具體情況具體分析 職場也可以吃"回頭草"

It's a potential career nightmare: You switch jobs, only to realize days or weeks later that it was all a huge mistake.
或許是職業道路上的噩夢：換了一份工作，幾天或幾星期之後才發現自己犯了一個大錯。

While it may seem inconceivable, it is possible to make the dreaded employment U-turn.
職場上吃回頭草是人們避之唯恐不及的事情，可能顯得不可理喻，但它還是可行的。

Bouncing back to a former employer after quitting isn't the resume killer it once was. People who have done it say it is often worth the humiliation of having to admit a mistake and beg former colleagues to take you back. Returning employees usually end up appreciating their jobs more. And their careers can emerge unscathed, if they give sound reasons for flip-flopping -- and stay put for a while in their second stint.
辭職後跑回原來的單位，已經不像過去那樣會成爲簡歷上的一個污點。那樣做，你不得不承認自己犯了錯誤，乞求以前的同事接受你回去，因而會感到丟人；但真正那樣做過的人說，這常常是值得的。通常來說，回到原單位的員工會更珍視自己的工作。另外，如果能說出讓人信服的變卦理由，並且在回去之後繼續工作一段時間不跳槽，他們的職業發展也可以不受影響。

'The new normal is that movement from job to job is tolerated' in many fields, says Bob Damon, president of the Americas for Korn/Ferry International, a Los Angeles-based executive-search and leadership-consulting firm. With companies rushing to adapt to changing markets, it is increasingly easy to make mistakes matching people to jobs, he says. And a shortage of skilled workers in many fields makes more companies 'perfectly willing to take back good employees.'
洛杉磯高管獵頭兼領導力諮詢公司光輝國際(Korn/Ferry International)美洲區總裁鮑勃·戴蒙(Bob Damon)說，在很多領域中，“容忍跳槽已經成爲新的常態”。他說，企業都在爭先恐後地適應風雲變幻的市場，人員與崗位的搭配越來越容易出錯。而很多領域缺乏熟練程度高的員工，使越來越多的企業“巴不得讓好員工回來”。

U-turns happen most often among people in design, tech, media agencies and consulting firms, says Tim McIntyre, chief executive of the Executive Search Group, of South Glastonbury, Conn. Some job-changers say they boomerang back because they miss a workplace culture or a respected boss. Others quit to join an entrepreneurial venture, then return after the opportunity fizzles.
康涅狄格州南格拉斯頓伯裏高管獵頭集團（Executive Search Group）的首席執行長蒂姆·麥金太爾(Tim McIntyre)說，吃回頭草的現象在設計、科技、傳媒和諮詢公司裏面最爲常見。有些換工作的人說，之所以回來，是因爲他們想念某種工作氛圍或某個受尊重的老闆。另一些人辭職加入某個初創企業，機會消失之後又回來了。

John Turner's U-turn took just 18 months. He left his job as director of business analysis for Healthways, a Franklin, Tenn., company, after a headhunter recruited him in 2011. Mr. Turner had worked with data to help develop and track behavioral-change programs for improving the health and well-being of its customers' patients and employees.
約翰·特納(John Turner)吃回頭草僅用一年半的時間。他原先是田納西州富蘭克林Healthways公司的業務分析總監，2011年一家獵頭公司挖他，他便辭掉了這份工作。特納在Healthways的工作是梳理數據，幫助開發和跟蹤旨在改善客戶單位病人及員工健康和幸福感的行爲變化項目。

At his new employer, Walgreen Co., he scored a raise, a corner office in the company's Nashville offices and an opportunity to work with a huge health-care database at a company nearly 100 times Healthways' size in both employment and sales. As a senior director of client-enterprise reporting, he oversaw five data-analysis teams in three states.
在新公司Walgreen Co.，他獲得加薪，在公司的納什韋爾辦事處坐上了寬敞明亮的角落辦公室，還有機會在一個員工數量和銷售額都接近Healthways公司100倍的企業裏面處理一個龐大的醫療數據庫。作爲負責客戶企業情況彙報的高級總監，他管理着三個州的五個數據分析團隊。

After seven years at Healthways, though, Mr. Turner had grown accustomed to its intense fitness-focused culture. He wore workout gear to the office, took on-site yoga classes and ran with colleagues at lunch; Healthways Chief Executive Ben Leedle was his teammate for two overnight relay races. And Mr. Turner got free advice over the phone from a personal-health coach provided by the firm.
但特納在Healthways工作了七年，已經習慣於它強烈關注身體健康的氛圍。他穿着鍛鍊行頭上班，參加公司現場的瑜伽課，並在午休期間和同事一起跑步。Healthways的首席執行長本·理德爾(Ben Leedle)是他兩次參加通宵接力賽時的隊友。特納還通過電話接受一名個人健康教練提供的免費諮詢服務，由公司出錢。

