公司培訓新員工做的投資到底值不值大綱
Young people have many romantic notions about their first jobs -- what they'll be paid, what they'll do. But perhaps the most poignant misconception is that employers will invest time in developing their skills.
年輕人對於自己的第一份工作總是會抱有許多浪漫的幻想——比如薪水、工作內容等等。但或許最令人心酸的錯誤想法是，僱主會花時間培養他們的能力。
A recent Accenture survey found that 77% of those set to graduate from college in 2013 expected to receive formal training in their first jobs. But only 48% of those in the classes of 2011 and 2012 reported being trained.
埃森哲公司（Accenture）最近的一項調查發現，2013年即將畢業的大學生中，77%的人期待在第一份工作中接受正式培訓。但在2011屆和2012屆的畢業生中，報告接受過培訓的卻只有48%。
"There's a disconnect between employers' expectations of grads entering with relevant skills and the reality," says Katherine LaVelle, a managing director in Accenture's talent and organization practice -- which is that few college grads have job-specific skills on day one. Adding to the problem? "Given economic constraints, lots of employers have looked to cut back." Training is an easy budget line to trim.
埃森哲公司人才與組織業務常務董事凱瑟琳??拉威爾說：“僱主希望畢業生們來到公司時已經具備相關的能力，但期望與現實之間總是存在差距。”也就是說，很少有畢業生在來公司報道的第一天就已經將掌握了具體的工作技能。更糟糕的是什麼？“由於經濟條件限制，許多僱主都已經打算削減開支。”而培訓是最容易被削減的預算項目。
But some companies that hire young people train extensively and claim that if you focus on skills, it's worth the cash. That's true not only in the long run -- LaVelle notes that trained employees "don't quit as quickly" -- but sometimes even in a new hire's first weeks.
但也有公司招聘年輕人後會進行大量培訓，還表示只要員工集中發展自己的能力，就值得公司對其投資。事實確實如此，從長期來看，拉威爾發現，接受過培訓的員工“不會很快辭職”，而且即使在新招聘人員入職的前幾周內，這種培訓也物超所值。
Most major investment banks outsource a chunk of their new employee training to a company called Training The Street, which runs two- to two-and-a-half-week programs emphasizing financial skills. Founder and CEO Scott Rostan describes his program as "very real time, very hands on, and very practical." One popular exercise? Would-be bankers get a spreadsheet full of financial data "that is basically ugly," Rostan says, and needs to be formatted. Instructors "explain how to do it, step by step, methodically, all the keystrokes to make it better." This usually takes about 15 minutes. Then, during the course of the program, students keep coming back to the spreadsheet to try again. By the end of the program, "most of them can do it in two, three, four, five minutes or less."
大多數大型投資銀行會將新員工培訓外包給一家名爲Training The Street的培訓公司，它會提供爲期兩週至兩週半的培訓課程，重點培訓財務能力。公司創始人兼CEO斯科特??羅斯坦稱公司的課程“非常即時、非常注重實踐、非常實用。”要問最受歡迎的練習是什麼？羅斯坦表示，想要成爲銀行業者的培訓生們會收到一份“令人厭惡的”財務數據電子表格，他們需要對它進行格式化。講師們會“系統講解讓表格變得更完美的具體步驟。”這個過程通常需要15分鐘時間。而在整個培訓過程中，學生們還要經常重新拿出電子表格進行不斷嘗試。培訓結束時，“大多數學生都能在兩到五分鐘甚至更短的時間內完成表格的格式化。”
Such drills have a parallel in sports, Rostan says. "We're training these people to be world-class athletes, so it's about going to the gym and getting the reps down and getting your muscle memory in tune."
羅斯坦認爲，這種練習與體育有相通之處。“比如我們要把這些人訓練成世界級的運動員，肯定就要去體育館，讓他們展開訓練，讓他們的肌肉記憶保持協調。”
The upside for a bank is that by paying for financial skills training, the bank can hire smart liberal arts grads who haven't taken accounting or business courses. This expands the pool of potential hires, but keeps these new staffers from draining the expensive time of senior people on their first projects with questions about what EBITDA means and how to line up numbers on Excel.
銀行出資進行財務能力培訓的好處在於，銀行可以聘用聰明的文科學生，就算他們以前從來沒有學習過會計或商務課程，而這將擴大人才儲備的範圍。此外，新員工們參與第一個項目時，也不會因爲不懂息稅折舊攤銷前利潤（EBITDA）是什麼意思，怎麼在Excel中排列數字這些問題來浪費老員工們的寶貴時間。To be sure, many companies that do train have been trying to find ways to compress training into less time. With young people likely to switch jobs frequently, "there is a fine line between what is effective training and what is overkill," says LaVelle.
