like to continue in a job they like doing. Such preferences are reflected in the growing demand for childcare facilities and greater flexibility in pension arrangements.

对有才华的稀缺人才而言，他们面临着工作占据了生命绝大部分时间的问题。金融危机之后的裁员潮使得留下来的员工承担了很多额外的工作，而通讯工具的无孔不入使他们很难逃离工作。但大多数雇员都希望能有机会做些他们中意的事情，同时平衡好工作职责和生活其他部分。许多小孩的妈妈都希望能继续工作，至少能兼职；而许多老人达到退休年龄时身体也不错，他们也想继续从事喜欢的工作；不断增长的托儿所需求和退休金的灵活安排都体现了这些偏好。