2022年经济学人 离职谈话有意义吗？（1）

Business

商业版块

Bartleby: Talking it over

巴托比：好好谈谈

Is there a point to exit interviews?

离职谈话有意义吗？

“Do you feel your job description has changed since you were hired?”

“自从你被录用以来，你是否觉得你的岗位职责发生了变化？”

“What prompted you to start looking for another position?”

“是什么让你开始想换工作？”

Such questions are typical of the exit interview, to which an email from HR may invite you after you’ve handed in your notice.

这样的问题在离职谈话中很常见，在你递交辞职信后，人力资源部可能会发电子邮件，请你参加离职谈话。

Do you accept?

你愿意去吗？

And if so, how honest should you be with your soon-to-be-ex-employer during the discussion?

愿意的话，在谈话时，你应该对你的准前雇主多诚实呢？

Just like humans, corporate¹ entities² do not want to admit their faults.

就像人一样，公司也不想承认自己的错误。

As such, many companies deal with resignations badly.

因此，许多公司都处理不好辞职问题。

Exit interviews may help them do better.

离职谈话可能会有所助益。

More important, understanding why workers leave is critical if you want to stop more of them heading for the exit.

更重要的是，要想阻止更多员工离职，了解离职原因至关重要。

Recruiting and training top talent is a big cost for firms, particularly those in the service sector³, so anything that can be done to reduce staff turnover⁴ is valuable.

招聘和培训顶尖人才对公司来说是一笔巨大的成本，特别是那些服务行业的公司，所以任何可以降低员工流动率的事情都是有价值的。

Poaching is part of any competitive industry, so knowing what drew an employee to a different firm can be useful, too.

任何竞争激烈的行业都少不了挖墙脚，所以了解员工为什么会被别的公司挖墙脚也是很有用的。

Former employees who leave happy can in future fill a role as corporate ambassadors.

员工如果在离职的时候很满意，未来或许能帮公司做宣传。

For firms the best exit interview is the one that doesn’t happen.

对于公司来说，最好的离职谈话其实是不会发生的谈话。

A study conducted by the Harvard Business Review concluded that they should be “the culmination⁵ of a series of regular retention⁶ conversations”.

《哈佛商业评论》的一项研究结论称，进行最终的离职谈话前，公司应该定期进行一系列留用谈话。

Such attempts will not work every time, or even often—staff churn is a fact of corporate life.

这些谈话不会每次都奏效，甚至不会经常奏效--对于企业而言，员工流失在所难免。

For unsalvageable cases, some firms arrange a one-to-one conversation with the leaver’s manager.

对于无法挽留的员工，一些公司会安排与离职人员的经理进行一对一谈话。

Others offer an online form, which is less personal but provides the opportunity to collate⁷ feedback easily.

其他公司则会提供在线表格，虽然不那么私人化，但可以方便地整理反馈。

Such exchanges are best scheduled after the initial rush of emotion has passed but before the employee has checked out mentally.

这样的交流最好安排在员工萌生去意的冲动消失之后，和员工去意已决之前。

The information gleaned⁸ can be revealing.

这时收集到的信息会很有启发性。

In some firms, it travels all the way up to the board.

在一些公司，这些信息会一路传到董事会。

The incentives⁹ for a departing employee are less clear.

对离职员工的激励措施则不那么明确。

(If you are pursuing legal action against your employer, your lawyer is likely to tell you to avoid the interview altogether.)

(如果你要对雇主采取法律行动，你的律师很可能会劝你干脆不要参加离职谈话。)

It is tempting¹⁰ either to ignore everyone and just walk away or, conversely, to really let rip.

无视所有人，一走了之，或者与之相反，撕破脸皮，无论哪种做法都对离职员工很有诱惑力。

“When one burns one’s bridges,” wrote Dylan Thomas, “what a very nice fire it makes.”

狄兰·托马斯写道：“当一个人把后路烧掉时，产生的火焰是多么美啊。”

But letting off steam by unburdening yourself of all the wrongs and little things that ever upset you is a shallow game.

但是，摆脱所有让你烦恼的错误和小事，以此来发泄情绪，这种做法很肤浅。

1 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

2 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

3 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

4 turnover   

n.人员流动率，人事变动率；营业额，成交量

参考例句：

• The store greatly reduced the prices to make a quick turnover.这家商店实行大减价以迅速周转资金。
• Our turnover actually increased last year.去年我们的营业额竟然增加了。

5 culmination   

n.顶点；最高潮

参考例句：

• The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
• It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。

6 retention   

n.保留，保持，保持力，记忆力

参考例句：

• They advocate the retention of our nuclear power plants.他们主张保留我们的核电厂。
• His retention of energy at this hour is really surprising.人们惊叹他在这个时候还能保持如此旺盛的精力。

7 collate   

vt.(仔细)核对，对照；(书籍装订前)整理

参考例句：

• They have begun to collate their own statistics on racial abuse. 他们已经开始整理自己有关种族歧视的统计数据。
• You may collate the latter with the earlier edition. 你可将新版与旧版相对照。

8 gleaned   

v.一点点地收集（资料、事实）( glean的过去式和过去分词 )；（收割后）拾穗

参考例句：

• These figures have been gleaned from a number of studies. 这些数据是通过多次研究收集得来的。
• A valuable lesson may be gleaned from it by those who have eyes to see. 明眼人可从中记取宝贵的教训。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

10 tempting   

a.诱人的, 吸引人的

参考例句：

• It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
• It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。