Last summer, Goldman Sachs hired Adam Grant, an author, academic and consultant who has worked with Google and Merck, the drugmaker. His task? Not cost-cutting but finding how young bankers could get the most out of their jobs.
去年夏天，高盛(Goldman Sachs)聘请了亚当•格兰特(Adam Grant)，他是一位作家兼学者，并曾作为顾问为谷歌(Google)和制药企业默克(Merck)工作过。格兰特的任务是什么呢？不是削减成本，而是找出年轻银行家们如何能从他们的工作当中获得最多益处的方法。
Hailed by Malcolm Gladwell, the 32-year-old is a management professor at Wharton business school and best known for his recent book Give and Take , which argued that those who contribute to the success of others gain in the long run.
这种做法得到了马尔科姆•格拉德韦尔(Malcolm Gladwell)的大力赞扬，现年32岁的格拉德韦尔是沃顿商学院(Wharton business school)的管理学教授，最为人所熟知的是他近期出版的《给予和索取》(Give and Take)一书。书中指出，那些为别人的成功作出贡献的人将在长期中获益。
Banks may have a reputation for taking rather than giving, but Prof Grant says Goldman is prepared to indulge its young employees because it is concerned about the risk of losing talent. Hence the creation last year of a “junior banker task force” and its earlier decision to offer permanent contracts to entrants rather than two-year ones.
银行在人们印象中或许更偏向于向员工索取而非给予，但格兰特教授指出，高盛正准备纵容一下自己的年轻雇员，因为该公司对于失去人才的风险深感担忧。因此，高盛于去年创立了“基层银行家特别工作组”。更早之前，该公司还决定向新入职员工提供永久合同，过去只有工作满两年的员工才有机会拿到永久合同。
On Prof Grant’s advice the bank is introducing the “entry interview”. The entry interview’s mission is to discover an employee’s values and goals in more detail than hiring interviews. It has two benefits: an employee feels valued from the outset and the employer can frame the job around their ambitions.
在格兰特教授的建议下，高盛引入了“入职面谈”(entry interview)。入职面谈的目的是为了比招聘面试更加细致地发掘一名雇员的价值观和人生目标。这种做法有两个好处：雇员会从一开始就感觉受到重视，雇主则可以围绕员工的志向给他们安排工作内容。
The entry interview is one example of the sector responding to the changing needs of young investment bankers. “This generation are much more concerned with work-life balance,” says Prof Grant.
入职面谈是一个例子，说明银行业正在针对年轻投资银行家不断变化的需求做出反应。格兰特教授表示：“这一代人明显更加关注工作和生活的平衡。”
They are also impatient to gain experience and responsibilities, not being content to pay their dues as their predecessors once did. Raj Sood, head of Fitch Learning’s graduate business, which teaches trainee investment bankers, observes: “They are much more demanding. They want their careers to move quickly.”
另外，他们在积累经验和承担责任方面缺乏耐心，不甘愿像他们的前辈那样经过多年苦干才得到升职。惠誉培训(Fitch Learning)的毕业生业务专门为投资银行业的新人提供培训服务，该业务的主管拉贾•苏德(Raj Sood)指出：“他们的要求要高得多。他们希望自己能够快速晋升。”
Attempts to change the working lives of junior bankers are also a recognition that the sector will have to offer alternatives to financial incentives.
为改变初级银行家职场生活所做的尝试也可以看作是对以下事实的一种承认：投资银行业有必要在财务激励以外提供其他类型的激励。
While investment bankers still out-earn other professionals, the gap is narrowing. Research by PwC shows that the average pay per head in a sample of nine European and US investment banks has fallen from 9.3 times the private sector average in 2006 to 5.6 times in 2013.
虽然投资银行家的收入仍然高于其他专业人士，但这种收入差距正在缩小。普华永道(PwC)的研究显示，在由欧洲和美国的九家投资银行组成的样本中，样本投行的人均收入与私营部门的人均收入之比从2006年的9.3倍降至了2013年的5.6倍。
Ken McGrath, the co-head of financial sponsors for Europe at Barclays, says: “Post-crisis the world has changed. There has been a shift in perception of the remuneration opportunity in our industry.”
