讓人孤獨的職場

As an analyst in a bulge-bracket bank in the City of London, Steve knew that he was in for long hours spent churning through spreadsheets. What he was not prepared for, at a global bank that hires thousands of people, was loneliness.

史蒂夫(Steve)曾在倫敦金融城一家大銀行當分析師，他從一開始就知道自己得花大把時間在電子表格上。他始料未及的是，在這樣一家有幾千名員工的全球銀行，他居然會感到孤獨。

The environment, says the 27-year-old, who prefers not to use his real name, was “toxic”. There was “rarely any support for new joiners, no mentorship” in the business.

這位27歲的年輕人不願使用真名，他說，那種環境是“有毒的”，公司“很少爲新加入的員工提供什麼支持，沒有人當導師”。

His youth was a factor. In his early 20s, being on a team with experienced professionals was “intimidating”. A snide comment from a manager would immediately make him feel “very small”.

他的年輕是一方面原因。那時他才20來歲，而團隊其他成員都是經驗豐富的專業人士，這難免“令人心生畏懼”。來自經理的每一句冷嘲熱諷，都會在瞬間讓他覺得自己“很渺小”。

Over time, his “self-esteem [took] a nosedive” and he started to isolate himself. “Better to not say a word if the slightest murmur could lead to embarrassment,” he says. That affected his performance at work and meant that he further cordoned himself off.

隨着時間推移，他的“自尊心嚴重受挫”，他開始把自己孤立起來。“如果小聲嘀咕一兩句都可能招來難堪，那還是閉嘴爲好，”他說。這影響了他在工作中的表現，也使他更進一步封閉自己。

A 2011 study from California State University and the Wharton School confirms what Steve knew: that management should not treat loneliness as a private problem but rather one that affects the business.

加利福尼亞州立大學(California State University)和沃頓商學院(Wharton School)在2011年所做的一項研究，印證了史蒂夫的感受：管理層不應把員工的孤獨感當作一個私人問題，而應該當作一個會影響業務的問題來處理。

“An employee’s work loneliness triggers emotional withdrawal from their organisation,” the study says. “The results also show that co-workers can recognise this loneliness and see it hindering team member effectiveness.”

“員工在工作中產生的孤獨感會導致其在情感上疏遠自己的組織，”該研究報告寫道，“結果還表明，同事們可以分辨出這種孤獨感，看到它在妨礙團隊成員的有效性。”

Steve felt not only “lonely but increasingly helpless”. The people who manned the corporate employee assistance phones were based in another city and were disconnected from the main business. After four years, he decided to leave and work for a fintech start-up.

史蒂夫不僅“感到孤獨，而且越來越無助”。負責接聽員工幫助熱線電話的人在另一座城市，而且與公司主營業務毫無關聯。4年後，他決定離職，跳槽到一家金融科技初創企業。

He has since realised, through talking to his former colleagues, that he was far from alone in feeling lonely at work. Books have started to appear on loneliness in the past decade, such as Emily White’s Lonely: A Memoir; Olivia Laing’s The Lonely City; and, more academically, Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection by John Cacioppo, the director of the University of Chicago’s Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience.

後來，通過與前同事們交談，他發現，在工作中感到孤獨的絕不只他一個人。過去10年中開始出現了一些關於孤獨的著作，比如埃米莉?懷特(Emily White)的《孤獨：自傳》(Lonely: A Memoir)，還有奧利維亞?萊恩(Olivia Laing)寫的《孤獨的城市》(The Lonely City)，以及學術性更強的《孤獨是可恥的：你我都需要社會聯繫》(Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection)，該書作者約翰?卡喬波(John Cacioppo)是芝加哥大學(University of Chicago)認知和社會神經科學中心主任。

In the UK, the Campaign to End Loneliness is working to influence public policy on isolation and to develop an evidence base, while the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, launched in the wake of the Labour MP’s murder in 2016, continues her activism in this area.

英國有一項“終結孤獨運動”(Campaign to End Loneliness)，致力於影響有關社會隔絕的公共政策，並打造一個證據基礎。還有個喬?考克斯孤獨委員會(Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness)，是在工黨議員喬?考克斯2016年遇害後成立的，該委員會繼續推進她生前在該領域開展的活動。

It is important to distinguish between subjective loneliness and objective isolation, says Prof Cacioppo, who has been studying the causes and effects of loneliness for more than 20 years. Loneliness is a “lack or loss of companionship [which] happens when we have a mismatch between the quantity and quality of social relationships that we have, and those that we want”, according to the Campaign to End Loneliness.

