From The Economist print edition
Are you a “binge worker” ? Do you “chunk” your career? Companies are having to find new ways to attract and retain skilled workers

A new magazine was published in America this month. Success is the resurrection of a title first published in 1897 by Orison Swett Marden, an entrepreneur and author of a series of self-help books, including “Getting the Most Out of Life”. The magazine's publisher, Joseph Guerriero, wants today's Success to reflect the contemporary workplace, where, he says, success is measured less by money and titles, and more by what is sweepingly referred to as “work-life balance”. The first issue contains an article about men leaving work to become full-time fathers.

Improving the balance between the working part of the day and the rest of it is a goal of a growing number of workers in rich Western countries. Some are turning away from the ideals of their parents, for whom work always came first; others with scarce skills are demanding more because they know they can get it. Employers, caught between a falling population of workers and tight controls on immigration, are eager to identify extra perks that will lure more “talent” their way. Just now they are focusing on benefits (especially flexible working) that offer employees more than just pay.

Some companies saw the change of mood some time ago. IBM has more than 50 different programmes promoting work-life balance and Bank of America over 30. But plenty of other firms remain unconvinced and many lack the capacity to cater to such ideas even if they wanted to. Helen Murlis, with Hay Group, a human-resources consultancy, sees a widening gap between firms “at the creative end of employment” and those that are not.

The chief component of almost all schemes to promote work-life balance is flexible working. This allows people to escape rigid nine-to-five schedules and work away from a formal office. IBM says that 40% of its employees today work off the company premises. For many businesses, flexible working is a necessity. Globalisation has spread the hours in which workers need to communicate with each other and increased the call for flexible shifts.

Nella Barkley, an American who advises companies on work-life balance, says that large firms are beginning to understand the value of such schemes, “but only slowly”. For most of them, they still mean little more than child care, health care and flexible working.

Yet some schemes go well beyond these first steps. American Century Investments, an investment manager in Kansas City, pays adoption expenses and the cost of home-fitness equipment for its employees. Rob Marcolina, a gay consultant with Bain & Company based in Los Angeles, was allowed time off to marry his partner in Canada, and another break to look after their daughter when she was born to a surrogate mother. Mr Marcolina, who has an MBA from the high-ranked Kellogg business school, says his employer's understanding makes him want to be “part of Bain for some time”.

Businesses have other good reasons for improving employees' work-life balance. Wegmans Food Markets, a grocery chain based in Rochester, New York, frequently appears near the top of lists of the best employers in America. It has a broad range of flexible-work programmes, which gives it one of the lowest rates of employment turnover in its industry—8% a year for full-time workers, compared with 19% across the industry.

Simple programmes can be surprisingly cost-effective. IBM, for instance, is spending $50m over five years on “dependant-care” facilities for its employees. Although that sounds generous, it is the equivalent of little more than $30 for each IBM employee every year. That is far cheaper than a pay rise and probably a better way to retain talented mothers and fathers. Ernst & Young, a global accounting firm, has a low-cost range of initiatives called “People First”. It provides breaks for people to provide care and has over 2,300 flexi-time employees in the United States. James Freer, a senior executive, says he is “absolutely convinced” the initiatives help produce better financial results.

DeAnne Aguirre, a mother of four and a senior partner in San Francisco with Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH), says “it is easy to make the business case” for work-life balance programmes at the consultancy by looking at attrition rates. BAH calculated that it was investing more than $2m in turning a raw recruit into a partner, an investment it should be reluctant to write off. Corning, an American glass company, reckons that it costs 1.5 times a worker's salary and benefits to replace him. If it can retain just 20 workers a year who would otherwise have left, Corning reckons it would produce annual savings of $2.6m.

The spread of flexible work has come about at least partly as a result of initiatives to keep women workers. Companies have had to offer extended periods of leave for them to look after dependants (young and old), and flexible working in between. At BAH, women partners take an average of eight-and-a-half extended breaks during their careers. Men take an average of one-and-a-half. Ernst & Young, keen to show that part-time workers can also become partners, recently made the first such appointment in Houston, Texas.

Some of these initiatives are spreading even to the citadels of binge working, such as investment banks. Lehman Brothers has just launched a programme called “Encore” which is aimed at easing back into the industry people who have spent time out of it (which still means mostly women). The scheme offers retraining and promises part-time work thereafter.

Business schools are now climbing on the bandwagon, too. In October Tuck School at Dartmouth, New Hampshire, will start a course on returning to corporate life after an extended absence. Called “Back in Business”, the 16-day, $12,000 re-entry programme is open only to students with “work experience in a high-potential career”.

The majority will inevitably be mothers wanting to rejoin the workforce. But fathers are also asking for sabbaticals. Work-life balance “is not just a women's issue” any more, says Ted Childs, who is in charge of workforce diversity at IBM. “Men, too, are very concerned about it.”

