大型科技公司对毕业生的吸引力正在减退

Big Tech might be concerned about government fines and PR emergencies, but its biggest problem could be failing to recruit and keep talented staff. Some high-profile leavers are going public with their complaints about the companies and the lure of Big Tech for graduates is being eroded.

大型科技公司可能会担心政府罚款和公关紧急情况，但其最大的问题可能是无法招聘和留住有才华的员工。一些备受瞩目的离职者正在公开他们对公司的抱怨，同时大型科技公司对毕业生的吸引力正在减退。

Last month, for example, Meredith Whittaker — one of the leaders of 2018’s 20,000-strong Google staff walkout to protest against the company’s handling of sexual misconduct cases — announced she was leaving the company to focus on her work at the AI Now Institute (which researches the ethical implications of artificial intelligence). In April, Ms Whittaker said she had been told she would have to “abandon” that work if she wanted to remain at the group.

例如在上月，梅雷迪思•惠特克(Meredith Whittaker)宣布她将离开谷歌(Google)，以专注她在AI Now Institute的工作(研究人工智能的伦理影响)。2018年，她参与领导了谷歌两万多员工罢工抗议该公司对性骚扰事件的处理。今年4月，惠特克说她被告知，如果她想继续留在谷歌，就得“放弃”AI Now Institute的工作。

This month, an anonymous employee memo went viral at Google. “I’m Not Returning to Google after Maternity Leave, and Here is Why” alleged discrimination by a manager.

本月，一份匿名的员工备忘录在谷歌传播开来。这份备忘录题为“我不会在产假之后回到谷歌，原因如下”，指控了一位经理的歧视。

According to a recent CNBC report based on conversations with former Facebook recruiters, the company has been struggling to win over graduates in the wake of last year’s Cambridge Analytica scandal. (Facebook has denied this.) The report says: “Among top schools, Facebook’s acceptance rate for full-time positions offered to new graduates has fallen from an average of 85 per cent for the 2017-2018 school year to between 35 per cent and 55 per cent as of December.” It also charted a flight from Facebook to competitors (Google), or rising companies such as Airbnb, Stripe and Lyft. The report cited ethical and political concerns among candidates, as well as the relevance of Facebook as a brand among young people.

根据美国消费者新闻与商业频道(CNBC)最近发布的一则基于与Facebook前招聘人员谈话的报道，Facebook在去年剑桥分析公司(Cambridge Analytica)丑闻之后，一直很难争取到毕业生入职(Facebook对此予以否认)。报道称：“截至去年12月，Facebook向一流学校应届毕业生提供的全职职位的接受率已从2017-2018学年的平均85%降至35%至55%之间。”报道还显示，求职者从Facebook转投其竞争对手(谷歌)或者爱彼迎(Airbnb)、Stripe和Lyft等新兴公司的门下。报道指出这是求职者对道德和政治的担忧所致，也与Facebook作为一个品牌在年轻人当中的重要性有关。

Companies that started as plucky upstarts offering their staff autonomy, creativity and impact are now state-like global bureaucracies. And the long hours culture (fuelled by those free pizzas) has lost its appeal as burnt-out millennials seek work-life balance. PwC estimates 88 per cent of millennials want to work for companies whose values mirror their own.

一些公司最初曾是勇敢奋斗的初创企业，员工在公司里可以获得自主权、创造力和影响力，现在这些公司已成为像政府一样的全球官僚机构。筋疲力尽的千禧一代现在追求工作与生活的平衡，长时间工作的文化(由那些免费的披萨推动)已经失去了吸引力。普华永道(PWC)估计，88%的千禧一代希望为价值观与自己一致的公司工作。

Sarah Drinkwater, a former senior Google staffer and now director at the Tech and Society Solutions Lab at Omidyar Network, says that revelations about the role of some tech companies during the Brexit vote and US election “presented so many interesting problems. Misinformation. Bias. Inequality. Tech workers are seeing the connection between all these things and wanting to do something about them.”

前谷歌高级职员、现任奥米戴尔网络(Omidyar Network)技术与社会解决方案实验室主任的萨拉•德林克沃特(Sarah Drinkwater)表示，一些科技公司在英国退欧投票和美国大选期间所扮演角色的曝光“揭示出许多有趣的问题。虚假信息，偏见，不平等。科技公司员工看到了所有这些事情之间的联系，并希望对此做些什么”。

Do the tech groups need to worry? “Previously, if you wanted to work in a digital company, especially a global organisation, there were only a handful available. But now there are many, including Spotify, or Monzo,” says Ms Drinkwater. “Plus, 18-24-year-olds, it’s well established, are looking for more purpose in their work. Purpose can be defined in a few ways but it often comes down to having high-level vision and a sense of personal impact. With huge employee bases, both these things get diluted[in Big Tech]. If tech workers don’t want to feel like a cog in a massive machine, they no longer need to.”

科技公司需要担心吗?德林克沃特表示：“以前，如果你想在一家数字公司工作，特别是一家全球公司，那么只有少数公司可以选择。但现在有很多选择，包括Spotify或Monzo在内。此外，18岁至24岁的年轻人显然正在追求工作中更多的使命感。使命感可以有多种定义，但通常归结为具有高远的视野和一种拥有个人影响力的感觉。由于员工基础庞大，这两点(在大型科技公司)都被稀释了。如果科技公司员工不喜欢感到自己像是大型机器中的一个齿轮，那么他们再也不必忍受这种感觉。”

While tech is still lucrative (according to Hired.com the global average salary is $135,000) the distorting impact of tech companies on the cost of living in their stronghold cities increasingly cancels out much of the benefit.

虽然科技公司仍然待遇丰厚(根据Hired.com的数据显示，全球科技公司平均薪酬为13.5万美元)，但科技公司对其所在城市生活成本的扭曲影响越来越多地抵消了这种待遇。

“The money could never have been enough,” says Edward Vince, recently appointed Airbnb’s creative director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He has returned to the UK, having relocated to the US five years ago to work at Apple, then Facebook. “When you get to San Francisco, you soon realise that this amazing salary and lifestyle you’re offered comes at a huge compromiseand cost, and won’t make you wealthy in the way that you envision, especially as you realise the cost of living. We spent over $40,000 on childcare last year.”countries that is closer to 20 per cent.

最近被任命为爱彼迎欧洲、中东和非洲创意总监的爱德华•文斯(Edward Vince)表示：“钱永远不够。”文斯5年前去了美国，先是在苹果(Apple)工作，然后在Facebook工作，如今已经回到了英国。“到了旧金山后，你很快意识到，提供给你的令人赞叹的薪水和生活方式有着巨大的成本，实际上要大打折扣，而且不会让你以你想象的方式致富，特别是当你意识到生活成本的时候。我们去年在育儿方面花了4万多美元。”

The lack of diversity in Big Tech was also an issue. “There’s a monoculture in the valley. You often don’t interact with anyone until you get to the office. You’re hermeticallysealed and do not experience the real world and yet you are supposed to — in Facebook’s case — be serving a community of 2.5bn. But without any perspective on reality. I found that really concerning.”

大型科技公司缺乏多样性也是一个问题。“硅谷里是一种单一的文化。在你到办公室之前，你经常不与任何人互动。你是全封闭的，不去体验现实世界，但如果你在Facebook工作，你应该要为拥有25亿用户的社区服务。而你却对现实没有任何看法。我发现这真的很让人担忧。”