卡喬波教授表示，有必要區分主觀的孤獨與客觀的孤立。20多年來，他一直在研究產生孤獨感的原因和後果。按照“終結孤獨運動”的定義，“當我們所擁有的社會關係的數量及質量與我們所希望擁有的不匹配時，我們會感到缺乏或缺失陪伴，這就是孤獨”。

This means, says Prof Cacioppo, that one can feel socially isolated even when around friends, family and crowds — or co-workers. As Steve’s experience shows, you may be surrounded by hundreds or thousands of colleagues yet still feel lonely.

卡喬波說，這意味着，一個人即便身邊有家人朋友，身處人羣中，或者有一大堆同事，也仍可能感到與社會隔絕。正如史蒂夫的經歷所表明的，你身邊周圍或許有幾百名甚至幾千名同事，但你仍可能覺得孤單。

Despite their prevalence, social media are making people feel disconnected — “alone together”, in the words of Sherry Turkle, a psychologist and professor at MIT. “We think constant connection [through smartphones and email] will make us feel less lonely,” she writes. “The opposite is true.”

社交媒體儘管廣爲流行，卻反而使人們感到隔絕——用麻省理工學院(MIT)心理學家雪莉?特克爾(Sherry Turkle)教授的話來說就是“一起孤獨”(alone together)。她寫道：“我們以爲（通過智能手機和電子郵件）經常聯繫會使我們感覺沒那麼孤獨，事實正相反。”

A forthcoming paper, co-authored by Prof Cacioppo, suggests that the relationship with technology is more complex. The internet may be used to enhance existing relationships and forge social connections but may also be a way of escaping “the social world” and thus increasing loneliness.

卡喬波與人合寫的一篇即將發表的論文則提出，人與科技的關係更加複雜。人們可能利用互聯網增強已有的關係和打造新的社會聯繫，但也可能借互聯網來逃避“社交世界”，從而加劇孤獨感。

Adam Grant, professor of management and psychology at Wharton, has observed Americans are less likely to foster friendships at work, because they do not envisage sticking around. “We don’t invest in the same way. We view co-workers as transitory ties, greeting them with arms-length civility.”

沃頓商學院管理學及心理學教授亞當?格蘭特(Adam Grant)注意到，如今美國人在工作中不那麼可能交朋友了，因爲他們不打算長幹。“我們不再以過去那種方式投入，我們把與同事的關係視爲是暫時的，會禮貌地保持着距離。”

While the popular expression may be that “it’s lonely at the top”, researchers have found that it can be pretty lonely at the bottom. A paper published in the scientific journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes in 2015 found that employees with low levels of autonomy and power felt lonely. Adam Waytz, a psychologist at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, explains in the paper that “having power reduces the need to belong”. Power confers access to resources that give people the sense that they could easily affiliate with others and find connection regardless of whether or not this is actually the case, he says.

“身居高位不勝孤獨”的說法或許很流行，但研究人員發現，底層員工可能非常孤獨。科學期刊《組織行爲與人類決策過程》(Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes) 2015年刊載的一篇論文發現，自主與權力級別較低的員工會感到孤獨。西北大學凱洛格商學院(Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management)的心理學家亞當?韋茲(Adam Waytz)在論文中解釋說，“擁有權力會減少對歸屬感的需要”。他說，權力帶來利用資源的渠道，讓人感覺他們能輕易與人交往，找到交情，無論事實是否如此。

Virtual working is a more obvious cause of loneliness. Rachel, who worked until recently in corporate communications at a financial services company headquartered in New York, was the only one in her department based in the UK. “In the beginning I loved it,” says Rachel, who also prefers to remain anonymous. She was proud of being a pioneer and liked having a global role.

虛擬工作是引發孤獨感的一個較明顯原因。雷切爾(Rachel)原來在一家金融服務公司的公關部工作，公司總部在紐約，整個部門只有她一個人在英國工作，但是最近她已經辭職了。“剛開始我很喜歡這份工作，”雷切爾說，她也不願透露全名。那時她爲自己走在時代前沿感到驕傲，並喜歡擔任一個全球性的職位。

But ultimately she became enveloped by loneliness. “I didn’t see anyone — my team were based in New York. I missed the office banter. On Fridays they would say they were going for a drink and I felt excluded.” Rachel felt that she was “out of sight, out of mind”.

但最終她被孤獨感包圍了。“我誰都見不到——我的團隊在紐約，我懷念辦公室裏的談笑，一到週五他們會說要出去喝一杯，我覺得自己不是團隊的一份子。”雷切爾覺得大家“看不到她，也不會想到她”。

Every time the phone rang she turned into a chatterbox, desperate for contact. She had to remind herself to end the conversation before she pummelled the caller with her enthusiasm. When her son came home from school, “I would hug him like I hadn’t seen him for weeks.” After it took its toll on her health and productivity, she left the job.

