千禧一代員工欠缺忠誠度 爲何愛跳槽

It is often said that youth is wasted on the young. Many twentysomethings are taking that on board — and are taking action by leaving corporate life while they still can.

人們常說年輕人在浪費青春。很多20幾歲的年輕人正接受這一觀點，而且在採取行動，在他們還能改行的時候走人。

In recent months the lack of loyalty among millennial staff has been causing headaches to employers, with the financial sector in particular facing an increasing number of deserters. According to a recent survey by Deloitte, 44 per cent of millennials are looking to leave their jobs within the next two years, while a whopping 66 per cent expect to be gone within five.

最近幾個月，千禧一代員工欠缺忠誠度的問題令僱主頭疼，特別是金融業的跳槽者越來越多。根據德勤(Deloitte)最近的一項調查，44%的千禧一代員工正考慮在未來兩年跳槽，同時高達66%預計在5年內跳槽。

Are millennials simply entitled whingers, so used to a lifetime of excessive praise that they expect high pay and high-profile work from their first day in the office? Or is the problem more fundamental: are these young people simply motivated by different concerns?

千禧一代是否是被寵壞的憤青，如此習慣於過度的讚美，以至於他們在入職第一天就期望得到高工資和出人頭地的工作？抑或問題在於更爲根本的層面：這些年輕人是否受到其他考量的激勵？

I recently left my role at an investment bank, and fellow graduates working in finance have been supportive — many have told me they also have a strong desire to leave in the near future. No one expects to remain in their job long-term.

我最近從一家投行離職，在金融業工作的同齡畢業生支持我，很多人告訴我，他們強烈希望在近期離職。沒有人希望在自己的崗位上長期做下去。

So what can be done to halt the exodus of millennials from the corporate world?

因此，要阻止千禧一代跳槽，我們能做什麼？

One problem is that many companies are the victims of their own recruiting success. This slick process was expertly skewered by the late Marina Keegan, then a Yale student, in her 2011 essay “Even artichokes have doubts”. As Keegan put it: “I’m not special. Their team of recruiters is really good. They come at Yale with a myriad of other consultant firms and banks and sell themselves shamelessly and brilliantly to us from the time we turn twenty.”

問題之一是，很多公司是它們自己招聘成功的受害者。英年早逝的耶魯大學(Yale)學生瑪麗娜•基根(Marina Keegan)在她2011年的文章《連洋薊也有疑問》(Even artichokes have doubts)中，對這種華而不實的招聘過程進行了精闢的刻畫。正如基根所言：“我並不特別。他們的招聘者團隊確實優秀。從我們20歲開始，他們就與其他各家諮詢機構和銀行一起涌來耶魯，無恥但高明地推銷他們自己。”

This seamless recruitment has led many graduates who had never heard of discounted cash-flows or credit derivatives to glide into a job in the sector. Unsurprisingly, many of these young employees soon decide to move on to roles more suited to their interests.

這種無縫的招聘讓很多之前從未聽說過折現現金流或信貸衍生品的畢業生獲得金融行業的工作。毫不意外的是，其中很多年輕員工很快就決定跳槽到更切合自己興趣的工作。

There is more to this exodus than simple mismatching. The drudgery of entry-level jobs within professional services is well documented. Hours are spent grinding away in front of Excel and PowerPoint. A combination of routine tasks and high pressure leads to demoralised juniors. While this has long been the case, what has changed is the loss of the finance industry’s two great pull-factors: prestige and wealth. Since the 2008 crisis, the envy that a City or Wall Street job once inspired among peers has been replaced with opprobrium and judgment.

除了專業不對口，這種跳槽還說明更多問題。專業服務機構入門級工作的單調辛苦已經出了名。新員工每天要在Excel和PowerPoint前面熬過好幾個小時。單調任務和巨大壓力導致初級員工士氣低落。儘管這一點長期如此，但變化是金融業喪失了兩個重要吸引力：聲望和財富。自2008年金融危機以來，倫敦金融城和華爾街工作激勵人們的那種同輩間的羨慕，已被抨擊和評判取代。

In their place, Silicon Valley companies such as Google and Facebook capture the hearts of ambitious graduates. It is hard to stay motivated when, in the eyes of much of society, you are a parasite or even a “vampire squid”.

谷歌(Google)和Facebook等硅谷公司贏得了志向遠大的畢業生的心。如果在社會上很多人眼裏你是一個寄生蟲甚至“吸血烏賊”，那麼你很難保持動力。

And while the industry still pays exceptionally well, if even a young banker cannot buy a house in London, what is the point in working so hard?

儘管該行業的薪資仍特別高，但如果連一位年輕的銀行家都無法在倫敦買到一棟獨立屋，那麼如此賣命工作又有什麼意義呢？

Millennials are looking for the same things that young people have always wanted in a career: interesting work, financial security, good prospects and a job they can take pride in. If employers are serious about retaining talent for the long-term they should start by getting the right people in the door.

千禧一代在尋找年輕人一直想從職場獲取的東西：有趣的工作、經濟保障、良好前景以及一份他們可以引以爲傲的工作。如果僱主對於長期留住人才態度認真的話，他們應該從招聘合適的員工起步。

By expanding hiring away from purely elite university applicants, a smaller but more loyal cohort of employees could surely be found.

如果把招聘範圍從精英大學的小圈子擴大到更多大學，那麼數量較少但更爲忠誠的員工肯定是找得到的。

And if, as seems to be happening, profits in the industry are dropping to more ordinary levels, the workplace culture should change to reflect that. Shorter hours, less weekend work and the feeling that there is a life outside the office would go a long way to alleviating the monotony of entry-level jobs.

如果該行業的利潤降至更普通的水平（現在似乎正是如此），那麼職場文化應該有所改變，以反映這點。縮短工作時間、減少週末加班以及對於辦公室以外還有生活的感覺，會大大有利於緩解入門級工作的單調乏味。

This normalisation may further reduce the appeal of finance to the most ambitious and competitive of graduates. And if that means that fewer potential scientists, engineers and artists end up working in the financial sector, then that may be no bad thing.

這種正常化可能會進一步降低金融業對於最雄心勃勃且最有競爭力的畢業生的吸引力。如果這意味着較少的潛在科學家、工程師和藝術家最終在金融行業工作，那麼這或許不是件壞事。