巴克莱欧洲地区财务投资者业务的联席主管肯•麦格拉思(Ken McGrath)表示：“金融危机过后，世界发生了变化。人们对我们行业中薪酬机会的认识发生了改变。”
In the dotcom bubble, banks offered dress-down Fridays and concierge services. Today it is responsibility, intellectual stimulation and a life beyond the office – in theory at least.
在互联网泡沫期间，银行向员工提供星期五便装日、礼宾服务等待遇。而今天，银行应该把重点放在员工的工作职权、智力启发以及办公室以外的生活——至少在理论上。
Most banks now tell juniors to have time off at the weekend and check that holidays are taken. At JPMorgan, those at analyst and associate level – the first two rungs on the ladder – are implored to take five weeks off a year.
多数银行现在会告诉初级雇员，周末要休息，并且还会检查确保员工享受了假期。在摩根大通(JPMorgan)，处于分析师和助理级别的雇员——晋升阶梯上的最低两级——每年被要求休满五周假期。
Such policies may be imperfect, admits Prof Grant, but they are better than vague edicts to work less.
格兰特教授承认，这些政策或许并不完美，但它们比减少工作量的模糊命令要强多了。
In part, this is an attempt to avoid bankers being inward-looking with no understanding of their impact on the world outside. Thomas Cuvelier, a 32-year-old banker who heads AskIvy, which advises wannabe financiers, notes: “If you are a junior banker you are cut off from society. It creates a bubble.” Last summer, Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman’s chief executive, told interns to have interests away from the narrow confines of work.
在一定程度上，这种尝试的意义在于防止银行家将目光集中于公司内部，而对他们给外部世界造成的影响一无所知。今年32岁的银行家托马斯•屈弗利耶(Thomas Cuvelier)是AskIvy的负责人，该网站向有意成为金融家的人提供建议。屈弗利耶指出：“如果你是一名初级银行家，你会从社会当中脱离出来。这种现象帮助制造了市场泡沫。”去年夏天，高盛首席执行官劳尔德•贝兰克梵(Lloyd Blankfein)对该公司的实习生表示，要在狭窄的工作范围之外培养兴趣。
The ambition to help young financiers manage their time is also a response to technology. One describes how emails from different time zones stoked his adrenalised anxiety. “You wake up in the middle of the night and, because you’re stressed and nervous, you check your emails, then get even more nervous because someone is asking for this to be done as soon as possible.”
银行把帮助年轻金融家管理好他们的时间作为目标，这也是对科技发展做出的一种回应。有一个人描述了来自不同时区的电子邮件如何加剧了导致他肾上腺素上升的焦虑感。“你在夜半时分醒来，由于你承受了很大压力，并深感紧张，你会查看电子邮件，然后变得更加紧张，因为有人要求你尽快完成一项工作。”
In 2012, Barclays established an “efficiency committee” to discuss the junior population’s concerns. This yielded guidelines for such things as realistic deadline-setting. After a survey of young bankers found 50 per cent still felt they were being managed inefficiently, the bank decided to add teeth. So junior bankers nominated their three best managers and three worst. If the underperformers do not raise their game they will be hit where it hurts: their pay packet.
2012年，巴克莱成立了一个“效率委员会”，致力于讨论初级员工群体所担心的问题。由此形成了一系列指导原则，包括如何设定切实可行的工作完成期限。针对年轻银行家的一项调查发现，仍有50%的受访者感到他们没有受到有效管理。为此巴克莱决定，加大惩处力度。由初级银行家提名选出他们眼中最优秀以及最糟糕的经理各三位。如果管理不善者没有拿出更好的表现，他们会感到肉痛——他们的薪酬将受到影响。
Banks are also responding to frustration over the mundanity of the early work. One analyst sums it up: “You start with very simple tasks such as looking for data and maybe putting into PowerPoint a slide that was already drafted. When you gradually win your seniors’ confidence, they will give you more responsibility until you reach the ‘holy grail’: doing the Excel model yourself.”
针对单调琐碎的初级工作给员工带来的失落感，投资银行也采取了应对措施。一名分析师总结称：“一开始你做的工作非常简单，例如搜集数据，或者根据已经起草好的提纲用PowerPoint制作幻灯片。当你逐渐赢得了上级的信任时，他们会让你承担更多的职责，最终你将拿到‘圣杯’：即由你自己来制作Excel模型。”
Credit Suisse says it has developed mentoring programmes and increased training. Deutsche Bank has created networking opportunities across the bank and more skill development.
