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Want to attract, and keep, top talent? Here's a suggestion: Make a flexible work schedule part of the deal.
想要吸引和留住優秀人才嗎？一條建議：提供彈性工作制。
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，安永會計師事務所（EY）對美國各行各業的1,215名管理者與員工進行了調查。調查發現，18至32歲的Y一代將彈性工作時間列為最希望得到的特別待遇，33%的受訪對象表示，他們會拒絕不提供彈性工作時間的公司。不過，似乎X一代對彈性工作時間更為看重：33至48歲年齡段的受訪者中，38%認為彈性工作時間沒有商量余地，其中持這種觀點的男性（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.
安永會計師事務所合伙人卡瑞恩?特瓦羅尼特說：“上世紀80年代晚期和90年代，公司開始提供彈性工作時間，以招募和留住優秀的女性。如今，設置彈性工作時間的目的已經不再僅限于此。”特瓦羅尼特是安永會計師事務所合伙人，從事稅務領域工作，目前擔任安永美洲區人才戰略官。
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.
特瓦羅尼特補充道，值得注意的是，所有年齡段的男性和女性都將彈性工作時間列在非現金特別待遇的首位。“調查結果與安永的現狀完全一致。”會計與咨詢公司安永在《財富》最適宜工作的公司榜單（Fortune's Best Companies to Work For）中排在第57位。公司有數千名員工多年享受彈性工作時間，包括自2004年開始向“新爸爸員工”提供的六周帶薪假期。
"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."
特瓦羅尼特說：“有一種錯誤的觀點，認為男性不應該享受陪產假。事實上我參加了公司決定提供陪產假的會議，當時對于男性是否應該享受陪產假存在許多懷疑的聲音。”九年過去了，特瓦羅尼特表示，“公司90%的男性，包括高管，至少會休兩周，或者分開休假，比如現在休假兩周，以后休完剩余的四周。目前，休陪產假的男性和女性人數基本持平。”
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.
安永美洲區招聘主管丹?布萊克說：“不論是對剛入門的新人還是經驗豐富的專業人員，彈性工作時間都是吸引人才的重要優勢。”他注意到，因為千禧一代對于不受“朝九晚五”工作制約束的堅持，年長一些的員工也開始更有勇氣討論彈性工作時間的必要性。許多求職者之所以決定來安永工作，彈性工作時間是一個重要因素。
"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."
他補充說：“彈性工作時間最初或許是一個“女性問題”，如今，不論男女，所有員工都非常期待這一福利。我認為，這在很大程度上是因為如今有太多的雙職工家庭。在這樣的家庭，人們需要適應兩種要求都很高的專業工作安排，而不是僅僅一種工作安排。”
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.
這也是布萊克的經驗之談。他的妻子是一名律師：自從20年前加入安永以來，他一直享受彈性工作時間，而且他的兩個孩子出生時，他都休了四周的陪產假。目前，他在兒子的足球隊擔任教練，積極參與幾項公益活動，而且還是家鄉紐約州阿奇維爾的一名志愿消防員。
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."
安永的調查顯示，未來十年左右，在辦公室之外享受生活的機會將更具吸引力——甚至變得至關重要。報告顯示，大多數受訪者仍按固定時間上下班，但“受訪者期望未來幾年，工作時間能變得更加靈活。62%受訪者目前按標準辦公時間工作，僅有50%期望在未來五至十年會延續這樣的工作制度。”
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?特瓦羅尼特對此并不感到意外。她說：“工作正在不斷變化。科技讓人們可以隨時隨地保持聯絡，這意味著人們可以24小時隨叫隨到，尤其是對于在不同時區運營的跨國公司而言。另一方面在于，雇主們要更加適應員工在工作之外的生活——因為雇主別無選擇。”
