UTC投入十億美元打造員工深造計劃
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????在經濟不景氣時期，有些大公司會為員工做一些很了不起的事情。而且，這些公司并不是偶一為之，而是非常低調、不事張揚地長期堅持。得知美國聯合技術公司（United Technologies Corp.，UTC）這家生產飛機引擎、電梯和直升機的工業巨頭已經投入了10億美元讓員工到大學繼續深造的消息時，我腦海里浮現的就是這個想法。 ????最有趣的是，UTC此舉不僅是希望員工在本公司更好發展，也希望讓員工能夠找到其他更好的工作，甚至考慮到了員工退休后的生活。這到底是怎樣一項計劃？且聽筆者細細道來。首先，我們需要了解一點背景信息： ????16年前，筆者就了解到了UTC的員工獎學金計劃（Employee Scholar Program）。當時筆者在為《新聞周刊》（Newsweek）的封面文章《公司殺手》（Corporate Killers）調研。文章的內容是，公司在困難時期會通過一些卑鄙的手段大規模裁員，而華爾街卻在一旁鼓掌喝彩。（似曾相識吧？）其實，筆者也知道（并且也是這么寫的），裁員是經濟生活的現實。有時候，為了大多數人，不得不犧牲少數人。但筆者當時確實希望能夠有一家與眾不同的公司，真正把員工當人看，而不是為了更高的股價把員工當作向華爾街的財神們獻祭的祭品。 ????所以，了解到聯合技術公司的情況后，我興奮不已。此前五年，這家公司也裁減了33,000個工作崗位，當時剛剛開始執行超級慷慨的員工獎學金計劃。公司將為員工希望攻讀的任何本科或研究生學位支付學費，不論攻讀的學位與員工在UTC的工作是否相關。而且，公司不僅支付學費、書費和日常開支，如果員工成功取得學位，公司還將向其贈送價值5,000美元的股票。 ????據時任公司首席執行官的喬治?戴維解釋，該計劃的出發點是使員工可以提升自己的技能，不僅可以在UTC能夠獲得更好的發展，而且，萬一UTC為了壓縮成本而不得不將其辭退，員工還可以找到其他的工作。當筆者說這是因為他同情被裁掉的員工時，戴維的臉紅了。他說：“說實話，我們并不是菩薩心腸。其實員工接受良好的教育也符合公司的利益。” ????筆者對此做過報道，其中有一段介紹了這個計劃。戴維從政之后，該計劃曾讓他頗受贊譽。之后，筆者再也沒有與他進行過交流。時間飛逝，記憶已經模糊，相框中的封面副本依然掛在筆者辦公室的墻上。封面上有四個進行大規模裁員的公司CEO的頭像。最近，筆者在《財富》雜志（Fortune）的編輯（之前也是筆者在《新聞周刊》的編輯，并協助筆者構思《公司殺手》一文）在一次午餐上碰到了UTC的員工，聽說了該公司為員工深造的撥款累積已經達到了10億美元大關。 ????我們明白自己擁有一樣非常寶貴的權利：作為天生的商業批評家，我們有機會對在困難時期表現出色的《財富》500強（Fortune 500）公司提出表揚。（可惜戴維2008年便離開了UTC，筆者沒能再采訪到他。） ????據統計，該計劃已經幫助UTC員工取得了32,000個學位（其中大約75%在美國）。目前，該計劃已經吸引了10,000多名員工參與，而且該計劃仍在執行，坦白說這讓筆者感到驚訝。UTC人力資源部總監小湯姆?鮑勒稱：“這個計劃讓我們與眾不同。” |
????Sometimes big companies do good things for their employees during bad times. And keep on doing it, quietly, without making a fuss. That's the thought that crossed my mind when I heard that United Technologies Corp., a hard-nosed industrial conglomerate that makes things like aircraft engines and elevators and helicopters, had hit an unusual milestone: spending $1 billion on a program to send its employees to college. ????The most interesting part? UTC (UTX) is preparing its employees not just for their UTC future, but for the next job they may take with another employer, or even for their post-employment lives. What's this program all about? More in a bit, but first a little background. ????I discovered UTC's Employee Scholar Program 16 years ago while doing research on a Newsweek cover story called "Corporate Killers," about the nasty way companies were firing employees en masse during hard times as Wall Street stood on the sidelines cheering. (Sound familiar?) Yes, I knew (and wrote) that firings are a fact of economic life; sometimes you have to sacrifice a part to save the whole. But I was looking for a big company that was a little different, that recognized that its employees were human beings, something more than just bodies that could be sacrificed to Mammon, the god of Wall Street, to gain a higher stock price. ????So I was thrilled to discover that United Technologies, which had cut 33,000 jobs in the previous five years, had just started an ultra-generous Employee Scholar Program. The company would pay for any college or graduate school degree any employee wanted to pursue, regardless of whether it had any connection to a UTC job. The company not only paid for tuition, books, and fees but would also give employees $5,000 worth of stock when they got a degree. ????George David, then the company's chief executive, explained that the point was for employees to be able to upgrade their skills either to advance within UTC or to be able to find another job if UTC had to fire them to cut costs. "We're not softhearted," said David, whose face turned red when I suggested he sympathized with downsized workers. "It's in our interest to have an educated workforce." ????I wrote the story, including one paragraph about the program that got David lauded as a statesman. I never had occasion to talk to him again. Years went by. Memory faded, except for the framed copy of the cover, featuring four mug shot– like photos of job-cutting CEOs, which hangs on my office wall. Then my Fortune editor -- who was my Newsweek editor and my partner in conceiving "Corporate Killers" -- came back recently from a lunch with UTC people who told him about the $1 billion milestone. ????We realized we had something very rare: a chance for me, a congenital corporate critic, to praise a Fortune 500 company for acting well during hard times. (Alas, I couldn't get David, who left United Technologies in 2008, to talk to me. Try to be nice -- see what happens?) ????I'm frankly amazed that this program, which has helped UTC employees get 32,000 degrees (some 75% of them in the U.S.) and currently has 10,000 people enrolled, still exists. "This program is a big differentiator for us," says Tom Bowler Jr., head of UTC's human resources department. |
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