瑞信(Credit Suisse)表示，其已开展多个指导项目，并加强了培训力度。德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)则为员工创造了在整个银行内部建立人脉关系网的机会，并提供了更多的技能培训项目。
There is also the issue of feedback. One second-year analyst explained his frustration over never hearing about client meetings for which he prepared presentations but was not invited to attend. “I’ve told seniors they should spend five minutes debriefing us. It’s interesting and it’s part of the learning curve.”
效果反馈也是一个问题。一名入职一年多的分析师解释称，他的挫败感来自于从未听到过有关客户会议的情况，他为这些会议准备了演示材料，却未获邀请参加。他说：“我已经向上级提出过，他们在会议之后应当花五分钟的时间向我们简单说一下情况。这是一件很有意思的事，同时也是新人学习曲线的一部分。”
In response, banks say they are trying to give young financiers regular informal feedback, rather than year-end reviews. Barclays is asking senior staff to bring juniors to client meetings. Richard Taylor, co-head of the investment banking division at Barclays, says: “We are focused on providing long-term development and a more stimulating career experience.”
作为回应，银行表示正在尝试向年轻的金融家们作出定期非正式的反馈，而非仅仅在年终做出评定。巴克莱要求资深职员带上初级员工参加客户会议。巴克莱投资银行部门的联席主管理查德•泰勒(Richard Taylor)表示：“我们高度重视向员工提供长期发展机会，以及更加激动人心的职业经历。”
Yet ambitions to change the working lives of young bankers for the better may falter if their superiors do not buy into them. Geoff Robinson, who teaches investment bank entrants on behalf of Fitch Learning, has written a paper on how their employers can bridge the generational divide.
但改善年轻银行家职场生活的雄心可能止步不前，如果这些年轻人的上级领导并不认可这种理念的话。惠誉培训为投资银行新人授课的杰夫•罗宾森(Geoff Robinson)曾经写过一篇论文，讨论企业如何弥合代际分歧。
In it he notes: “Senior bankers are used to analysts being in the engine room, not always clamouring for an invitation to the captain’s table.” While this can cause a clash of generations, it does not have to if managers are persuaded that change can “inspire evolution”, he argues.
罗宾森在这篇论文中写道：“资深银行家已经习惯了分析师们待在轮机舱里，而不是这群年轻人不停吵闹着要求获得与船长共坐一桌的邀请。”他指出，虽然这种情况可能导致代际冲突，但如果可以说服经理们接受改变能够“带动发展”的观点，代际冲突并不一定会发生。
So, are the banks’ efforts sufficient?
那么，银行所做的这些努力是否足够呢？
Some junior bankers doubt their commitment, expressing a weary cynicism over the emphasis on reduced hours. One notes: “I’m probably more efficient but I still do a 90-hour week.”
一些初级银行家对银行的诚意心存怀疑，对银行强调缩短工作时间表现出了一种充满厌倦的讥讽态度。某人表示：“我可能是工作效率相对较高的那类人，但我每周仍要工作90个小时。”
Moreover, some predict the pressure will increase rather than abate, particularly for junior recruits, in the wake of job cuts in the sector.
此外，受投资银行业的裁员潮影响，还有一些人预计员工的工作压力将会增大而非减小，对于那些级别较低的新人来说尤其如此。
Alexandra Michel, a former Goldman Sachs banker turned academic, found that after three years at a bank, many junior bankers developed physical tics such as nail biting, hair twirling and insomnia. She is pessimistic: “The banks’ practices have not changed significantly,” she says.
亚力山德拉•米歇尔(Alexandra Michel)曾是高盛的银行家，后来她转行做了学者。米歇尔发现，在银行工作三年以后，很多初级银行家养成了某些习惯性的肢体动作，例如咬指甲、用手指绕头发，此外还有失眠。她感到很悲观，表示：“银行的做法并未出现显著改变。”
Whatever the impact of changes, it will be too late for one 22-year-old who has quit for private equity. “They see us as just commodities. If it’s not you, someone else will do.”
不论银行的改革措施带来了什么影响，对于一位现年22岁的员工来说都已经太晚了——他已经辞去了银行的工作，转入了私募股权投资行业。“他们仅仅把我们看做有用的工具，如果不是你的话，还会有其他人来做这份工作。”