向未来进发

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  Carrots for the Millennials
  让Y世代尝到甜头
  Host:Whyinan environment like ours, where there’s high unemployment, do these kids get to call the shots?
  Nadira Hira (Journalist, Millennial): Well, you know, it’s interesting. I think when we look at recessions traditionally, it is the time at which you can make the most risky decision and take the least 1)flak for that. So I think it’s freed us, as millennials, to kind of do things that people don’t expect, because, yeah, my degree cost $200,000, but everybody’s unemployed, so if I want to go start a food truck in Manhattan, who’s to say that’s a bad idea? And, by the way, our value systems are different. We’ve seen our parents commit so much time and energy and money to creating a life for us, and yet we don’t necessarily see the…the…the payoffs of that. We want to create some balance.
  Marian Salzman (American Advertising and PR Executive): The other thing, is, too, in the corporate world, these are the most inexpensive employees we have, so we’re going to be prepared to take the greatest risk with them. And they’re in the best position to change us, change our values, change how we work, even what time we work. And they’ve forced us to do that, because you, you’ve lost one too many…
  Host: …because, when you say “they forced us to do that,” because you need them to come work for you, or you need…
  Marian: They are…
  Host: …their energy…
  Marian: ….they are…
  Host: …or creativity?


  Marian: They are the most skilled inexpensive brain trust…
  Host: Got it. So that’s your trade-off.
  Marian: That’s right.
  Host: Your trade-off is, we want these highly-skilled, well-educated, creative, cheap employees, …
  Marian: Inexpensive.
  Host: …for now…
  Marian: Inexpensive.
  Host: …inexpensive, for now, and, in order to get them, it’s kind of like how Google needs to create a remarkable environment to work in order to get the best engineers. That’s your trade-off: you’re giving them something.
  Marian: Yes, absolutely! And furthermore, we also know that, because we’re not paying them a lot, they’ll churn through our employment or anybody else’s employment, so we need to keep giving them that carrot.
  Nadira: 2)Retention is the key.
  Marian: Right. It’s all about creating an environment where they actually want to be part of the environment.   主持人:失业率持续高企,为什么在这种情况下,这些孩子竟然可以说了算?
  纳迪拉·希拉(记者、Y世代):嗯,你知道吗,这事很有意思。我想如果我们用传统观念看待经济衰退,会发现这正好是你可以做一些高风险决定,却听
  不到多少反对声音的时候。所以我觉得,对于我们这些Y世代来说,这似乎给了我们自由,可以去做一些人们意想不到的事情,因为,确实,我花了二十万才拿到这个学位,但大家都没有工作,如果我打算在纽约曼哈顿开始做流动餐车的生意,谁能说这想法不好呢?还有,顺便说一句,我们的价值观并不相同。我们曾经看到父母辛辛苦苦,耗尽大量时间、精力和金钱让我们过上好生活,可是,我们看到的是他们的努力未必总能得到回报。所以我们需要创造某种平衡。
  玛莉安·苏兹曼(美国广告及公关业高管):此外,在公司环境里,这些人是我们可以得到的最低价的员工了,所以我们也愿意在他们身上冒最大的风险。而且,在改变我们,改变我们的价值观,改变我们的工作方式,甚至改变我们的工作时间方面,他们都显得最有优势。而且,他们已经迫使我们那么做了,因为我们已经失去了太多的……
  主持人:……因为,你说“他们已经迫使我们那么做了”,那是因为你们需要他们为你们工作,或者说你们需要……
  玛莉安:他们是……
  主持人:……他们身上的活力……
  玛莉安:……他们是……
  主持人:……或者是他们的创造力?
