婚介服務成爲中國企業福利

On Valentine’s Day, Tian Huimin is marrying the man she met when she logged on to the company’s singles chatroom to ask if anyone could give her a lift home. He volunteered and the rest was “fate”, she says.
情人節那天，田慧敏（音）舉行了婚禮；當初她之所以遇上新郎，是因爲有一天她登錄公司的單身族聊天室，問有誰能夠讓她搭車回家。她說，他自告奮勇，餘下的事都是“緣分”。

That is, fate plus Baidu, the Chinese tech giant that, like many other companies in Beijing, sponsors dating events and singles clubs to keep its young workforce happy and loyal.
其實她的意思是緣分加上百度(Baidu)。與北京其它許多公司一樣，這家中國科技巨擘贊助約會活動和單身俱樂部，保持其年輕的員工隊伍快樂和忠誠。

Staff turnover, or “grasshopping”, is aMong the biggest headaches for employers in the fast-growing tech sector and matchmaking is becoming an attractive company perk as businesses search for ways to retain employees.
員工流失，即所謂“跳槽”，在快速增長的高科技行業是僱主最頭痛的問題之一。隨着企業想方設法留住員工，婚介正成爲一項極具吸引力的公司福利。

“Once an employee is married, job stability increases significantly,” says Alex Edmunds, co-founder of Conflagr8, a Beijing-based matchmaking service that gets about half its revenue from corporate events. He points out that US surveys show that newly married employees are 11 per cent less likely to leave their jobs — a figure that rises with each year of marriage — and similar trends hold true in China.
“一旦員工結婚，工作穩定程度就會顯著提高，”北京婚介服務“湊湊吧”(Conflagr8)聯合創始人艾德瑞(Alex Edmunds)表示。他指出，美國的調查顯示，新婚員工離職的可能性降低11%，而且隨着婚姻的持續，這個數字逐年上升，中國也存在類似的趨勢。“湊湊吧”大約一半的營收來自企業活動。

Beijing-based tech companies are savvy cupids, jointly hosting events with female-heavy companies such as banks and even local government departments that are getting in on the matchmaking act.
總部位於北京的高科技公司都是精明的丘比特，它們與女性較多的單位（如銀行，甚至正加入婚介活動的當地政府部門）共同舉辦活動。

These marriages made on the shop floor may prove as perfect as those made in heaven: IT engineers have good salaries and government employees have the cherished hukou, or city registration, that allows a couple to buy a home or educate their child in Beijing.
在工作場所撮合的這些婚姻，可能被證明與“天作之合”一樣完美：IT工程師有豐厚的薪資，政府僱員有寶貴的戶口，讓夫婦能夠在北京買房和讓子女上學。

Baidu is typical of the tech companies crowded into Zhongguancun, China’s equivalent of Silicon Valley. About 60 per cent of its 46,000-strong workforce is male and the average age is 26. A company survey showed 19 per cent of its single employees had never been in love.
在有“中國硅谷”之稱的中關村，百度是一家典型的高科技公司。其4.6萬人的員工隊伍大約60%爲男性，平均年齡爲26歲。一項公司調查顯示，19%的單身員工從未談過戀愛。

“Most engineers are shy and they find dating a little hard. So we hold these activities to help them,” says Summer Zhang, who co-ordinates club activities at IBM, the US tech group in Beijing.
“大多數工程師都害羞，他們發現約會有點令人不知所措。因此我們舉辦這些活動來幫助他們，”爲美國科技集團IBM在北京協調俱樂部活動的Summer Zhang表示。

Corporate singles events tend to be modelled on the hit Chinese TV show If You Are the One with games and quizzes to break the ice. Relationships begun at the singles club can flourish through a variety of other clubs hosted by large companies in China — popular choices are hiking, music and badminton.
公司單身活動往往以中國熱門電視節目《非誠勿擾》爲藍本，安排各種遊戲和測驗以打破尷尬場面。在單身俱樂部開始的關係，可通過中國大公司主辦的其它各種俱樂部（流行的選擇包括遠足、音樂和羽毛球）繼續培養。

“These days singles have a lot of problems, and companies want to help,” says Zhang Kongying, the human resources employee who oversees Baidu’s 20 staff activity clubs, including its singles club.
“如今的單身族有很多問題，而企業想幫忙，”負責百度20個員工活動俱樂部（包括單身俱樂部）的人力資源員工張孔穎（音）表示。

Chief among these problems are their parents. To keep long-distant anxious parents supportive of their only child working in Beijing, Baidu sends out an annual newsletter, including its club activities. Parents send handwritten notes back “urging more singles events”, Ms Zhang says.
最主要的問題在於他們的父母。爲了讓遠方焦急的父母支持其獨子獨女在北京工作，百度寄發年度通訊，內容包括俱樂部活動。張女士表示，有些父母親筆來信，“強烈要求舉辦更多單身活動”。

Last year four couples who had met at singles’ events got married, including the president of the singles’ club. Indeed, such is the success that Baidu is thinking of hosting a mass wedding party this year.
去年，在單身活動中結識的四對情侶步入婚姻殿堂，包括單身俱樂部的主席。實際上，這些活動如此成功，以至於百度考慮今年舉辦一場集體婚禮。

What in the west might seem an intrusion of work into private time is welcome in Beijing, where young singles are far from home and lonely at weekends, says Ms Tian, who is retiring as head of Baidu’s singles club following her marriage. “The point is for singles to get together and have fun. We want our single life to broaden, we want to find people in common to enjoy our life.”
婚後不再擔任百度單身俱樂部主席的田女士表示，在西方可能被視爲工作侵入私人時間的事情，在北京是受到歡迎的，這裏的年輕單身族遠離家鄉，在週末很孤獨。“關鍵是讓單身的人在一起聚會，享受樂趣。我們希望拓寬自己的單身生活，我們希望找到合拍的人共同享受人生。”