6 Ways Companies Fail to Help Workers Grow阻礙員工成長的六類職場環境

約瑟夫·富勒等

When it comes to worker advancement， good corporate practice is widespread. Thats a key finding that emerges in the American Opportunity Index， a first-of-its-kind ranking of Fortune 250 companies based on the lived experience of three million of their U.S. workers. The index was compiled as part of a study sponsored jointly by the Burning Glass Institute2 and the Harvard Business Schools Managing the Future of Work project.

在促進員工職業成長方面，不乏值得稱道的企業慣例。這是美國機會指數的一個重大發現，該指數是首個此類指數，是根據《財富》雜志250強公司300萬美國員工的親身經歷對這些公司所做的排名。凸透鏡和哈佛商學院 “管理未來工作”項目聯合發起了一項研究，內容之一就是編制該指數。

Two-thirds of the companies landed in the top quintile3 on at least one of the six measures created for describing worker advancement. Thats good news. But another key finding was that even top-ranked firms fail to deliver consistently on worker advancement.

在被編制出來描述員工職業成長狀況的六項指標中，三分之二的公司至少有一項位列前五分之一。這是好消息，但另一項重要發現表明，在員工職業成長方面，即使是一些排名靠前的公司也未能持續達標。

When workers get stuck， whats going wrong？

員工停滯不前，到底是哪里出了錯？

To shed light on4 that question， we recently grouped underperforming companies based on measures of opportunity creation—from the speed of promotion to the success that employees enjoy at other firms after they leave. Below， well describe each of our six archetypes5 in detail.

為了闡明這個問題，近來我們基于機會創造類指標——從員工晉升速度到其離職后在其他公司取得的成就——對表現不佳的公司進行了分組。下面，我們將詳細描述六類典型問題。

Archetypes of underperformance

表現不佳公司的主要類型

Fast & Flimsy. These employers go well beyond their peers in creating opportunity for employees without prior experience， and they also rank well above others in the velocity of initial promotion. But， they dont invest consistently in training， which means their workers careers stall quickly. That leads to low rates of continued promotion and a poor track record of landing a better job when they leave. Many retailers fall into this category. Stay six months at a retailer and theres a good chance that youll wind up as a shift supervisor， given the high rates of turnover—but how far will you go from there？ In addition to retail， many companies in the hospitality， healthcare， manufacturing， and insurance sectors fall into this category.

其一，快速提升但無法持續。有些雇主在為無經驗的員工創造機會這方面所做的遠超其他雇主，在員工入職后最初的提升速度上，這些雇主也遠超其他雇主；然而，他們不會為員工培訓持續投資，換句話說，其員工的職業生涯很快就陷入停滯。這導致員工持續晉升率低，大多數人離職后也很難找到更好的工作。許多零售企業都存在這類問題。由于人員流動率較高，在一家零售商工作6個月后，你很有可能最終成為一名值班主管——但你還能走多遠？除去零售業之外，餐旅接待業、醫療保健業、制造業和保險業中的許多公司都屬于這一類。

Low Value-Add. Input and output measures were used to identify this archetype， which consists largely of employers that provide lots of entry-level opportunities to employees， but whose employees simply do not advance， internally or after they leave. If you start out as a nurses aide and， eventually， leave only to take a different job changing bedpans， you havent progressed. Many low value-add companies can be found in retail， manufacturing， healthcare， construction， and logistics.

其二，工作附加值低。我們用投入與產出指標來鑒別這類典型職場。這類企業大多提供大量低門檻入職機會，其員工不論是在職期間還是離職后，就是無法進步。如果你一開始是護士助理，辭職后找的另一份工作是給人換便盆，那么你只是在職業道路上原地踏步而已。零售業、制造業、醫療保健、建筑業和物流業中有許多低附加值的公司。

Churn & Burn6. The previous two categories of employers may not serve employees long-term interests well， but they do create lots of stable， entry-level opportunities. Churn & Burn companies， by contrast， have high turnover and fail to provide employees with experience and learning that would help them qualify for better opportunities after they leave. Workers garner a paycheck， but nothing that advances their prospects. Realizing that， most leave quickly， without gaining transferable skills. Over time they develop a disjointed work history—which then holds them back from advancing wherever they work. Seven of the top 10 Churn & Burn companies are in retail or hospitality.

其三，壓榨式管理。前兩類雇主也許無法保障員工的長期利益，但他們確實創造了許多穩定、低門檻的工作機會。相比之下，壓榨式管理制度下的公司人員流動率很高，也無法給員工提供經驗和學習機會，使得他們在離職后沒有足夠的資質從事更好的工作。員工們拿到了工資，但他們的前景一派迷茫。大多數員工在意識到這一點后，很快就離職了，沒有從這段職業經歷中獲得可遷移技能。隨著時間的推移，不連貫的工作履歷使他們無論到哪兒工作都難以進步。在這種使用壓榨式管理制度的公司中，排名前十的公司有七家隸屬于零售業或餐旅接待業。

Caveat Emptor7. Worker experience at Caveat Emptor firms can vary widely from role to role. Workers in some occupations progress quickly; many others remain stuck. For example， at one major manufacturer， logistics workers advance quickly while other employees seldom move beyond their initial roles. For applicants， that is a treacherous8 minefield. Theyre unlikely to be able to distinguish between roles that serve as career springboards and those that are dead ends prior to joining the organization.