By contrast, during his first week at Walgreens, when Mr. Turner told his new co-workers he was running a half-marathon, he says 'everybody looked at me like I had two heads.' Separated from his fitness-minded former colleagues, he says he stopped exercising and gained nearly 25 pounds over the next year.
相比之下，據特納說，剛進Walgreens工作的那個星期，當他跟新同事說他在跑半程馬拉松時，“所有人看我的眼神都像我長了兩個腦袋一樣”。他說，與關心健康的前同事分開之後，他不再鍛鍊，一年時間裏體重便增加接近25磅（約11公斤）。

Mr. Turner thought he would like having a private office, after working for years in Healthways' open-plan headquarters. To his surprise, 'I missed the open space, ' which fostered deskside meetings and easy access to higher-ups, he says. And the sheer size of Walgreens, with $72.2 billion in annual sales and 240, 000 employees, made it harder, he says, to make changes or see how his data analysis benefited customers.
在Healthways總部的開放式辦公室工作數年之後，特納覺得他想要一間私人辦公室。他說，結果讓他意外的是，“我想念那種開放空間”，因爲那種空間有利於跟同事在辦公桌邊碰面，而且很容易見到上級。他說，Walgreens公司單憑其年銷售收入722億美元、員工24萬人的規模，就使改革變得更難，也更難看到他的數據分析給客戶帶來了什麼樣的好處。

Despite its size, says Michael Polzin, a spokesman for Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens, the company has an 'entrepreneurial spirit, ' with initiatives like pharmacist-administered flu shots and free mobile apps for refilling prescriptions. The company doesn't comment on individual employees, he says.
Walgreens公司總部位於伊利諾依州迪爾菲爾德，其發言人邁克爾·波爾青(Michael Polzin)說，儘管規模很大，這家公司仍然有一股“創業精神”，比如有藥劑師負責注射流感疫苗的項目，以及補開處方藥的免費手機應用程序等。他說，公司不對員工個人發表評論。

Mr. Turner says he liked his Walgreens colleagues and the company's focus on customer service. Like many managers there, he worked at a Walgreens store in his neighborhood over the holidays in 2011. He performed well and was promoted to vice president. But at home with his wife Katie and their two children, Ellie Kate, 4, and Jack, 2, Mr. Turner says, 'I was depressed. I wasn't as engaged.'
特納說，他喜歡Walgreens的同事，以及這家公司對客戶服務的專注度。2011年節假日期間，和該公司的很多管理人員一樣，他在自己社區的一家Walgreens藥店上班。他表現很好，被提拔爲副總裁，但特納說，回到家和妻子凱蒂(Katie)及兩個孩子（大的四歲，叫埃莉凱特(Ellie Kate)；小的兩歲，叫傑克(Jack)）在一起時，“我感到消沉。我不像原來那樣全神貫注了。”He stuck it out for a year and stayed six weeks after resigning to help his boss, then spent several months at home caring for his children and thinking things over. After exploring and rejecting two other job prospects as 'exactly what I just left, ' he says, he decided to try to return to Healthways at any pay, in any job.
他堅持了一年，辭職後爲給老闆幫忙又呆了六個星期，接下來幾個月都在家裏看孩子，想事情。他說，他在重新找工作期間拒掉了兩個機會，因爲那兩份工作“跟我剛剛辭掉的工作完全一樣”。之後他決定嘗試回到Healthways工作，什麼工資、崗位都行。

One criterion for a successful U-turn, Mr. Damon says, is to explain what has changed since the employee quit. 'An employer needs assurance' it won't get dumped again for the same reasons, he says.
戴蒙說，要成功地吃回頭草，有一個條件便是解釋辭職以來，員工哪些方面發生了變化。他說，用人單位需要確保它不會再次因爲同樣的原因被員工炒魷魚。

In an email to Mr. Leedle in fall 2012, Mr. Turner described his change in attitude. After 'some soul-searching, ' he wrote, he realized he had taken for granted what he had at Healthways, including employees' focus on 'creating a healthier world one person at a time.' That mantra is sandblasted into the front walkway of the company's headquarters.
2012年秋，特納給理德爾寫電子郵件描述他態度的改變。他寫道，經過“一些反思”之後，他意識到自己把他在Healthways擁有的一切看成是理所當然的而沒有珍惜，包括員工專注的目標──“創造更健康的世界，一次一個人”。公司的這個口號用噴沙器印在總部正門前的走道上。

Mr. Leedle says he was glad to receive Mr. Turner's email. If employees who perform well 'have slipped away, we're happy to re-engage them, ' he says. Healthways found a spot for Mr. Turner within a month as a director of market analytics, at the same pay as his Walgreens job.
理德爾說，他收到特納的電子郵件感到很高興。他說，如果表現好的員工“悄悄溜走了”，“我們樂於重新聘用他們”。Healthways在一個月之內就爲特納找到了一個市場分析總監的職位，工資跟他在Walgreens一樣。

