大型科技公司對畢業(yè)生的吸引力正在減退

Big Tech might be concerned about government fines and PR emergencies, but its biggest problem could be failing to recruit and keep talented staff. Some high-profile leavers are going public with their complaints about the companies and the lure of Big Tech for graduates is being eroded.

大型科技公司可能會擔心政府罰款和公關緊急情況，但其最大的問題可能是無法招聘和留住有才華的員工。一些備受矚目的離職者正在公開他們對公司的抱怨，同時大型科技公司對畢業(yè)生的吸引力正在減退。

Last month, for example, Meredith Whittaker — one of the leaders of 2018’s 20,000-strong Google staff walkout to protest against the company’s handling of sexual misconduct cases — announced she was leaving the company to focus on her work at the AI Now Institute (which researches the ethical implications of artificial intelligence). In April, Ms Whittaker said she had been told she would have to “abandon” that work if she wanted to remain at the group.

例如在上月，梅雷迪思•惠特克(Meredith Whittaker)宣布她將離開谷歌(Google)，以專注她在AI Now Institute的工作(研究人工智能的倫理影響)。2018年，她參與領導了谷歌兩萬多員工罷工抗議該公司對性騷擾事件的處理。今年4月，惠特克說她被告知，如果她想繼續(xù)留在谷歌，就得“放棄”AI Now Institute的工作。

This month, an anonymous employee memo went viral at Google. “I’m Not Returning to Google after Maternity Leave, and Here is Why” alleged discrimination by a manager.

本月，一份匿名的員工備忘錄在谷歌傳播開來。這份備忘錄題為“我不會在產(chǎn)假之后回到谷歌，原因如下”，指控了一位經(jīng)理的歧視。

According to a recent CNBC report based on conversations with former Facebook recruiters, the company has been struggling to win over graduates in the wake of last year’s Cambridge Analytica scandal. (Facebook has denied this.) The report says: “Among top schools, Facebook’s acceptance rate for full-time positions offered to new graduates has fallen from an average of 85 per cent for the 2017-2018 school year to between 35 per cent and 55 per cent as of December.” It also charted a flight from Facebook to competitors (Google), or rising companies such as Airbnb, Stripe and Lyft. The report cited ethical and political concerns among candidates, as well as the relevance of Facebook as a brand among young people.

根據(jù)美國消費者新聞與商業(yè)頻道(CNBC)最近發(fā)布的一則基于與Facebook前招聘人員談話的報道，F(xiàn)acebook在去年劍橋分析公司(Cambridge Analytica)丑聞之后，一直很難爭取到畢業(yè)生入職(Facebook對此予以否認)。報道稱：“截至去年12月，F(xiàn)acebook向一流學校應屆畢業(yè)生提供的全職職位的接受率已從2017-2018學年的平均85%降至35%至55%之間。”報道還顯示，求職者從Facebook轉投其競爭對手(谷歌)或者愛彼迎(Airbnb)、Stripe和Lyft等新興公司的門下。報道指出這是求職者對道德和政治的擔憂所致，也與Facebook作為一個品牌在年輕人當中的重要性有關。

Companies that started as plucky upstarts offering their staff autonomy, creativity and impact are now state-like global bureaucracies. And the long hours culture (fuelled by those free pizzas) has lost its appeal as burnt-out millennials seek work-life balance. PwC estimates 88 per cent of millennials want to work for companies whose values mirror their own.

一些公司最初曾是勇敢奮斗的初創(chuàng)企業(yè)，員工在公司里可以獲得自主權、創(chuàng)造力和影響力，現(xiàn)在這些公司已成為像政府一樣的全球官僚機構。筋疲力盡的千禧一代現(xiàn)在追求工作與生活的平衡，長時間工作的文化(由那些免費的披薩推動)已經(jīng)失去了吸引力。普華永道(PWC)估計，88%的千禧一代希望為價值觀與自己一致的公司工作。

Sarah Drinkwater, a former senior Google staffer and now director at the Tech and Society Solutions Lab at Omidyar Network, says that revelations about the role of some tech companies during the Brexit vote and US election “presented so many interesting problems. Misinformation. Bias. Inequality. Tech workers are seeing the connection between all these things and wanting to do something about them.”