其四，“雇員自慎”。在“雇員自慎”型公司工作，職業經歷因崗位而異。有些崗位的員工進步很快，而許多其他崗位的員工則停滯不前。舉個例子，在一家大型制造業公司中，物流崗的員工晉升很快，而其他工種員工則絕大多數止步于最初的職位。這對于求職者來說是一個危險的雷區。因為他們很難在進入公司之前辨別哪些職位可以作為職業跳板，而哪些職位沒有出路。

Two-Class Workplace. Theres a troubling pattern here： Professional workers advance， but workers in jobs that dont require a degree fare far worse. One chemical company in this category ranked among the top workplaces for professionals but in the bottom quintile for low- and mid-skill workers. Firms with the greatest disparities between the mobility of their professional and non-professional workforces include those in tech， financial services， pharmaceuticals， and manufacturing.

其五，有兩個階層的職場。眼下有一個令人困擾的狀況：具備專業資格的員工有進步空間，而所處職位無學歷要求的員工境況則糟糕很多。這類型的一家化學公司專業人士晉升前景排名靠前，但中低技能工人的晉升前景排名則在后五分之一。專業和非專業勞動力晉升空間差距最大的公司多數存在于科技行業、金融服務業、制藥業和制造業中。

Fools Gold9. A companys brand attracts more than customers. It attracts workers. Yet， at some employers， there is a considerable disparity between the strength of the brand with customers and the career prospects for workers. Eleven of the top 50 brands on Fortunes “Most Admired Brands” ranking fall in the bottom quintile on the Opportunity Index， highlighting the peril to workers of assuming a well-respected company will be a good place to work.

其六，愚人金。一個公司的品牌吸引的不僅僅是顧客，還有員工。然而，在一些企業，其品牌的客戶影響力與其員工的職業前景之間存在著相當大的差距。在《財富》雜志“最受贊賞的品牌”50強中，有11個品牌在機會指數排行中屬于墊底的五分之一。由此看來，認為公司口碑好職業環境就好的想法存在風險。

A Better Way

更好的方案

The six archetypes reveal the ways in which some companies fail workers， despite having the best of intentions and many of the ingredients for success， ranging from strong brands to impressive track records of equitable hiring and rapid promotion. So how can employers avoid inadvertently trapping their middle-skills workers in dead-end career pathways？ Here are three recommendations.

這六類典型環境揭示了某些公司如何辜負員工的期待——盡管有美好的初衷，也有諸如大品牌優勢以及在公平招聘和快速晉升方面表現優異等許多成功要素。那么，雇主怎樣才能避免在不經意間把中等技能水平的員工困在沒有前途職業路徑上呢？以下是三條建議。

Recognize that metrics matter. Companies ought to develop systems to track their performance and review progress regularly. Importantly， such measurements need to be sufficiently granular10 to ensure that progress is consistent across work groups and locations. Employers should evaluate managers at all levels of the organization on their performance against these metrics. Progress depends on more than policy changes; it hinges on11 policy execution.

首先，認識到指標的重要性。公司應該開發相關系統來跟蹤員工的表現并定期審查晉升情況。有一點很重要：這種衡量標準必須足夠細致，以確保晉升機會對于每個工作組和每個工作地點的員工來說都是一致的。雇主應該根據這些指標來評估公司中各級管理人員的業績。職業進步不僅取決于政策的改變，還倚仗于政策的落實。

Invest in training. Workers are unlikely to move up without developing the skills to step into new roles and take on greater responsibility. To address that problem， companies may need to reframe L&D （learning and development） as R&D， and consider it a long-term investment in worker productivity and human capital value.

其次，在培訓上投入。如果員工沒有掌握足以支撐他們擔任新職務、承擔更大責任的技能，他們升職的可能性就不大。為了解決這個問題，公司必須將L&D（學習與發展）重新表述為R&D（調研與發展），并將其視為一項對雇員生產力和人力資本價值的長期投資。

Question the assumptions behind your operating model. Companies with large frontline workforces may see no way out of the vicious cycle of low wages and low retention. A firms sector is certainly correlated with worker experience， but it isnt destiny. Consider the metric of time to promotion， for example. Four insurance companies on the American Opportunity Index rank in the top quintile on that measure， while five rank in the bottom quintile. That suggests firms may be more able than they think to shift away from low-value operating models.

最后，對公司運營模式背后的臆斷保持質疑。擁有大量一線員工的公司可能無法擺脫低工資和低留任的惡性循環。員工工作體驗固然與公司所在行業相關，然而這并不是定數。以晉升速度為例，在美國機會指數中，有四家保險公司的排名位列前五分之一，有五家的排名則位于后五分之一。這表明，企業從低價值運營模式轉型的能力比他們想象得更強。

By focusing on the three areas weve just discussed—mobility， training， and costly assumptions—companies can avoid dysfunction， help their workers meet their full potential， and realize growing value in their talent.

通過特別關注我們剛剛討論的三個方面——流動性、培訓和代價高昂的臆斷——公司可以避免運轉不良，幫助員工充分發揮潛力，實現其才能的不斷增值。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）

1哈佛大學商學院管理實踐教授，“管理未來工作”項目聯合主席。? 2美國一家勞動力市場數據分析公司。? 3 quintile五分之一。? 4 shed light on 闡明……；使……較容易理解。

5 archetype 原型，典范。

6 Churn & Burn 壓榨式管理，在這種管理制度下，員工的需求被忽視，工作壓力極大，離職后會有新的一批員工來填補空缺，如此循環。? 7 caveat emptor〈拉〉買主購物自行小心（買主購物時有責任檢查所購貨物是否有問題）。

8 treacherous 狡詐的，暗藏危機的。? 9 fools gold 愚人金，義為看上去像黃金但其實一錢不值的礦物，指代誤以為會令人愉快（或大獲成功）的事物。

10 granular 顆粒，顆粒度，此處根據語境譯為“細致的”。? 11 hinge on sth依靠，取決于。