如何留住不斷跳槽的員工 Stable pay and perks dull equity pain in Silicon Valley

Sagging valuations at upstart tech companies have undoubtedly frustrated their venture capital backers in recent months. Employees who took company shares in lieu of big cash salaries may well be similarly peeved. The question is whether they will be more forgiving of the cracks now appearing in their nest eggs. Part of Silicon Valley’s mythology has been about the rank-and-file workers who hitch themselves to corporate rocket ships full of share options. Soaring equity value has been a key component of morale, retention and recruiting.

近幾個月來，創業型科技企業的估值不斷下降，無疑令作爲其出資人的風險投資家感到鬱悶。不領高薪、反而持有公司股份的員工，很可能感到同樣惱怒。問題在於，他們是否將更能容忍自己的“留窩蛋”上如今出現的裂痕。一直以來，人們對硅谷抱有一些錯誤的幻想，其中之一就是普通員工能夠搭乘滿載股票期權的公司“宇宙飛船”直飛沖天。股權價值大幅上升，一直是公司維持士氣、留住和招募人才的一個關鍵因素。

Simply based on price movements, the situation would now appear to be grim. Twitter is perhaps the most notorious example. Its shares are 7 per cent below their flotation price two years ago and virtually every crucial executive post at the social network has turned over since the listing. In an illustration of its reliance on equity, more than a quarter of direct and operating expenses ($526m) for the first nine months of 2015 at the company are attributable to stock compensation. Several other big-name tech companies are also down on their recent initial public offering prices. Among them are GoPro (30 per cent), Box (7 per cent), and Etsy (40 per cent). Even late-stage private companies Dropbox and Snapchat have suffered sharp markdowns by mutual funds that invest in them.

僅僅從股價變動來講，目前的局勢看來很嚴峻。Twitter可能是最聲名狼藉的一個例子。其股價較兩年前發行價低7%，自上市以來，這家社交媒體公司的幾乎每一個關鍵高管職位都換人了。2015年前三個季度公司的直接和運營費用（5.26億美元），有超過四份之一用於支付員工股票報酬，這表明了該公司對股權報酬方式的依賴。還有幾家知名科技公司的股價也低於不久前的發行價，其中包括GoPro（低30%）、Box（低7%）和Esty（低40%）。甚至晚期未上市企業Dropbox和Snapchat，也被投資它們的共同基金大幅調低估值。

And employee shares typically do not come with the downside protection that venture capital investors are able to negotiate. As such, they are most penalised by falling valuations. But in spite of a job market that remains hot — one venture capitalist says headhunters are too busy to take his new staffing assignments — staff turnover may not be about to spike. Michael Morell, a founder of recruiting firm Riviera Partners in California, says: “There is no groundswell of turnover. Really, only a sliver of people are affected by falling valuations and those are employees who have joined in the last six months. Workers are still deeply in the money … Time horizons to big pay-offs, though, have been extended. But guys who are pissed off are still doing OK”.

員工所持股份通常得不到跌價保護，那是風險投資家才能爭取到的待遇。因此，公司估值下降，他們是最慘的。但是，儘管就業市場仍然紅紅火火（一位風險投資家表示，獵頭公司太忙了，無法接受他的招聘委託），但員工流動率可能還不會大幅升高。加利福尼亞獵頭公司Riviera Partners創始人邁克爾莫雷爾(Michael Morell)說：“目前沒有發生大規模人才流動的情況。實際上，只有一小部分人受到估值下降的影響，就是那些近6個月入職的員工。員工們仍非常有錢……就是獲得高回報的期限被拉長了。不過，那些心裏生氣的傢伙們，目前狀況仍很不錯。”

One reason employees are staying put is that, after companies go public, they shift from paying in riskier private company stock options to more stable “restricted stock” which retain value better. But it may also be that tech workers are not motivated by chasing every last dollar.

