This week's news that the number of days taken off because of sickness in the UK has fallen to a record low has been met at best by puzzlement and at worst suspicion. Are we really becoming so much healthier as a nation – and so much more committed as a workforce – or are there other factors at play discouraging us from spending days under the duvet?

本週新聞揭示了英國病假少到破紀錄的新低。這是個費解的謎題。我們國家真的越來越健康而且勞動力越來越堅固了嗎？──還是說有其他因素讓我們不敢請假窩在被子裡？

On the surface, the figures from the Office for National Statistics look encouraging: the average number of days taken off sick per worker per year has almost halved from 7.2 days in 1993 to 4.1 days in 2017, and that trend is continuing. Does this mean, then, that we have a contented, motivated workforce?

從表面上來看，國家統計辦公室所釋出的數據看起來很激勵人心：1993年的平均病假是7.2日，到了2017則只剩下4.1日，幾乎是減了一半，而這個下降趨勢仍持續中。所以這表示我們有個讓人滿足、很積極的勞動力？

Sadly, that argument doesn't hold water. Union membership has also fallen considerably over that period, leaving many sections of the workforce without the protections they previously enjoyed. Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at Manchester Business School, has argued that "sickness absence is low because presenteeism is high". Take sick leave and you are likely to be downgraded or even dismissed. Sickness – physical or mental – is equated with weakness.

很難過的，這個論點並不合理。工會的會員數也在這期間下滑了許多，使得許多部門的勞動力缺乏他們之前能享有的勞工保護。曼徹斯特商學院組織心理學與衛生教授Cary Cooper表示「請病假的天數減少是因為高比率的超時工作」。如果請了病假，代表有可能會被降職甚至遭到遣散。「生病」 ──不論生理或心理與否── 等同於「軟弱」。

The number of sick days is a hopeless barometer of economic wellbeing. Job satisfaction and productivity are far better guides, and the UK scores poorly on both. Britain is invariably near the bottom of European league tables in terms of job satisfaction and work-life balance, with Germany and the Netherlands leaving us trailing. Even more damagingly, the UK's level of productivity is also low by European standards, and it is significant that those countries with high job satisfaction are the ones with the most productive workers. "In a typical week, German workers could clock off on Thursday afternoon and still produce as much as British workers doing a full week's work," reported the Financial Times earlier this year.

請病假天數是個毫無希望的經濟安康氣壓計。職業成就感與生產力才是更好的指標 ──但英國在這兩項的表現都很差。在歐盟的統計數據中，不論是職業成就感還是生活與工作平衡，英國總是都墊底，被德國與荷蘭甩在後面很遠很遠。更糟的是，英國的生產力水準還低於歐盟標準。那些擁有高職業成就感的國家都有最具生產力的勞工，這點很重要。「在普通的一星期中，德國勞工假如能在週四中午就下班，他們的生產力還是比英國勞工工作一整個禮拜還要高」今年年初的金融時報是這麼說的。

The irony is that the fall in the number of sick days could be a sign of economic weakness rather than strength. The UK has a disempowered workforce, anxious about the future and often unsure of its role in organisations. Low wages, declining living standards and precarious employment fed Brexit, yet Brexit is likely to make the situation worse. Sick days may well continue to decline as the nation as a whole gets economically sicker.

諷刺的是，請假天數下滑恐怕是經濟虛弱的跡象而不是象徵經濟強壯。英國勞動力自信心是被削減的，勞工總是對未來感到焦慮，且不確定自己在組織裡有什麼定位。低薪資、下滑的生活水準，以及不穩定的就業。這些都造就了英國脫歐，但脫歐可能只會讓情況更糟。只要這個國家的經濟越來越病，請病假天數可能會持續下降。