工作在高盛:人均年薪38萬美金
Two hundred feet above lower Manhattan in an airy modern conference room, some 20 employees are sitting elbow to elbow as they participate in a meditation session. Breathing in, then out, they heed the guidance of their instructor, who tells them to count to five silently -- and to start over every time their attention wavers. "Notice where your mind wanders to, " she implores. "Let go of the day's stresses."
在下曼哈頓區上空兩百英尺，約20名員工肩並肩坐在一間寬敞的現代化會議室裏，參加冥想課程。他們跟着導師的指導吸氣和呼氣。導師讓他們在心中默數五個數，每次注意力動搖的時候就重頭開始默數。導師輕聲說：“注意你的思緒會飄向何處。放下今天的壓力。”The course grew out of the company's Resiliency Week, a wellness initiative on stress management, happiness, and work-life balance over five days. It's one of a number of unconventional perks at this plush workplace. Others include a tai chi club, five-times-a-week Pilates, bubble tea in the café, a champion dragon-boating team, lectures from visitors such as Derek Jeter, and an all-night scavenger hunt for charity.
這項冥想課程源自這家公司的“每週恢復”健康計劃，涉及在五個工作日內的壓力管理、幸福和工作生活平衡問題。而它只是這個舒適的工作場所提供的諸多非常規福利中的一項。其他福利還包括太極俱樂部、每週五次的普拉提課程、餐廳的泡泡茶、曾奪冠的龍舟隊、邀請嘉賓到公司演講（如棒球明星德瑞克?基特），以及出於慈善目的舉辦的通宵尋寶遊戲等。It may sound like the Googleplex, but you'll find Hermès rather than hoodies here: The meditators work forGoldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), the venerable 144-year-old investment bank. Yes, the one that's been in the cross hairs in recent years as it both reeled from and was blamed for the financial crisis; yes, the one where 70- to 80-hour workweeks are considered routine. Say hello to the other side of this company. Beyond the headlines, there's a unique culture and a remarkably satisfied workforce. We swear. And people are dying to get jobs here.
這些聽起來像是谷歌總部纔會有的活動，但在這裏你會看到人們穿的是愛馬仕（Hermès），而不是衛衣，而這些冥想者們都在爲高盛（Goldman Sachs）工作。這家可敬的投資銀行已有144年的歷史。近幾年，高盛一直處在風口浪尖，因爲金融危機而備受指責和批評；而且，在這裏每週工作70至80個小時更是家常便飯。但這家公司也有另外的一面。除了媒體上的報道外，這家公司有着獨特的文化和對公司非常滿意的員工。我們發誓，人們都渴望能在這家公司找到一份工作。
Don't take our word for it. Ask the employees. Goldman Sachs is No. 45 this year on Fortune's annual list of 100 Best Companies to Work For, the definitive ranking of corporate workplaces based on employee feedback. And no, this isn't the result of a new mission to improve working conditions: Goldman has earned a spot on our list every year since we started it in 1998 -- and it's one of just 13 companies that can make that claim. (J.P. Morgan (JPM, Fortune 500) and Merrill Lynch are the only other big investment banks to ever make the list, and not since in 1999.) This year Goldman employees helped to bump up their company 48 slots.
別懷疑我們說的話。大家可以問一問那裏的員工。高盛在今年的《財富》100家最適宜工作的公司排行榜上名列第45位。這份榜單以員工反饋爲依據對工作場所進行排名。自1998年該榜單設立以來，高盛年年上榜。榜單上像這樣的“常青樹”一共也只有13家公司。【摩根大通（J.P. Morgan）與美林集團（Merrill Lynch）是其他兩家曾經上榜的大型投資銀行，但他們直到1999年以後纔開始上榜。】今年，高盛員工幫助公司的排名上升了48位。What gives? Conventional wisdom might say it's the money that keeps people sated here. Indeed, the firm saw average compensation of roughly $380, 000 over the past 12 months. And while that number skews high because of multimillion-dollar paychecks at the top, Goldman typically sets aside more cash for compensation per employee than any other major bank.
爲什麼會這樣？傳統觀念認爲，人們之所以對這裏心滿意足無非是因爲錢。確實，過去12個月，這家公司的平均薪酬約爲380,000美元。雖然公司高層數百萬美元的高額薪酬讓這個數字有些虛高，但高盛員工的薪酬的確一直高於其他大型銀行。But according to 62 pages and more than 40, 000 words of unfiltered employee comments collected by the Great Place to Work Institute (which conducts the employee survey) and reviewed by Fortune, it's not just the pay that makes the employees so fond of their firm. Nor is it the swank corporate headquarters, the four-month maternity leave, or an obsessive devotion to philanthropy.
