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Hubscher-Davidson, Séverine
(2025).
Abstract
The world of work in the twenty-first century is characterised by insecurity and rapid processes of change. While the United Nations urgently called for a focus on decent, sustainable, and productive employment (2015), the unstable labour markets across the world have had a detrimental impact on worker wellbeing. Various crises in recent years have exacerbated this trend (Covid-19, AI), and current working life is threatened by a multitude of health risks including stress, anxiety, and chronic fatigue (e.g., Irvine and Rose 2024).
For professional translators, intensive interactions with digital tools and unrealistic productivity demands are additional health risks impairing their emotional and physical wellbeing. Translators have to adapt, deal with setbacks, be creative, look for new opportunities, self-motivate, and develop ecologically and ethically sustainable translation practices (FIT Position Paper 2022). In this context, it seems useful to turn to the field of coaching psychology, as it has been shown that psychologically informed coaching approaches facilitate effective workplace outcomes, such as goal attainment, self-efficacy, and other aspects of objective and self-reported work performance (Wang et al. 2021). Group coaching in particular is believed to play a key role in supporting culture change, building awareness and relationships at work, and promoting goal development (Britton 2015). There is also widespread recognition that coaching interventions are an effective way to accelerate emotional wellbeing, alongside learning and development in soft skills (e.g., Cox et al. 2018).
Drawing on substantial feedback from several coaching workshops involving 350+ language professionals from FIT and the UN, this talk will present findings regarding the key benefits and drawbacks of implementing coaching interventions targeting translators’ emotional wellbeing. While coaching interventions based on sound theoretical principles can contribute to the development of healthy translators and sustainable workplaces by managing some important health risks and providing tools for psychological wellbeing (Hubscher-Davidson 2024), a long-term strategy that is context-sensitive, systemically-minded, and suitably tailored is more likely to lead to in-depth change and a healthier translation profession in years to come.
References
Britton, J. J. (2015). ‘Expanding the coaching conversation: group and team coaching.’ Industrial and Commercial Training. 47(3): 116-120.
Cox, E., Clutterbuck, D.A., and T. Bachkirova (2018). The Complete Handbook of Coaching. 3rd edition. London: Sage.
Hubscher-Davidson. S. (2024). ‘Psychological sustainability in the translation professions: findings from two intervention studies.’ MikaEL-Finnish Journal of Translation and Interpreting Studies. 17(1): 3–25.
Irvine, A. and N. Rose (2024). ‘How does precarious employment affect mental health? A scoping review and thematic synthesis of qualitative evidence from western economies.’ Work, Employment and Society, 38(2), 418-441.
United Nations. (2015). ‘Sustainable development: The 17 goals.’ https://sdgs.un.org/goals. Accessed 08 July 2024.
Wang, Q., Lai, Y. L., Xu, X., & McDowall, A. (2021). ‘The effectiveness of workplace coaching: a meta-analysis of contemporary psychologically informed coaching approaches’. Journal of Work-Applied Management, 14(1), 77-101.