確實，許多提供培訓的公司一直在努力壓縮培訓時間。由於年輕人可能會頻繁跳槽，“有效培訓和過度培訓只有一線之差，”拉威爾表示。
But others are holding the line. Enterprise, the rental car company, has become a top employer for new college grads because of its extensive training. After a few weeks in the classroom, new hires spend 8-12 months in a structured program learning to manage an Enterprise location. "It's very transparent," says Marie Artim, vice president for talent acquisition at Enterprise. "They're seeing P&L statements, and learning what it takes to make an impact on them." Management trainees study and practice scheduling, customer service, and accounting. "It's business as a whole."
但也有許多公司仍然堅持提供培訓。汽車租賃公司Enterprise憑藉大量培訓而成爲最受大學畢業生歡迎的僱主。新員工會先在課堂中學習幾周，然後會有8 – 12個月的時間參加一個結構化的培訓項目，學習如何管理Enterprise的租車點。公司人力資源副總裁瑪麗??阿蒂姆說：“整個過程非常透明。新員工們會看到損益表，瞭解哪些因素會影響到損益表。”管理培訓生會學習和練習調度、客戶服務與會計等能力。“它是一個整體。”
Such a long -- and expensive -- training process comes with its risks. There's nothing stopping a rival car rental company from trying to poach Enterprise's new managers after their first year. This "free rider" problem -- when rival companies can capitalize on one company's outsize investment in training -- discourages training in general as the average length of tenure at a company declines.
這種耗時長、投入高的培訓過程存在風險。一年之後，Enterprise沒有任何辦法阻止競爭對手挖走自己精心培養的新管理者。競爭對手公司會利用公司在培訓上的鉅額投入，這種“搭順風車”的行爲導致員工在一家公司內的平均任職時間縮短，進而使培訓的提供受到限制。
But Enterprise claims that its return on investment is still positive because of its internal promotion policy. "We do have a lot of people … who have completely changed careers without changing companies," says Artim. Money spent on training is money not spent on recruiting higher up the ladder. And not everyone who leaves goes to other car rental companies. They go into other industries where "hopefully they'll be great ambassadors for our brand" -- or at least more likely to rent from Enterprise when they're on vacation.
但Enterprise認爲，由於公司的內部晉升政策，它依然從培訓中獲得了積極的投資回報。阿蒂姆說：“確實有許多人並沒有離開公司，而是完全更換了職業。”公司把錢花在培訓上，但卻無需在高層管理人員招聘上投入資金。而且，即便離開公司的人，也並不是全都去了其他汽車租賃公司。他們會進入其他行業，“很有可能成爲公司品牌的宣傳大使”——或者，至少他們在度假時最有可能從Enterprise租車。
Restaurant chain Le Pain Quotidien also trains new hires extensively. Leah Rucinski, training and development manager for Le Pain Quotidien California, started as a server in New York. She reports that someone hired as a server will spend five days with a certified trainer, learning every aspect of the restaurant and -- a tough part of the job, to be sure -- tasting everything on the menu.
連鎖餐廳Le Pain Quotidien也爲新員工提供大量培訓。Le Pain Quotidien加州分公司培訓與發展經理莉亞??魯辛斯基最初只是紐約的一名服務生。她說，被聘爲服務生的員工會跟隨一名認證培訓師學習五天，瞭解酒店的方方面面，包括最辛苦的部分——品嚐菜單上的所有食物。
In orientation, "we teach you to notice what a good cup of espresso and a good cup of coffee tastes like," Rucinski says, and exactly how to make an equally stunning brew. New kitchen staff drill on knife skills, and "one of the really cool things we're working on right now is figuring out a career path for every single position, down to the dishwasher in the kitchen."
魯辛斯基說道，在指導新人過程中，“我們會教新員工辨別，一杯好的濃縮咖啡是什麼樣，一杯好咖啡嚐起來是什麼味道， ”以及怎樣製作一杯同樣絕妙的啤酒。廚房的新員工還要練習刀功。“我們現在做的事很了不起，它將明確每一個職位的職業發展方向，即使是廚房的洗碗工也不例外。”
That means that training doesn't stop after those first five days. LPQ offers all kinds of classes, such as bread-baking courses at regional bakeries, or catering classes featuring relay races to see who can fill a tray quickest. "We never want you to get bored," Rucinski says. "We feel if we put time and money into developing our people, they'll last with us and grow with us."
它意味着，培訓不會在五天之後便宣告結束。LPQ提供各種培訓班，例如在地區麪包店裏提供的麪包烘焙課程，或採取接力賽形式的餐飲課程，看誰能以最快的速度裝滿托盤。“我們不希望員工對工作感到厭煩，”魯辛斯基說。“我們認爲，如果我們把時間和資金投入到對人才的培養當中，他們便會始終與我們在一起，與我們共同成長。”