The demand is being stoked by the “Generation Y”, the under-28s. They look sceptically at the idea of lifetime employment within a single organisation and they are wary of the commitment they believe too often drove their parents to the divorce courts. Hay's Ms Murlis says that today's business-school graduates are “looking for a workstyle to go with their lifestyle”, not the other way round. They are happy to binge-work for a while, but in return want extended sabbaticals in which to chill out.

Many of the more imaginative schemes come from organisations that are not under pressure to report quarterly to Wall Street. Wegmans and American Century Investments are family-controlled businesses and the big accounting firms and consultancies, such as Ernst & Young, KPMG, Bain and BAH, are partnerships. This allows them to take a longer-term view of growth and costs.

To some extent, the proliferation of work-life-balance schemes is a function of today's labour market. Companies in knowledge-based industries worry about the shortage of skills and how they are going to persuade talented people to work for them. Although white-collar workers are more likely to be laid off nowadays, they are also likely to get rehired. Unemployment among college graduates in America is just over 2%. The same competition for scarce talent is evident in Britain.

Just after the dotcom boom ended in 2000, labour-market conditions were very different. Attrition rates shrank then because staff were afraid to leave. Many were offered unpaid sabbaticals for the sake of the firm's health rather than that of the individual. Such conditions may yet recur.

The European way

Europeans suggest that the reason why so many work-life initiatives come first from America is that American firms have more scope for improvement. Paid holidays there, for instance, are considerably shorter than in Europe. Flexible working and the occasional sabbatical may be the local alternative to Europe's longer annual leave, a one-off levelling of the non-pay elements of remuneration in the face of international competition.

The introduction of flexible working, of itself, gives no guarantee that employees' work-life balance will improve. The same technology that enables them to work flexibly from home or on the road also prevents them from ever leaving their office. There are lots of people who choose to sleep close to their mobile phones and their BlackBerries.

Is the fashion for work-life balance here to stay? Plenty of companies eschew such corporate programmes. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia recently told employees to leave if they were not prepared to work weekends and long evenings over the coming months for no extra reward. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, president of the Centre for Work-Life Policy in New York, says that many workers still have what she calls “extreme jobs”. Global responsibilities and “always on” communications leave little room for balance.

Charles Handy, the author of several books on the changing nature of work, says that young workers today are increasingly “chunking” their lives, dividing them into discrete bits. These include work, parenting, travelling and doing something completely different. He believes this marks a change in attitude that is slowly filtering down from elite knowledge workers to manufacturing employees.

Heavy lay-offs in the early 1990s, mostly the result of enthusiasm for the ephemeral fad of re-engineering, changed attitudes to work. For many, downsizing sounded the death-knell for having a job for life. In “The New Deal at Work” (Harvard Business School Press), Peter Cappelli, a professor at the Wharton business school, claims that, “while employers have quite clearly broken the old deal and its long-term commitments, they do not control the new deal...it is hard to see what could make employees give that control and responsibility back to the employer.” Young skilled workers increasingly write their own terms of employment. In such a labour market, where short-term contracts are the norm, corporate schemes to improve the balance of employees' lives can become a side-show.

Some go further, arguing that in the not-too-long term, the desire of global firms to entice the West's educated elite may disappear in a flash of enthusiasm for the graduates of India's and China's tertiary-education systems. Even today, less than one in five of the world's university graduates are white men.

However, Liz Ramos, the partner at Bain & Company in charge of human capital, says that though employers are looking to India, it will be a while before India's business schools produce graduates comparable to those from Europe and America. Despite all the political heat it arouses, moving offshore satisfies only a small part of the demand for skilled labour in developed economies.

For some time to come, talented people in the West will demand more from employers, and clever employers will create new gewgaws to entice them to join. Those employers should note that for a growing number of these workers the most appealing gewgaw of all is the freedom to work as and when they please.



你是一个“工作狂吗”？你“埋头”于你的事业吗？公司们正在不得不去寻找新的途径来吸引和留住技术工人们。



本月在美国发行了壹份新杂志。《成功》的前身是由奥瑞森斯威特马丁在1897年首次以成功这个名字发行的杂志。他是一个企业家兼自助系列丛书的作者，其作品包括《生活之外获取最多》。如今这份杂志的发行人，约瑟夫顾瑞罗，希望今日的《成功》反映出当代人的工作环境，他认为，如今作为成功的衡量尺度，金钱和职位正在减弱，而涉及的方面更广泛，诸如“工作与生活平衡”问题。第一期刊载了一篇关于男人离开工作岗位成为全职爸爸的文章。