員工按兵不動的一條原因是，公司上市之後，它們支付的不再是風險更高的私人公司股票期權，而是更保值、更穩定的“限制性股票”。但是，可能也是因爲科技公司的員工沒有興趣爲了高一點點的工資而不斷跳槽。

Silicon Valley’s top companies — Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon — can still hang on to their staff in the face of competition because they offer a combination of stable pay and perks, such as free meals and even fertility treatments. In addition, shares in these four companies are up an average of 50 per cent this year. One former human relations executive at a big private company describes the problem for start-ups: “Google and a select group of Valley firms effectively set the bar for engineering talent. Rich cash packages and equity layered over time creates a disincentive at best and handcuffs at worst.”

面對人才爭奪戰，Facebook、谷歌(Google)、蘋果(Apple)和亞馬遜(Amazon)等硅谷的頂級公司仍可以留住員工，因爲他們提供穩定的薪水和額外福利，比如免費餐食和助孕治療方面的補助。此外，今年這4家公司股價的平均漲幅達50%。一家大型私人公司的前人力資源高管描述了創業型企業的這個問題：“谷歌等數家硅谷頂尖公司實際上爲技術人才的待遇設立了標準。豐厚的現金酬勞計劃，加上隨年限增長的股權，往好裏說是阻止員工離職的一個因素，往壞裏說會帶來桎梏。”

When engineers do defect, it’s not all about the money. Says Mr Morrell, the recruiter: “Money seems to be the second, third, or fourth priority. It isn’t the catalyst. For a lot of workers, the question is how much traction does the new company have? Companies are going to have to articulate a real story to convince candidates to jump ship.”

當工程師真的跳槽時，所涉及的不全是錢的問題。獵頭莫雷爾說：“金錢的重要性似乎排到了第二位、第三位，甚至第四位。金錢不是促使員工決心跳槽的因素。對於衆多員工而言，問題在於，這家新公司有多大的吸引力？公司們將不得不講實話，來說服候選人跳槽過來。”

That money-first culture may be quietly shifting on Wall Street, too. Start-up boutique banks continue to sprout. Founders concede that part of their calculation is the chance to keep more of the fees they generate for themselves. But they also say that they also want to be unshackled from the bureaucracy of the big banks.

在華爾街，金錢至上的文化可能也在悄然改變。創業型精品銀行繼續遍地開花。創始人承認，他們的部分考量在於有機會把他們創造的收費中的更多份額留給自己。但他們還表示，他們也想擺脫大銀行的官僚作風。

For younger financiers, private equity firms such as Blackstone have been touting generous maternity leave programmes. Bank graduate trainee programmes, known for their gruelling hours, have softened their demands. Goldman Sachs has also implemented steps to “retain our most talented people for the long term” rather than simply allowing them to defect to hedge fund jobs after two years. Junior analysts can now be promoted directly to the next rung — associate — without having to earn an MBA degree. Traditional MBA recruiting for banks has weakened substantially so the move to hold on to the most junior bankers is savvy.

黑石(Blackstone)等私人股本公司一直在標榜慷慨的產假計劃，以吸引更年輕的金融業人士。以瘋狂加班而聞名的銀行管理培訓生項目，如今也更加仁慈了。高盛(Goldman Sachs)也採取了一些措施，希望“長期留住我們最有才華的員工”，而不是讓他們在兩年之後跳槽到對衝基金去。如今，初級分析師不必取得MBA學位，就可以直接晉升至更高一級的副經理。銀行業原本是MBA畢業生的一個傳統去向，但如今銀行業對MBA畢業生的吸引力已大幅下降，所以努力留住大多數初級員工的做法是明智的。

But even with Saturday nights no longer spent in the office, it remains to be seen what Wall Street can offer to tempt the suddenly idealistic.

但是，即使週六晚上不再得在辦公室度過，我們尚不知道華爾街能用什麼手段留住那些突然想要去追尋理想的員工。