在成本最低的首都城市柏林生活
From gourmet chefs in the kitchen to lavishly equipped games rooms, the perks enjoyed by Silicon Valley’s tech company employees are legendary. In Berlin’s tech start-up scene, engaged in the same global competition for talent, there has been a similar burgeoning of sweeteners to attract employees, but with a German twist.
從廚房裏的美食廚師到裝備豪華的遊戲室，硅谷科技公司員工享受着傳奇般的額外待遇。在柏林的科技初創企業圈子——同樣加入了人才的全球性爭奪——也興起了類似吸引員工的“甜頭”，但加入了德國特色。For many would-be staff, the opportunity to live in Berlin, widely regarded as western Europe’s hippest and most affordable capital, is the biggest perk of all. But many expats find the German capital an unexpectedly difficult place to settle down in.
對於許多潛在員工來說，有機會去西歐公認最時髦、成本最低的首都城市柏林生活，是所有額外待遇中最優厚的一項。但許多外籍員工發現，要在德國首都定居下來，會遇上出乎意料的困難。
Challenges range from the expense of finding a flat to the complexity of the German language.
挑戰很多，從找到公寓的花費到德語的複雜難懂，不一而足。
To help navigate these challenges, emerging tech-enabled companies in Berlin have appointed staff whose jobs include troubleshooting on behalf of new employees.
爲幫助員工克服這些挑戰，新興的柏林科技公司紛紛任命了職責包括幫新入職者解決難題的員工。For mobile games developer Wooga , maker of Jelly Splash, the first indication something was wrong came when a foreign employee quit, complaining that she had never properly settled into life in Berlin. “She was someone that we really wanted to hold on to,” says Janina Cussmann, Wooga’s head of people operations. “She had problems with things that were really basic — getting an internet connection, and all sorts of difficulties with her landlord, and she felt all alone with this.”
對手機遊戲開發商、果凍飛濺(Jelly Splash)的出品商Wooga而言，一名外籍僱員抱怨自己從未真正融入柏林生活並離職，是情況不對的第一個苗頭。“她是我們確實想留住的人，”Wooga人力運營總監亞尼內•庫斯曼(Janina Cussmann)表示，“她的確在一些基礎性的問題上遇到困難，比如接入互聯網，以及跟房東之間的各種麻煩，她對此感覺孤立無援。”In 2012, Wooga set up a team whose work includes helping to integrate and sustain new employees, a role sometimes referred to at German companies as “feelgood management”.
2012年，Wooga成立了一個團隊，其職責包括幫新員工融入，並留住他們。德國公司有時把這一職責稱爲“愉悅管理”。It begins with letting new recruits stay in flats that Wooga rents full-time in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain. Arranging for the newest employees to live in the same block allows them to socialise and swap tips about finding their feet in a new city.
首先是讓新員工住在Wooga在柏林弗里德里希斯海因(Friedrichshain)區全天候租下的公寓。安排最新入職者住在同一棟大樓，這樣他們就能相互交往，並交流融入一座新城市的小竅門。Expats receive help in translating and understanding rental contracts and being set up with broadband connections; despite Berlin’s growing reputation as a tech start-up hub, obtaining a decent internet connection is often a slow process.
外籍員工在翻譯和理解租約，以及安裝寬帶網絡方面獲得幫助。儘管柏林作爲一個科技創業中心的聲望日盛，但要獲得不錯的互聯網接入，辦理手續經常很緩慢。For Adam Telfer, a 28-year-old Canadian game designer recruited by Wooga, the city’s laid-back atmosphere and counter-cultural charm were significant attractions. “It’s not going to last for ever, but this is one of those cities that has something different, that no other city has,” he says.
28歲的加拿大遊戲設計師亞當•特爾弗(Adam Telfer)被Wooga招至麾下。在他看來，柏林的悠閒氛圍和反主流文化的魅力，有着很大的吸引力。“這種吸引力不會一直延續下去，但柏林屬於有不同於其他城市特色的城市，”他說。But when he arrived as a new employee, the difficulties of operating in German and navigating local bureaucracy felt overwhelming. “Something as simple as going to the grocery store — you didn’t really know what they were talking about. That beginning portion was pretty difficult.
但當他以新員工身份到達柏林時，以德語爲工作語言，以及經歷當地的種種官僚作風，都讓他感受到巨大的困難。“有些像去百貨店那麼簡單的事情——你真的聽不懂他們在說什麼。剛開始的時候特別難。”“There are so many different [bureaucratic] steps and it’s very formal. If we didn’t have that help, I think we would have left after a couple of weeks,” he says. Around 20 new employees joined Wooga on October 1, 2012, the same day as Mr Telfer. “I’d say maybe five to eight of them, something like a third, didn’t end up staying — people said Berlin isn’t for me.”
“這裏有這麼多不同的（繁文縟節的）的手續，而且特別正式。要不是得到了幫助，我覺得，我們在幾周之後就會離開了，”他說。2012年10月1日，特爾弗加入了Wooga，同一天入職的新員工大約有20名。“我得說，我們中的5到8人，大約三分之一，後來沒有留下——人們說，柏林不適合我。”One of the biggest deterrents was the estate agency fee for finding a rental flat. Until a recent change in the law, the fee could add the equivalent to two months’ rent to the tenant’s initial costs. Many employees looked at the total price of a rental and baulked, Mr Telfer says. “It makes absolutely no sense . . . for somebody coming to this country that just wants to dip their feet in.”