前谷歌高級職員、現(xiàn)任奧米戴爾網(wǎng)絡(Omidyar Network)技術與社會解決方案實驗室主任的薩拉•德林克沃特(Sarah Drinkwater)表示，一些科技公司在英國退歐投票和美國大選期間所扮演角色的曝光“揭示出許多有趣的問題。虛假信息，偏見，不平等?？萍脊締T工看到了所有這些事情之間的聯(lián)系，并希望對此做些什么”。

Do the tech groups need to worry? “Previously, if you wanted to work in a digital company, especially a global organisation, there were only a handful available. But now there are many, including Spotify, or Monzo,” says Ms Drinkwater. “Plus, 18-24-year-olds, it’s well established, are looking for more purpose in their work. Purpose can be defined in a few ways but it often comes down to having high-level vision and a sense of personal impact. With huge employee bases, both these things get diluted[in Big Tech]. If tech workers don’t want to feel like a cog in a massive machine, they no longer need to.”

科技公司需要擔心嗎?德林克沃特表示：“以前，如果你想在一家數(shù)字公司工作，特別是一家全球公司，那么只有少數(shù)公司可以選擇。但現(xiàn)在有很多選擇，包括Spotify或Monzo在內(nèi)。此外，18歲至24歲的年輕人顯然正在追求工作中更多的使命感。使命感可以有多種定義，但通常歸結為具有高遠的視野和一種擁有個人影響力的感覺。由于員工基礎龐大，這兩點(在大型科技公司)都被稀釋了。如果科技公司員工不喜歡感到自己像是大型機器中的一個齒輪，那么他們再也不必忍受這種感覺。”

While tech is still lucrative (according to Hired.com the global average salary is $135,000) the distorting impact of tech companies on the cost of living in their stronghold cities increasingly cancels out much of the benefit.

雖然科技公司仍然待遇豐厚(根據(jù)Hired.com的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，全球科技公司平均薪酬為13.5萬美元)，但科技公司對其所在城市生活成本的扭曲影響越來越多地抵消了這種待遇。

“The money could never have been enough,” says Edward Vince, recently appointed Airbnb’s creative director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He has returned to the UK, having relocated to the US five years ago to work at Apple, then Facebook. “When you get to San Francisco, you soon realise that this amazing salary and lifestyle you’re offered comes at a huge compromiseand cost, and won’t make you wealthy in the way that you envision, especially as you realise the cost of living. We spent over $40,000 on childcare last year.”countries that is closer to 20 per cent.

最近被任命為愛彼迎歐洲、中東和非洲創(chuàng)意總監(jiān)的愛德華•文斯(Edward Vince)表示：“錢永遠不夠。”文斯5年前去了美國，先是在蘋果(Apple)工作，然后在Facebook工作，如今已經(jīng)回到了英國。“到了舊金山后，你很快意識到，提供給你的令人贊嘆的薪水和生活方式有著巨大的成本，實際上要大打折扣，而且不會讓你以你想象的方式致富，特別是當你意識到生活成本的時候。我們?nèi)ツ暝谟齼悍矫婊?萬多美元。”

The lack of diversity in Big Tech was also an issue. “There’s a monoculture in the valley. You often don’t interact with anyone until you get to the office. You’re hermeticallysealed and do not experience the real world and yet you are supposed to — in Facebook’s case — be serving a community of 2.5bn. But without any perspective on reality. I found that really concerning.”

大型科技公司缺乏多樣性也是一個問題。“硅谷里是一種單一的文化。在你到辦公室之前，你經(jīng)常不與任何人互動。你是全封閉的，不去體驗現(xiàn)實世界，但如果你在Facebook工作，你應該要為擁有25億用戶的社區(qū)服務。而你卻對現(xiàn)實沒有任何看法。我發(fā)現(xiàn)這真的很讓人擔憂。”