你计划下周休个假、好好放松一下吗？如果是，那你只是少数派。办公空间解决方案供应商雷格斯（Regus）对12,000名员工进行的调查显示，在圣诞节与元旦期间，将有64%的员工正常上班。从传统意义上来说，大多数人应在此期间休假，并且许多公司也会选择歇业。
Planning to kick back and relax next week? If so, you're in the minority: A survey of 12,000 employees by office-space company Regus says that 64% of us will be conducting business as usual during the week between Christmas and New Year's -- traditionally a time when most people take vacation days, and many companies used to close down altogether.
此外，假期加班已经成为一个日益普遍的趋势：去年12月份，咨询公司睿仕管理顾问公司（Right Management）对美国职场人士进行了一项调查，主题是：“你今年的法定假期都休完了吗？”其中50%给出了否定回答。今年，睿仕公司又进行了一次调查，而这次的比例增加到了70%。
What's more, toiling right through the holidays is part of a much larger trend: Last December, consultants Right Management polled U.S. workers and asked, "Have you used all your vacation time this year?" Fifty percent said they hadn't. When Right's researchers repeated the poll this year, that figure jumped to 70%.
调查结果显示，职场人士顾虑重重，深恐丢掉饭碗。睿仕公司高级副总裁迈克尔·海德认为：“人员在不断精简，工作负担却在加重，职业安全感存在不确定性。职场人士面临着巨大的压力。”
The findings suggest that people who have jobs are anxious about keeping them. "Staffing is lean, workloads are heavier, and job security is uncertain," observes Michael Haid, a senior vice president at Right Management. "There's a lot of stress in the workplace."
这可不是开玩笑。不过海德补充道，明智的雇主应该鼓励员工隔段时间休假一次。他说：“假期时间是保持员工队伍健康高效的根本。其实放弃几天假期本身并不是什么大问题，但如果这么多人都放弃法定假期，那说明我们真的有麻烦了。”比如“人才流失、不必要的人员流动、旷工、频繁出现健康或安全方面的问题，以及其他一系列人力资源问题。”
No kidding. But if they're smart, Haid adds, employers will encourage people to take a break once in a while. "Vacation time is fundamental to a healthy, productive workforce," he says. "By itself, foregoing a few days off may not be significant, but when so many people think they shouldn't take the time they're entitled to, we have problems." These include "low retention, unnecessary turnover, absenteeism, frequent health or safety claims, and a host of other HR issues."
假如老板没那么开明，富有远见，没有督促身为员工的你出城休假（或者至少让你走出办公室），那么可以考虑一条比较激进的建议：只管去做好了。国际企业培训公司 （Corporate Coaching International）总裁、高管培训师洛伊斯·弗兰克尔指出：“员工放弃休假，意味着美国的企业雇主们将获得价值200亿美元的免费馈赠。没有谁会主动把领到的工资主动退回去，那为什么要放弃休假呢？休假同样是员工应得的薪酬福利中的一部分。”
Let's say your employer is not so enlightened, or so far-sighted, as to urge you to get out of town (or at least away from the office). Here's a radical suggestion: Do it anyway. "Skipping vacations amounts to a $20 billion annual giveaway to U.S. employers," notes Lois Frankel, an executive coach who is president of Corporate Coaching International. "You wouldn't volunteer to give back part of your paycheck, so why surrender something that is just as much a part of the compensation you have earned?"

休假事关个人身心健康。几年前，美国心身医学学会（American Psychosomatic Society）曾研究过压力与心理健康之间的关系，之后公布的调查结果引起了人们的关注。该项目历时16年，共跟踪调查了12,338位年龄在35至 57岁的男性。结果发现，在控制其他因素（饮食、健身、吸烟）的前提下，通过休假获得放松的人在研究期间患病和死亡的比例比放弃休假的人低了21%。正常休假的人死于心脏病的几率比放弃休假的人低32%。
Your health may depend on it. Some years ago, the American Psychosomatic Society, which studies the connection between stress and physical well-being, announced some arresting research results. A detailed sixteen-year project tracking 12,338 men aged 35 to 57 found that, with other factors (diet, exercise, smoking) controlled, the men who took annual vacations where they actually relaxed were 21% less likely to get sick and die during the study period than those who took no real vacations. The regular-vacationers' chances of dying of heart disease in particular were 32% lower.
其他研究显示，女性之间的差距更加显著：每年休假两到三次的女性经理人患心脏病的风险比放弃休假的女性低一半。
Other studies suggest that, for women, the difference is even more dramatic: Female managers who take two or more vacations per year cut their heart attack risk in half, compared to women who take no time off.
此外，大量证据证明，休假能提高员工的工作效率。（谁在精疲力竭的时候还能保持最佳状态？）或许这是因为，休假使员工可以与最心爱的人共度美好时光。Ultimat牌伏特加的最新调查显示，在所有接受调查的公司中，69%的员工目前工作过于繁忙，疏远了家人；另外，有约7/10（67%）的员工表示过去一年中曾有过由于工作原因缺席家庭或社交活动的经历。
Moreover, there's plenty of evidence that vacations boost people's productivity (Who does their best work when they're exhausted?) That may be in part because time off provides a chance to hang out with loved ones. A new survey from Ultimat brand vodka, of all companies, says that 69% of employees are now working so much that they're losing touch with their families, and almost seven in 10 (67%) say they have missed a family or social event in the past year because they were working.
可以理解，但如果你愿意的话，不妨听听《财富》杂志（Fortune）专栏作家斯坦利·宾的金玉良言：“决定暂停工作，前往圣约翰岛度假之时，你所爱的人要陪伴在身边；同时，要保证他们能获得和你说话的机会。”也就是说，如果那些只知道工作的人打算毁掉你的业余时间，你应该礼貌地拒绝
Understandable, but consider, if you will, some words of wisdom Fortune columnist Stanley Bing once wrote: "The people you love should be around long after you decide to hang it up and move to St. John"; and ensuring that they'll still be speaking to you by then "means pushing back respectfully every time people with no life try to steal yours from you."
如果你过于忙碌，或者过分焦虑，为期一周以上的休假只是一种奢望？没关系。调查显示，每年只要能享受有几次三到四天的周末，同样能够让人精力充沛，缓解压力。而且，考虑到如今的情况，“大周末”或许更实际。
Too busy, or too anxious, to schedule a getaway lasting a whole week or more? That's okay. Research has shown that taking several three or four-day weekends throughout the year creates the same energizing, stress-busting effects as a single long break -- and, especially these days, may be more realistic, too.