Want to attract, and keep, top talent? Here's a suggestion: Make a flexible work schedule part of the deal.
想要吸引和留住优秀人才吗？一条建议：提供弹性工作制。
A poll this summer of 1,215 U.S. managers and employees across a variety of industries, by EY (formerly Ernst & Young), found that members of Gen Y, aged 18 to 32, rank flexibility among the perks they want most, with 33% saying they wouldn't work anywhere that didn't offer it. But it seems Gen X values flextime even more: 38% of people aged 33 to 48 consider it non-negotiable, with men who said so, at 40%, slightly outnumbering women (37%).
今年夏天，安永会计师事务所（EY）对美国各行各业的1,215名管理者与员工进行了调查。调查发现，18至32岁的Y一代将弹性工作时间列为最希望得到的特别待遇，33%的受访对象表示，他们会拒绝不提供弹性工作时间的公司。不过，似乎X一代对弹性工作时间更为看重：33至48岁年龄段的受访者中，38%认为弹性工作时间没有商量余地，其中持这种观点的男性（40%）比例略高于女性（37%）。
"Companies first started offering flexible schedules, in the late '80s and the '90s, as a way to recruit and retain talented women, but it's gone way beyond that now," observes Karyn Twaronite, an Ernst & Young LLP partner who came up through the tax side of the business and now holds the title EY Americas Inclusiveness Officer.
安永会计师事务所合伙人卡瑞恩?特瓦罗尼特说：“上世纪80年代晚期和90年代，公司开始提供弹性工作时间，以招募和留住优秀的女性。如今，设置弹性工作时间的目的已经不再仅限于此。”特瓦罗尼特是安永会计师事务所合伙人，从事税务领域工作，目前担任安永美洲区人才战略官。
Noting that both men and women, in all age groups, ranked flextime tops among non-cash perks, Twaronite adds, "That result mirrors exactly what we're seeing here at EY." The accounting and consulting giant, No. 57 on Fortune's Best Companies to Work For, has had thousands of employees working flexible schedules for years -- including, since 2004, six weeks' of paid leave for new dads.
特瓦罗尼特补充道，值得注意的是，所有年龄段的男性和女性都将弹性工作时间列在非现金特别待遇的首位。“调查结果与安永的现状完全一致。”会计与咨询公司安永在《财富》最适宜工作的公司榜单（Fortune's Best Companies to Work For）中排在第57位。公司有数千名员工多年享受弹性工作时间，包括自2004年开始向“新爸爸员工”提供的六周带薪假期。
"One myth is that men won't take paternity leave," says Twaronite. "In fact, I was in the meeting where we decided to start offering it, and there was a lot of skepticism there about whether men would take it." Fast-forward nine years, and Twaronite says "90% of men here, including senior managers, do take at least two weeks, or they spread it out, taking two weeks now and up to four weeks later. The number of men and women taking parental leave now is exactly equal."
特瓦罗尼特说：“有一种错误的观点，认为男性不应该享受陪产假。事实上我参加了公司决定提供陪产假的会议，当时对于男性是否应该享受陪产假存在许多怀疑的声音。”九年过去了，特瓦罗尼特表示，“公司90%的男性，包括高管，至少会休两周，或者分开休假，比如现在休假两周，以后休完剩余的四周。目前，休陪产假的男性和女性人数基本持平。”
Dan Black, EY's Americas director of recruiting, says flexible schedules are "a major advantage in attracting talent, at the entry level right up through the ranks of experienced professionals." He notes that Millennials' insistence on not being bound by a 9-to-5 workday "has emboldened older people to talk about the need for flexibility. It's a big factor in many candidates' decision to come to work here.
安永美洲区招聘主管丹?布莱克说：“不论是对刚入门的新人还是经验丰富的专业人员，弹性工作时间都是吸引人才的重要优势。”他注意到，因为千禧一代对于不受“朝九晚五”工作制约束的坚持，年长一些的员工也开始更有勇气讨论弹性工作时间的必要性。许多求职者之所以决定来安永工作，弹性工作时间是一个重要因素。
"Flextime may have started out as a 'women's issue,' but it's morphed into something that people of both sexes have come to expect," he adds. "I think it's partly because of the large number of two-career households now, where people are having to accommodate two demanding professional schedules instead of just one."
他补充说：“弹性工作时间最初或许是一个“女性问题”，如今，不论男女，所有员工都非常期待这一福利。我认为，这在很大程度上是因为如今有太多的双职工家庭。在这样的家庭，人们需要适应两种要求都很高的专业工作安排，而不是仅仅一种工作安排。”
Black, whose wife is an attorney, speaks from experience: He has been working flexible hours since he joined EY 20 years ago and took four weeks of paternity leave for each of his two children. He now coaches his son's soccer team, plays an active role at a couple of nonprofits, and serves as a volunteer firefighter in his hometown of Archville, N.Y.
这也是布莱克的经验之谈。他的妻子是一名律师：自从20年前加入安永以来，他一直享受弹性工作时间，而且他的两个孩子出生时，他都休了四周的陪产假。目前，他在儿子的足球队担任教练，积极参与几项公益活动，而且还是家乡纽约州阿奇维尔的一名志愿消防员。
The EY survey suggests that, in the next decade or so, the opportunity for a life outside the office will become an even bigger draw -- or deal-breaker -- than it already is. Most of those polled still work a set schedule, the report notes, but "respondents anticipate a shift in the coming years to more flexible hours, as 62% currently work standard office hours and only 50% expect to do so in five to 10 years."
安永的调查显示，未来十年左右，在办公室之外享受生活的机会将更具吸引力——甚至变得至关重要。报告显示，大多数受访者仍按固定时间上下班，但“受访者期望未来几年，工作时间能变得更加灵活。62%受访者目前按标准办公时间工作，仅有50%期望在未来五至十年会延续这样的工作制度。”
That doesn't surprise Karyn Twaronite. "Work is changing," she observes. "The technology to connect anywhere, anytime, means that people are expected to be on call 24 hours a day, especially in global companies that operate across different time zones. The flip side of that is that employers are becoming more accommodating of people's lives outside of work -- because they have to be."
卡瑞恩?特瓦罗尼特对此并不感到意外。她说：“工作正在不断变化。科技让人们可以随时随地保持联络，这意味着人们可以24小时随叫随到，尤其是对于在不同时区运营的跨国公司而言。另一方面在于，雇主们要更加适应员工在工作之外的生活——因为雇主别无选择。”