  玛莉安:他们最训练有素,而且是最低价的智力财富……
  主持人:明白了。所以这就是你们的折衷办法。
  玛莉安:没错。
  主持人:你们的折衷办法就是:我们需要这些技能娴熟、高学历、有创造力的廉价员工……
  玛莉安:低价的。
  主持人:……就目前而言……
  玛莉安:低价的。
  主持人:……就目前来说,低价的。为了得到这些人,大概要像谷歌公司那样,需要打造一个非比寻常的工作环境来吸引最优秀的工程师。这就是你们的折衷方案:给他们一些诱惑。
  玛莉安:是的,太对了!与此同时,我们都知道,因为我们支付的工资并不高,他们会不停地跳槽,所以我们得给他们点甜头。
  纳迪拉:关键是把人留住。
  玛莉安:对。关键是打造一个让他们有归属感的工作环境。
  A Company Facelift for the Futuree
  为未来变脸
  It’s lunchtime at a company called Lifesize in Austin, Texas. A dozen employees are playing beach volleyball on a sand court next to the parking garage behind their offices.
  Corrine Heery (Lifesize employee): I just love it. I love the midday, kind of, 3)endorphin rush.
  Corrine Heery is a 28-year-old financial analyst. She’s been at the company, which sells video conferencing technology, for a year.
  Corrine: It kind of adds to when I’m talking to my friends about the company I work for, I’m like yeah, you know—it’s not just the business side but it’s this side, too—the people getting along and playing fun sports.
  Lunchtime volleyball is part of the new image Lifesize is trying to cultivate to attract millennials like Heery. CEO Craig Malloy is a Baby Boomer. He says that two years ago, his company’s culture and its products were outdated. The heavy bigscreen televisions and 4)swiveling cameras it manufactured were being replaced by computer and phone applications. Malloy says he needed millennials to help create smaller and simpler technology.
  Craig: People in my generation will never be as up to speed on what’s happening in social media or web applications.
  So Malloy instituted a company facelift, modeled after Silicon Valley startup companies. He introduced employee perks that appeal to young people like group exercise and free food—and Malloy says it’s working.   Craig: We’re seeing more interest from a younger generation of software and hardware developer maybe that would consider a company like 5)Nest or Google. And we’re now able to compete for that talent.
  Lifesize no longer manufactures clunky hardware. Now, they focus on software that requires minimal technology to use, like a remote control with one button. And Malloy says he’s modernizing the inside of his company, too. By next year, nearly all of his staff will be sitting in open workstations with just a few feet of sheer glass separating colleagues. But baby boomers who will lose their offices protested so much, Malloy says he had to do something drastic to convince them to get on board. He, the CEO, gave up his own office.
  Craig: If I moved out of my office into the open area, no one would have a leg to stand on about complaining that they can’t get their job done.


  Larry Danko (Lifesize employee): I love my office.
  Larry Danko is a 66-year-old manager at Lifesize. He’s been with the company for 10 years, and he’s had an office since day one.
  Larry: What I did not have was a window. I earned a window. That was important to me.
  Danko has accepted he’ll be losing his office. But he’s not looking forward to it because to him, an office means something about a person’s level of achievement and value.
  Tony Vida (Lifesize employee): I’m sure that everyone that used to have an in-and-out folder on their desk, waiting for paper notes, didn’t want to do the whole e-mail thing.
  Vida is 31. He doesn’t think the changes at his office are about one generation or another. He sees them as part of the natural evolution of how work gets done over time.
  CEO Craig Malloy acknowledges the changes have been too much for some older members of his staff.
  Craig: We have lost baby boomer employees. You know, on the other hand, most businesses are not a democracy. I would like to say they’re a 6)benevolent dictatorship.
  And Malloy, benevolent dictator, says his company needs to change with the industry even if that means leaving some people behind.


