【中英双语】企业给员工培训是员工应得的福利吗？

谁说培训是应得的福利？

这几年听到有关中国人才荒的议论越来越多，从中国各大公司到跨国企业都在谈论。

这个问题在中国比在国外更严重，导致人才市场变成了兵家必争之地。

如今在中国，吸引人才、留住人才似乎比吸引和挽留消费者更具挑战，更令人望而生畏。

明智的企业已经在中国投入了大量的资源，为员工提供全面而持续的培训计划。这些计划日趋完善，但同时也变成竞争对手猎取人才的风向标。

最近，一位五星级酒店的经理告诉我，为应对预料之中的高流动率，他在配置基层员工时一般会超编20%。

考虑到“十二五”计划将大幅提高最低工资水平，这种经营方式很快就会变得成本不菲。

有两件事，我经常听到高级管理人员抱怨。

一是中国高校的管理者和学者与学生未来将要面对的市场严重脱节，不能有效帮助学生为进入现实社会做好准备。

这种抱怨当然有一定的道理，但也可能流于简单。它将复杂的问题简单地归罪于某一个群体（即教师），而仅凭他们的一己之力根本就回天乏术。尽管如此，这种现象还是应该引起重视并逐步改善。

毕竟忽略教育改革的经济改革就好比光种田不施肥一样。

高管们的抱怨之二就是很多新入职的员工似乎认为培训是自己应得的一种福利。

他们没有把提升自我当作是个人的首要责任，而把它视为雇主欠的债。这是种放任自流的态度。

长此以往，抱着这种“培训等于福利”的态度，最大的输家不是雇主，而是雇员自己。

从个人层面上讲，这种看待福利待遇的方式与中国计划经济时代盛行的福利体系一脉相承。当时，中国经济完全依靠中央计划。那时“吃大锅饭”就是全盘依赖国家资源，个人和企业为改善条件所作的努力非常有限。

按照这种逻辑推理，个人会主动放弃对自我完善的主动权和自豪感。它只会消磨个人的积极性和责任感，将责任推给雇主、团体或社会。

随后，这个人将很快沦为别人棋盘上的小卒子，任人摆布，庸庸碌碌，或者更糟。

虽然雇主的确应该提供恰当的培训，但雇员也该认识到这并不是理所当然的事情。说到底，自我完善最终还得自己掌握主动。 

Who Says Training Is An Entitlement?

For several years, I’ve been hearing a growing chorus about the human capital deficit in China, from top management in Chinese as well as international companies.

This is a far bigger issue for management in China than it is in overseas markets, making HR a competitive battlefield of critical importance.

It seems that nowadays in China, the challenge of attracting and retaining the consumer is much less daunting than that of attracting and retaining the right talent.

Smart companies have invested resources into extensive ongoing training programs for staff in China. As these training programs become well established, they also become a beacon for competitors, who often target them as poaching grounds.

I recently spoke with a 5-star hotel manager who said that they routinely overstaff entry level positions by around 20%, in order to compensate for expected high turnover rates.

With the significant increases in the minimum wage planned during the 12th 5-year plan, that will soon become a very expensive way to run a business.

There are two complaints I hear frequently from senior business managers.

One is that Chinese university and college administrators and professors are badly out of touch with the market realities which their graduates will face. As a result, they are not doing an effective job of preparing students for the real world.

This complaint no doubt has merit, but may be oversimplifying matters. It places the blame for a complex problem on one group (teachers), who cannot possibly solve it single-handedly. Nonetheless, the situation demands attention and steps toward a solution.

Economic reform without education reform is like farming without fertilizer.

The second complaint I often hear from management is that too many incoming employees seem to think that training is an entitlement which automatically accrues to their account.

Rather than seeing self-development as first and foremost their own individual responsibility, they tend to see it as something their employer owes them. This is a self-destructive attitude.

The biggest loser in the long run of this “training as entitlement” attitude is not the employer, but the employee.

On an individual level, this way of thinking is a corollary to the welfare state mentality prevalent in the days when central planning was the sole driver of China’s economy. “Chi daguo fan” (“吃大锅饭”) referred to an attitude of complete reliance on the State’s resources, accompanied by minimized quality improvement efforts by individuals or enterprises.

The logical extension of that attitude is to surrender a sense of ownership and pride in one’s own improvement goals. That can only erode individual initiative and personal accountability, let alone accountability to one’s employer, community, or society.

The individual then effectively become a passive pawn in some giants’ chess game. That is a sure-fire recipe for mediocrity, or worse.

Employers should of course provide training as and where appropriate, but employees would be wise not to take it for granted. At the end of the day, it’s up to each one of us to take primary ownership of self-improvement initiatives.

评论：其实企业的培训并非一定是员工应得的福利，不过我相信企业培训也是为了企业更好的运行和发展。固然作为员工来说，自己的学习能力非常重要。如果为了企业好，我相信企业也不会吝啬培训的机会的。而且好的企业应该更重视培训……