最大的障礙因素之一是租房要交的中介費。直到最近的一項法律修改之前，租戶在交第一筆費用時，都可能要交相當於兩個月房租的中介費。特爾弗表示，許多員工看到租房總費用之後，便心生猶豫了。“對那些來到德國，只想試一下水的人來說，花那麼多錢絕對沒有意義。”At Wooga’s offices, an airy open-plan space with high windows, wooden floors and cardboard cutouts of games characters, staff from dozens of different nationalities work at screens or gather on sofas for meetings. A bustling kitchen area has shelves stacked with cereal boxes and giant fridges packed with soft drinks, including plenty of bottles of the German caffeinated drink Club Mate, which has become the Berlin developer’s beverage of choice.
Wooga的辦公場所是一處通風的開放式辦公區，高高的窗戶，木地板，還佈置了一些遊戲中角色的紙板像。數十名不同國籍的員工在屏幕前工作，或者圍坐沙發上開會。一處熱鬧的廚房區，放置着擺滿麥片盒的架子，以及塞滿軟飲的巨大冰箱，裏面有許多瓶德國咖啡因飲料Club Mate，這已成了這家柏林遊戲開發商的首選飲品。The bright, attractive workspace is a reminder that solving recruits’ practical difficulties with settling in is not the only challenge Berlin’s start-ups face. To keep attracting the skilled employees they need — particularly engineers and product managers — German tech companies also need to offer incentives that compete with Silicon Valley’s bicycle repair shops and exercise classes.
明亮、迷人的工作場所提醒人們，爲新成員解決安頓下來的實際困難，並非柏林初創企業面臨的唯一挑戰。爲了不斷吸引它們所需的嫺熟員工——尤其是工程師和產品經理——德國科技企業也需要提供能與硅谷的自行車修理店和健身班相媲美的吸引措施。At SoundCloud, the digital music and audio platform, those perks often relate to its central mission. At its Berlin offices, there is an in-house recording studio, where employees can record music and hear local artists perform.
在數碼音樂與音頻平臺SoundCloud，這些額外待遇通常與公司的核心使命相關。在其柏林辦公室，設立了一間內部錄音棚，可供員工在那裏錄製音樂，並聽當地藝術家演出。Social events often revolve around a shared passion for music. “We never need to hire a band for a party,” says Caoimhe Keogan, SoundCloud’s vice-president for people. “People come together from inside the organisation and play.”
社交活動經常是圍繞着大家對音樂的共同摯愛展開的。“我們從來都不必聘請樂隊來辦派對，”SoundCloud人力資源副總裁基娃•科根(Caoimhe Keogan)表示，“公司員工自己組建樂隊，自己演奏。”For many of SoundCloud’s multinational staff, Berlin is a city where music and technology intersect. The capital is home to some of the world’s most influential techno clubs as well as cutting-edge music technology companies. “There’s an interesting overlap between creativity and the burgeoning technology scene,” Ms Keogan says. “That’s appealing to a lot of people.”
對於SoundCloud的許多外國員工而言，柏林是一座音樂與科技交匯的城市。這座首都城市擁有世界上一些最富影響力的高科技舞曲俱樂部，以及最前沿的音樂科技公司。“創造力和迅速發展的科技界產生了有趣的重疊，”科根表示，“這吸引了很多人。”Both SoundCloud and Wooga lay on German lessons for foreign staff, as well as offering activities such as yoga. Wooga also provides drawing classes, a movie night and a salsa evening. The games developer hosts a flea market, too, as a touch of local flavour in a city that adores antiques markets.
SoundCloud 和Wooga 都爲外籍員工提供德語課，也提供瑜伽等活動。Wooga還開辦繪畫課、電影之夜和薩爾薩舞曲晚會。另外，這家遊戲開發商也創辦了一個跳蚤市場，讓員工體驗這個熱衷古玩市場的城市的一絲本地特色。Ultimately, however, Germany’s new tech businesses cannot compete with the salaries or lifestyle options available at US start-ups, which tend to be far better funded.
但從根本上說，德國新科技企業在薪酬和生活方式的多姿多彩上都競爭不過美國初創企業，後者獲得的資金支持通常比德國同行高得多。But for some employees moving from North America to Europe, a crucial incentive is an opportunity to regain work-life balance while trying something new. The latest and most controversial perk on offer in Silicon Valley — a contribution to the cost of freezing female employees’ eggs — is a reminder of the career pressures associated with the US tech industry.
但對從北美遷往歐洲的員工而言，一個至關重要的刺激因素是，有機會重新營造工作和生活的平衡，同時嘗試新事物。硅谷最新提供的、同時也最引爭議的額外待遇——爲女員工報銷冷凍卵子費——讓人看到了美國科技行業的職業壓力。Mr Telfer says: “In Canada and the States they throw a lot of perks at you to try and justify the overtime. “I used to work at EA [games developer Electronic Arts] and they had this massive gym, a facility which included a soccer field, a basketball court.
特爾弗表示：“在加拿大和美國，他們向你拋出一大堆額外待遇，努力讓你覺得加班是合理的。我過去在美國遊戲開發商藝電(Electronic Arts)效力，他們建了規模龐大的體育館，該設施包括一個足球場和一個籃球場。”“But then it was funny to go walk around the office. Nobody was using [the sports facilities] because they were all so scared to.”
“但是，這讓大家在辦公室附近走動時感覺很好笑。誰也不使用（體育設施），因爲大家都不敢去。”