  在美国得克萨斯州奥斯汀市的丽视高清公司,现在是午休时间,十几名员工正在公司后面车库旁边的沙池里打沙滩排球。
  科琳·希里(丽视高清员工):我太喜欢这个了,我喜欢在中午时段放松心情。
  科琳·希里是一名28岁的金融分析员,她已经在这个公司工作一年了。这家公司的产品是视频会议技术。
  科琳:在我与朋友谈论自己效力的公司时,这一点可以加分。我会说,你知道啦,这不仅仅是工作,还有另外的一面,大家相处融洽,一起进行有趣的运动。   丽视高清公司竭力吸引像希里这样的Y世代,午间沙排只不过是为打造公司新形象所作的努力之一。公司首席执行官克雷格·马洛伊是婴儿潮的一员。他说在两年前,公司的文化与产品都已经跟不上形势了。他们之前生产的笨重大屏幕电视机和旋转摄影机已经被电脑和手机应用软件所替代。马洛伊说,他需要Y世代帮公司研发外观更小、使用更简单的技术产品。
  克雷格:我这一代人永远都不可能像他们那样跟上社交媒体或者网络应用发展的步伐。
  因此,马洛伊仿照硅谷的新公司,给公司来了一次变脸。他推出了像团体健身、免费食物等员工新福利,以吸引年轻人。马洛伊说,这些招数奏效了。
  克雷格:许多年轻一代的软件和硬件开发人员会考虑为Nest和谷歌这一类公司工作,现在我们看到他们对我们公司表现出日益深厚的兴趣,我们也可以与那些公司争夺这些人才了。
  丽视高清公司不再生产大块头的硬件了。如今,他们主打开发一些在使用时对技术要求很低的软件,如一键式遥控器。此外,马洛伊也在公司内部启动了现代化进程。他说,到了明年,几乎所有员工都会坐在一个开放的空间工作,同事之间只隔着一块不大的玻璃。但那些即将失去办公室的婴儿潮成员表示强烈抗议。为了说服他们也一起这么做,马洛伊说他必须采取非常手段。于是,身为首席执行官的他放弃了自己的办公室。
  克雷格:如果我也从自己的办公室搬到开放空间去工作,那谁也不能说在那里没办法干活了。拉里·丹柯(丽视高清员工):我太爱我的办公室了。
  拉里·丹柯是丽视高清公司一名66岁的经理,他已经在这里工作了十年,他从第一天起就有属于自己的办公室。
  拉里:我当时的办公室没有窗,有窗的办公室是我辛辛苦苦挣来的,这对我很重要。
  丹柯已经接受了自己即将失去办公室的事实,但他并不盼着那一天的到来,因为对于他来说,办公室代表了一个人的成就与价值。
  托尼·维达(丽视高清员工):那些习惯了他们办公桌上放着来文来函和待发文件的文件夹,等着纸质文件的人,我相信他们不会愿意转向使用电子邮件。
  维达今年31岁。他不认为他所在办公室的变化是两代人之间的事情,他觉得,这只不过是随着时间的推移,完成工作方式的自然演化罢了。
  首席执行官克雷格·马洛伊坦承,对于员工队伍里部分年龄稍大的人来说,这些变化实在是太难接受了。
  克雷格:公司已经失去了一些婴儿潮世代的员工。你也知道,从另一方面讲,大部分企业的管理并不是一个民主机制,我觉得这可以说是一种仁慈的独裁。
  最后,仁慈的独裁者马洛伊表示,公司必须跟上行业的变化,尽管这意味着要放弃一些人。
  Baby Boomer 婴儿潮
  婴儿潮(baby boom)指的是在某一时期及特定地区,出生率大幅度提升的现象。历史上有记载的几次婴儿潮,起因通常是农作物丰收和战争胜利。在婴儿潮时期出生的人称为“baby boomer”。 婴儿潮(baby boom)这个词的首次出现,主要是指美国第二次世界大战后从1946年至1964年的这18年间出生的人,总数高达7800万人。二战后触发婴儿潮的原因,一是由于远赴战场的男人解甲返乡,二是由于战后重建,工厂招工青睐有工作经验的中年女性,而年轻女性赋闲在家,可以安心育儿没有工作压力。通常,Baby Boomer专指二战后的婴儿潮。
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