改善每日工作和休息两者间的平衡正在成为富裕的西部城市里越来越多工人们追求的目标。一些人正在摆脱他们父辈的那种工作第一的思维方式；另一些人掌握稀有技能的人正要求更多，因为他们明白他们能够达到目的。夹在下降的工人数量和紧绷的移民控制之间的老板们，是急于找出特殊的吸引更多的"人才"的办法。不久前他们把焦点集中在福利上(尤其是弹性工作),而不仅提供员工薪酬。



一些公司注意到不久前一些情况的变化。IBM有超过五十种不同的方式去促进工作和生活的平衡并且美国银行也有超过三十种办法。但是大量的其它公司仍然固执己见并且也不具有接受这种想法的能力，即便是他们想这么做。作为人力资源顾问，海氏集团的海伦玛瑞斯发现在创造性职业目标的公司与非此类公司间的巨大差距。



几乎所有的促进工作与生活之间的平衡计划的主要内容都是弹性工作。这允许人们脱离刚性朝九晚五的时间表还可以在办公室以外的地方工作。IBM表示该公司40%的员工如今工作在公司前提之外。对于许多的的商业事务，弹性工作是必需的。Globalisation扩展了员工们需要相互沟通的时间，并且加大提倡弹性换班。奈拉巴克利，一个在工作生活平衡问题上，为公司提供建议的美国人，他说大型公司正开始了解这种制度的价值，“但只不过很慢”。至于他们中大部分的仍旧更少的关注孩子，关注健康和弹性工作。



然而一些方案的发展之好已经超过了预期的步调。ACI，堪萨斯城的一家投资管理机构，为它的员工支付收养费用以及提供家用设备购置费。罗布马克林纳——位于洛杉矶的B&C公司的一位快乐的顾问，被批准有足够的时间与他的合作伙伴在加拿大结婚。而另一个人打破常规的照顾他们的女儿，她出生就享有一个代理妈妈。从高等凯洛格商学院取得MBA学位的马克林纳说，他老板的体谅使他想花更多的时间在B&C上。



商业事务有其它的好理由以支持改善雇员的工作与生活间的平衡。杜邦——一家位于纽约罗切斯特的连锁食品超市，频繁出现在美国最佳雇主排名接近榜首的位置。它有一个广泛的弹性工作计划，使得该企业成为业内员工流动率最低的企业之一，年全职（正式）员工流动率仅为8％，而该行业的员工流动率则为19％。



简单的计划能够带来令人惊讶的成本效益。实例为证，IBM为其雇员“特别待遇”，在五年内将花费5000万美元。虽然口号慷慨，但是每年这平摊到每一个IBM员工头上也只有30多美元。这也远低于薪水的提升，并且这可能是挽留有才干的爸爸妈妈的一条更好的方法。安永全球会计公司有一个低开销的主动计划，称作“以人为本”。它为人们提供休息时间照顾幼儿，并且在美国拥有超过2300个弹性时间雇员。资深经理人詹姆士费尔说，他非常确信，这种为员工提供的主动帮助更有助于产生更好的财务成果。



德安妮阿圭尔，四个孩子的母亲同时还是圣弗朗西斯科BAH的资深合伙人，她说，从顾问这个角度，透过观察减员率，可以很容易看出工作-生活平衡计划带来的成功商业案例。BAH计算出要培养一个新的合伙人，它将投资超过200万美元。这个投资难以接受，应该被取消。康宁，美国的一家玻璃公司计算，它在一个员工身上花费1.5倍的工资和福利，都要好过替换这个人。如果它每年能够留住20个意外离开的雇员，康宁估计这将替其每年将节省260万美元。



弹性工作得以广泛展开，至少关系到留住妈妈雇员的自发行为。公司们已经不得不延长她们离开的假期，以使她们在弹性工作之间，承担起（对孩子和老人）的照顾责任。在BAH，平均85%的女性合伙人在其就职期间得到了长假期。男性平均15%。兼职雇员也能够成为合伙人的趋势越来越明显，安永最近在得克萨斯州休斯敦就实现了第一例。



一些自发行为甚至波及到了诸如投资银行这样的“工作狂的大本营”。LB刚刚发起了一个被称为“再来一次”的计划，该计划帮助那些从休假中重返工作的长期离开岗位的人们（仍然意味着主要针对女性）这个方案提供再培训并且其后允诺兼职工作。



这种流行趋势在商学院里也越来越热。10月，新安普郡达特茅斯Tuck学校将开始一门课程，针对长假之后回归公司生活。这个为期十六天，被称作“回到事业中来”的，12000美元的重返课程，只对那些有高级职位工作经历的学生开设。



这绝大多数人将不可避免的是那些想回到工作岗位上的母亲们。但父亲们也要求周期性的休息。“工作与生活的平衡不再只是女人们探讨的问题，”掌管着IBM多个部门的特德查奥德这样认为，“男人也非常需要取得这方面的关心。”



