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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.
从厨房里的美食厨师到装备豪华的游戏室，硅谷科技公司员工享受着传奇般的额外待遇。在柏林的科技初创企业圈子——同样加入了人才的全球性争夺——也兴起了类似吸引员工的“甜头”，但加入了德国特色。
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.
对于许多潜在员工来说，有机会去西欧公认最时髦、成本最低的首都城市柏林生活，是所有额外待遇中最优厚的一项。但许多外籍员工发现，要在德国首都定居下来，会遇上出乎意料的困难。
Challenges range from the expense of finding a flat to the complexity of the German language.
挑战很多，从找到公寓的花费到德语的复杂难懂，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.
为帮助员工克服这些挑战，新兴的柏林科技公司纷纷任命了职责包括帮新入职者解决难题的员工。
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.”
对手机游戏开发商、果冻飞溅(Jelly Splash)的出品商Wooga而言，一名外籍雇员抱怨自己从未真正融入柏林生活并离职，是情况不对的第一个苗头。“她是我们确实想留住的人，”Wooga人力运营总监亚尼内•库斯曼(Janina Cussmann)表示，“她的确在一些基础性的问题上遇到困难，比如接入互联网，以及跟房东之间的各种麻烦，她对此感觉孤立无援。”
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成立了一个团队，其职责包括帮新员工融入，并留住他们。德国公司有时把这一职责称为“愉悦管理”。
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.
首先是让新员工住在Wooga在柏林弗里德里希斯海因(Friedrichshain)区全天候租下的公寓。安排最新入职者住在同一栋大楼，这样他们就能相互交往，并交流融入一座新城市的小窍门。
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.
外籍员工在翻译和理解租约，以及安装宽带网络方面获得帮助。尽管柏林作为一个科技创业中心的声望日盛，但要获得不错的互联网接入，办理手续经常很缓慢。
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岁的加拿大游戏设计师亚当•特尔弗(Adam Telfer)被Wooga招至麾下。在他看来，柏林的悠闲氛围和反主流文化的魅力，有着很大的吸引力。“这种吸引力不会一直延续下去，但柏林属于有不同于其他城市特色的城市，”他说。
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.
但当他以新员工身份到达柏林时，以德语为工作语言，以及经历当地的种种官僚作风，都让他感受到巨大的困难。“有些像去百货店那么简单的事情——你真的听不懂他们在说什么。刚开始的时候特别难。”
“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.”
“这里有这么多不同的（繁文缛节的）的手续，而且特别正式。要不是得到了帮助，我觉得，我们在几周之后就会离开了，”他说。2012年10月1日，特尔弗加入了Wooga，同一天入职的新员工大约有20名。“我得说，我们中的5到8人，大约三分之一，后来没有留下——人们说，柏林不适合我。”
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.”
最大的障碍因素之一是租房要交的中介费。直到最近的一项法律修改之前，租户在交第一笔费用时，都可能要交相当于两个月房租的中介费。特尔弗表示，许多员工看到租房总费用之后，便心生犹豫了。“对那些来到德国，只想试一下水的人来说，花那么多钱绝对没有意义。”
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的办公场所是一处通风的开放式办公区，高高的窗户，木地板，还布置了一些游戏中角色的纸板像。数十名不同国籍的员工在屏幕前工作，或者围坐沙发上开会。一处热闹的厨房区，放置着摆满麦片盒的架子，以及塞满软饮的巨大冰箱，里面有许多瓶德国咖啡因饮料Club Mate，这已成了这家柏林游戏开发商的首选饮品。
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、迷人的工作场所提醒人们，为新成员解决安顿下来的实际困难，并非柏林初创企业面临的唯一挑战。为了不断吸引它们所需的娴熟员工——尤其是工程师和产品经理——德国科技企业也需要提供能与硅谷的自行车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.
在数码音乐与音频平台SoundCloud，这些额外待遇通常与公司的核心使命相关。在其柏林办公室，设立了一间内部录音棚，可供员工在那里录制音乐，并听当地艺术家演出。
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.”
社交活动经常是围绕着大家对音乐的共同挚爱展开的。“我们从来都不必聘请乐队来办派对，”SoundCloud人力资源副总裁基娃•科根(Caoimhe Keogan)表示，“公司员工自己组建乐队，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.”
对于SoundCloud的许多外国员工而言，柏林是一座音乐与科技交汇的城市。这座首都城市拥有世界上一些最富影响力的高科技舞曲俱乐部，以及最前沿的音乐科技公司。“创造力和迅速发展的科技界产生了有趣的重叠，”科根表示，“这吸引了很多人。”
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 都为外籍员工提供德语课，也提供瑜伽等活动。Wooga还开办绘画课、电影之夜和萨尔萨舞曲晚会。另外，这家游戏开发商也创办了一个跳蚤市场，让员工体验这个热衷古玩市场的城市的一丝本地特色。
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.
但从根本上说，德国新科技企业在薪酬和生活方式的多姿多彩上都竞争不过美国初创企业，后者获得的资金支持通常比德国同行高得多。
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.
但对从北美迁往欧洲的员工而言，一个至关重要的刺激因素是，有机会重新营造工作和生活的平衡，同时尝试新事物。硅谷最新提供的、同时也最引争议的额外待遇——为女员工报销冷冻卵子费——让人看到了美国科技行业的职业压力。
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.
特尔弗表示：“在加拿大和美国，他们向你抛出一大堆额外待遇，努力让你觉得加班是合理的。我过去在美国游戏开发商艺电(Electronic Arts)效力，他们建了规模庞大的体育馆，该设施包括一个足球场和一个篮球场。”
“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，这让大家在办公室附近走动时感觉很好笑。谁也不使用（体育设施），因为大家都不敢去。”