每次電話一響，她就成了一個話嘮，渴望與人交談。她必須提醒自己適時結束談話，以免對方受不了她的熱情。兒子放學回家時，“我會緊緊地擁抱他，就像我好幾個星期沒見他了一樣”。孤獨感損害了她的健康，也影響了工作效率，於是她辭職了。

In retrospect, she believes that her team should have made more effort to include her. “They could have created more opportunities for banter and discussions offline,” perhaps by building five minutes of conversation into a team conference call.

回頭來看，她認爲她原來的團隊應該多做一些努力來幫助她融入團體。“他們本來可以創造更多機會，在線下進行談笑和討論”，比如說在團隊電話會議中安排五分鐘的談話。

Shefaly Yogendra, a governance and risk consultant, also experienced virtual-office loneliness, this time working from home with teams in Asia and California. “Office banter is a social lubricant. It humanises people and makes them seem not like robots,” she says. “There is an existential quality to loneliness.” For her, the solution was not to find throngs of co-workers but to “calm the monkey mind” through yoga.

公司治理及風險顧問謝發裏?約詹德拉(Shefaly Yogendra)也體會到了虛擬辦公室所帶來的孤獨感，與她合作的團隊分別在亞洲和美國加州，而她在自己家中工作。“辦公室談笑是一種社交潤滑劑，它使人富於人性，使他們看起來不像機器人。”她說，“孤獨有一種與存在有關的品質。”她的解決辦法不是爲自己找到大批同事，而是通過練瑜伽“讓心猿安定下來”。

Sometimes working alone at home can be the answer to loneliness. Deborah Parietti, founder of Red Beetle Travelling Food, an ecommerce business selling Italian produce, says that she feels less lonely now than she did working in marketing for an employer.

有時候，獨自在家工作恰恰是一種克服孤獨感的辦法。Red Beetle Travelling Food是一家銷售意大利農產品的電商企業，其創始人黛博拉?帕裏埃蒂(Deborah Parietti)說，比起她在一家公司做市場營銷工作，她如今感覺沒那麼孤獨了。

“It felt so silly to feel lonely when surrounded by loads of people. It’s hard to talk to a boss and say, ‘I feel lonely.’ It’s not tangible. Not something you can explain very well. It’s not an easy conversation to have.”

“身邊有許多人卻覺得孤獨，那種感覺真是太蠢了。你很難開口對老闆說，‘我覺得孤獨’。那不是有形的，不是某種你能夠解釋得清的東西。那不是容易交流的話題。”

Today, while she is often alone, she feels she has the power to make changes if loneliness creeps in. “When I was in a workplace, it made me unhappy and [I] couldn’t switch off from that?.?.?.?discomfort and sadness. Now loneliness is a catalyst. I can go and meet people.”

如今，雖然她經常獨處，但她覺得如果孤獨感在心底悄然滋生，她有力量去做出改變。“當我身處一個工作場所，孤獨感會讓我不快樂，而我無法擺脫那種……不適和悲哀。如今孤獨成了一種催化劑，我可以出門去見人。”

Even chief executives are vulnerable

首席執行官也孤獨

António Horta-Osório, the chief executive of Lloyds bank, was signed off work for stress and told the Financial Times: “As a CEO these positions are quite lonely, so sometimes there are several things you cannot share with your team, because you have to motivate them. You don’t want your employees to have doubts about your leadership.”

勞埃德銀行(Lloyds bank)的首席執行官安東尼奧·霍塔-奧索里奧(António Horta-Osório)曾因壓力過大而休病假，他告訴英國《金融時報》：“身爲一名首席執行官，這些職位是相當孤獨的，有時候，有一些事情你無法與你的團隊分享，因爲你必須激勵他們。你不希望你手下的員工對你的領導力抱有懷疑。”

A report on loneliness, co-authored by Professor Adam Waytz of Kellogg School of Management, found high-ranking employees were vulnerable to loneliness because they often have sole responsibility for laying off employees; reducing resources in budget restructurings; and “increasing organisational profit at a potential cost to the environment or to society”.

上文提到的凱洛格商學院的亞當?韋茲教授與人聯合撰寫的一份關於孤獨的報告發現，高級別的僱員很容易產生孤獨感，因爲他們往往獨自承擔着一些責任，比如裁員、在預算重組過程中減少資源，還有“以可能損害環境或社會爲代價來增加本組織的利潤”。