Asking to return was gut-wrenching, Mr. Turner says. 'It's hard to admit to an entire company of people you respect that you were wrong.' But he got a warm welcome, and no one criticized him.
特納說，請求迴歸是很痛苦的。他說：“向你所尊重的全公司的人承認自己錯了，是一件困難的事情。”但他受到熱烈的歡迎，沒有誰批評他。

Employers have different rules about rehiring employees. A few ban the practice altogether, to encourage loyalty. Many others classify departing employees as 'eligible for rehire' or not, based on performance, says Paul Rubenstein, an executive at Aon Hewitt, a Lincolnshire, Ill., benefits-consulting firm.
不同用人單位對於重新聘用員工有着不同的規定。有些公司完全禁止這樣做，以鼓勵員工效忠。伊利諾依州Lincolnshire薪酬諮詢公司Aon Hewitt的高管保羅·魯本斯坦(Paul Rubenstein)說，另外很多公司根據離職員工的績效把他們分爲“適合重新聘用”或“不適合重新聘用”兩類。

A successful U-turn requires more from the former employee than just a humble-pie moment. Most employers like to see such resume rebounds 'bookended by years of a solid track record on each side, ' says Executive Search Group's Mr. McIntyre.
回頭草要吃好，前員工需要做的就不只是低聲下氣一會兒。高管獵頭集團的麥金太爾說，大部分用人單位都希望在回頭員工的簡歷上看到，他或她在跳槽“前後都有多年紮實的成績”。

Mr. Turner, 41, isn't likely to move on soon. Perks he regarded in the past as 'cheesy, ' such as yoga classes, make sense to him now. 'I realized that is what makes us a living lab, ' he says. He works in the open at a standing desk, fueling impromptu meetings with colleagues at all levels.
現年41歲的特納短期內不太可能繼續跳槽。原先他覺得廉價的福利（比如瑜伽課）現在對他而言都是很有意義的事情。他說：“我意識到正是這些東西使我們構成了一個生活實驗室。”他用一個站立式工作臺在開闊區域辦公，跟各個級別的同事說開會就開會。

Other people bounce back to an old employer after a new venture falls short. David Greene quit his job as an account executive at SAS, a Cary, N.C., maker of business-analytics software, in 2005 to become vice president of a digital-imaging startup co-founded by a friend, where he hoped to use his skills as a photographer.
另一些人則是在創業失敗之後回到原來的單位。2005年，戴維·格林(David Greene)辭去北卡羅萊納州卡里市商業分析軟件公司SAS的客戶經理職務，在一位朋友與人共同成立的一家數字成像公司當上了副總裁，希望在這家初創公司將自己的攝影技能派上用場。

Mr. Greene didn't leave without misgivings. When he helped tour customers around SAS headquarters a week before leaving, explaining the on-site health-care, child-care and fitness centers and other benefits that keep the company's turnover low, he thought, 'I'm crazy for leaving here, ' he says. He took pains to depart on good terms, giving a month's notice and helping train his replacement.
格林辭職的時候還是有些糾結的。還有一個星期離開的時候，他和人帶着客戶在SAS總部參觀，介紹公司內部的醫務中心、託兒所、健身中心，以及其他一些旨在降低公司人才流失率的福利。當時他想：“我好想離開這裏。”他儘自己的努力做到好聚好散，提前一個月通知了公司，並幫助培訓他的接替者。

Just 3 1/2 months later, the startup changed direction and dropped the photo-sharing business that had attracted him. Mr. Greene stayed 14 more months, doing a different job that didn't interest him.
僅僅三個半月過後，這家創業公司調整方向，放棄了之前吸引他過去的圖片分享業務。格林在這家公司又呆了14個月，做另外一份自己並不感興趣的工作。

Mr. Greene says he probably stayed six months too long. Korn/Ferry's Mr. Damon recommends moving quickly after realizing a new job is a mistake. 'If you decide to leave, every day longer that you spend there is another day you'll feel unhappy and unfulfilled, ' Mr. Damon says.
格林說，他可能多呆了半年時間。光輝國際的戴蒙建議，在意識到新工作是一個錯誤之後要趕緊行動。戴蒙說：“如果你決定走人，多呆一天，你就多一天感到不滿意，沒有成就感。”

But Mr. Greene, 50, says he learned new organizational and leadership skills. And when he reached out to former SAS colleagues in 2007, he was offered and accepted a job within a few days.
但現年50歲的格林說，他學到了新的組織能力和領導能力。2007年，他主動聯繫原來在SAS的同事，沒幾天公司就給了他一份工作，他接受了。