然而，員工意見顯示，他們熱愛這家公司並不只是因爲薪酬。更不是由於氣派的公司總部，長達四個月的產假，也不是因爲對慈善捐助的癡迷。針對此次榜單，卓越工作場所研究院（Great Place to Work Institute，負責員工調查）共從這家公司收集了62頁超過40,000字未經過濾的員工意見，並經過《財富》雜誌審覈。Above all else, employees say, it's the opportunity to work with, and count yourself among, an ultra-elite group. Less than 3% of 97,600 applicants for analyst and associate roles won a seat at the firm last year, making it twice as hard to get into as Harvard. That, plus what employees describe as a flat, consensus-driven, collaborative culture (there are 188 references to "team" in those 62 pages), is what they say they like about their company. "You don't have to be the smartest person, but it's probably the highest combination of smart and interesting and interested-in-the-world kind of people," says Lloyd Blankfein, the 31-year veteran who became chairman and CEO in 2006 and who, according to the most recent SEC filing, has more than 21 million reasons to agree that Goldman Sachs is a splendid company to work for.
員工表示，他們最注重的是能夠有機會與一羣超級精英共事，並有望成爲其中一員。去年，共有97,600人申請高盛公司的分析師和助理職位，而最終錄用率不到3%，進入高盛的難度是考哈佛的兩倍。此外，員工形容爲扁平的、共識驅動的合作文化（在62頁調查意見中，共有188次提到了“團隊”），也是他們喜歡這家公司的一個原因。勞埃德?布蘭克費恩說：“你不一定是最聰明的人，但我們這裏一定是由聰明的人、有趣的人和對世界好奇的人所組成的最強組合。”勞埃德?布蘭克費恩在高盛工作了31年，2006年就任公司董事會主席兼CEO。據美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的最新文件來看，他至少有2,100萬個理由爲高盛入選最適宜工作的公司投贊成票（SEC文件顯示，他在2012年的年薪是2,100萬美金）。To be sure, the past few years have been anything but easy at Goldman. There was the financial crisis and ensuing bailout, in which it took $10 billion from the government. There was scrutiny that led to a $550 million settlement with the SEC over a subprime-mortgage product, and a Department of Justice inquiry (which was later dropped). There was Goldman-bashing everywhere, from late-night talk shows to President Obama to a round of books critical of the firm's ethics. And there was the press -- most notably the 2009 Rolling Stone article that compared the company to a vampire squid. Yet another challenge: regulators cracking down to stamp out the type of risky trading Goldman always did best. The business community never quite shared the vitriol -- clients stayed loyal, and in 2010, even as Main Street's antipathy toward Wall Street crested, the firm climbed seven spots in Fortune's list of the World's Most Admired Companies. But that doesn't always help when almost every article about the company still refers to that cephalopod.
確實，過去幾年，高盛的日子並不好過。它先是遭遇金融危機，緊接着在美國政府的救助計劃中接受了100億美元的救助。後來，面對SEC針對它次貸產品的審查，這家公司不得不付出5.5億美元達成和解。此外，它還要面對美國司法部的調查（後來調查被中止）。此後，對於高盛的抨擊遍地開花，從午夜脫口秀，到奧巴馬，以及一系列批評公司道德的新書等。其中當然也少不了媒體的聲音，最著名的是2009年，《滾石》雜誌（Rolling Stone）把這家公司比作一隻吸血烏賊。它還要面臨另外一個難題：監管機構採取嚴厲措施遏制高盛最擅長的高風險交易。然而，這些批評和嘲諷並沒有影響到商界——它的客戶依然忠誠，而且在2010年，“緬因街”（代表普通大衆——譯註）對華爾街的反感達到最高潮的時候，這家公司在《財富》“全球最受讚賞的公司”榜單（World's Most Admired Companies）上的名次依然上升了七位。但儘管如此，幾乎每一篇文章仍然把高盛比喻成“吸血烏賊”。It's true, though, that if Goldman is a great place to work, no one would ever call it an easy place to work. The pressure can be intense. But employees say the upside of admission makes it worthwhile -- and many say those difficult years after the meltdown had the effect of bringing people together in a way that boosted corporate self-esteem. "I will always believe that the culture was one of the most important factors in getting us through the crisis," says John Rogers, the firm's executive vice president and chief of staff to its last three CEOs.
雖然高盛是最適宜工作的公司之一，但沒有人會認爲這裏是工作最輕鬆的地方，毋庸置疑。高盛員工都面臨巨大的壓力。但員工們表示，積極的一面讓這一切都變得值得。而且許多員工認爲，經濟危機之後陷入困境的這幾年反而讓公司的同仁們變得更加團結，集體榮譽感也得到了提升。高盛執行副總裁約翰?羅傑斯曾擔任之前三任CEO的幕僚長，他說：“我始終相信，公司文化是讓我們度過危機最重要的因素之一。”