这种需求正在被28岁以下“年轻的一代”热炒。那种一辈子在一个单位工作的想法在他们看来是很不可思议的。他们谨慎对待这种他们所认为驱使他们父母走进离婚法庭的这种义务。海氏的玛瑞斯说今天的商学院毕业生正在寻求一种工作方式以适应他们自己的生活方式，而不是采用其他迂回的办法。他们也乐于在一段时间拼命的工作，但也想有长假作为繁忙过后的回报。



更多带有虚幻色彩的规划，在相当程度上来自于那些不处于向华尔街公布季报重压之下的公司。杜邦和美国世纪投资属家族式控股经营，并且这种庞大帐目的公司及顾问机构，诸如安永、KPMG、Bain和BAH都是合股企业。这就允许他们有更长的时间去观察成长和成本。（本段的意思就是讲，那些非上市公司就有更多的时间去考量这种工作与生活平衡的计划，给公司成长和成本带来的好或坏，而那些要定期向华尔街公布季度财报的上市公司，要更多的考虑到业绩，因此也就没有更多的时间去衡量life-work Balance的利弊了。）



在某种程度上，工作生活均衡计划的散播是今天劳动力市场的作用。在知识经济下的公司们担心技术匮乏和他们将怎样说服有才能的人为他们工作。尽管白领雇员如今更可能终止工作，但他们也最可能被重新雇佣。在美国，大学毕业生中的失业人数仅超过2%。为人才匮乏而进行的竞争在英国也同样明显。



沸沸扬扬的.com在2000年结束后，劳动力市场表现是大相径庭。离职率收缩就因为职员们担心被解雇。由于公司健康胜过个人健康的理由，很多人被告之假期无薪水。这种情形可能还会重演。



欧洲的情况



欧洲人提出这样的理由，为什么如此多的这种工作-生活平衡的自发行为最先出现在美国，是美国公司在改进方面有更多的空间。例如，那里的带薪假期比欧洲更短的多。国际竞争的面前，一个无薪假期的统一标准,对于欧洲的更久的年度长假而言，在美国弹性工作和临时假期可以是当局二者择一的。



当然，弹性工作的传入无法保证员工的工作-生活的平衡将会改善。这种能够使他们在家里或是在路上弹性的工作的同样方式，使他们永不离开他们的职责。有很多人选择关掉他们的手机去睡觉和享受他们的黑莓。



工作-生活平衡的流行态势可以就此保持下去吗？相当多的公司避开这种公司计划。MSLO最近告之雇员们如果他们不打算周末工作以及在后面的几个月里在没有加班费用的情况下加班，那就请离开。纽约工作-生活政策中心主席西尔维娅安妮怀沃尔特表示，许多工人们仍然从事着被她称作的“极度工作”。全世界的责任更是永远要传达下去的是为了工作和生活的平衡，离开办公间。



更换工作行业系列书籍的作者，查尔斯汉迪认为，如今，年轻雇员们正日益关注于他们的生活，把他们分得很细。这些包括工作、（父母对子女的）养育，旅行和做完全不一样的事情。他认为这标志着一种正在缓慢的从精锐知识型雇员到熟练工种工人，向下筛选的态势的转变。



大多数热衷于打造短暂流行事物的做法，如在九十年代初沉重的失业期，都会改变就业的形势。对于大多数人为获得一份工作，为了生活，都会抑制住抱怨情绪。在《工作是新交易》（哈佛商学院出版）这本书中，沃顿商学院教授彼得凯普里主张，“当雇主已经十分明显的打破这种旧的交易方式和它的长期性的合约，他们不去抑制新的雇佣方式…这看起来很难，什么能使雇员不被抑制并且责任回到了雇主那里。”年轻技术员工，日益填满他们自己的工作履历。诸如在一个劳动力市场里，短期合同成为惯例，改善雇员生活工作平衡的公司条款能够成为一个特别的亮点。

短期工作的讨论还将继续，引入受西方教育精英的这种全世界的公司们普遍的想法，可能由于中国和印度的第三世界教育体系，而在狂热追逐的瞬间消失。时至今日，世界白人大学毕业生少于五分之一。

然而，B&C主管人事薪金的合伙人莉斯拉莫斯指出，虽然雇主们正把目光投向印度，但在印度商学院培养出可以与那些从欧洲和美国毕业生相匹敌的毕业生之前，这将是一个暂时情况。尽管它运用一切行政手段去激励，外包在发展经济上仅满足一小部分对于技术工人的需求。

在未来的某一时间，西方世界有才能的人将从雇主们那里获得更多的需求，并且聪明的雇主们将创造新的华而不实的福利来吸引他们加盟。那些雇主们应该注意到，对于大量增加得工人而言，所有的吸引人的华而不实的福利中的大多数办法是给予于工人们依据个人喜好的工作自主权。