Too good to be true?
好得不像真的？
The tests and interviews were over. Steve finally had the right job. The starting salary was not great, but his career prospects were good. Who could tell? After many years of commitment, Steve might even become a director. In return, the company was also making big commitments. When Steve showed his family his new contract of employment, his grandfather could hardly believe his eyes.
考試和面試結束了。史蒂夫終於得到了合適的工作。起薪不算高，但職業前景很好。誰知道呢？工作多年之後，史蒂夫說不定還能成為董事。反過來，公司也給了重大的承諾。當史蒂夫把聘用合同給家人看的時候，他的爺爺幾乎不能相信自己的眼睛。
The terms and conditions of service were very generous and the fringe benefits excellent. 「We didn’t have all this when I was your age,」 he said. 「We had a cafeteria with good prices, although the quality of the food was not that good. But the company certainly did not give us a free bus pass, an increase from two weeks』 paid holiday to five after two years and the long-term sick pay. These are new to me.」
服務條款非常大方，附加福利也極好。「我在你這麼大的時候可沒有這些東西。」他說，「我們有價格低廉的食堂——雖然飯菜的質量不是特別好，但是公司可沒有給我們免費的公交卡，也沒說兩年後帶薪假期就從兩周增加到五周，也沒有長期病假工資。這些對我來說都是新事物。」
So were the free private healthcare, travel insurance and gym membership. Then there was the flexitime system to help employees create a good work-life balance. There was also a generous paid maternity and paternity leave, and subsidised crèche facilities which were there to encourage mothers to return to part-time or full-time work when they were ready.
同樣是新事物的還有免費的私人醫療保健、旅行保險和健身會員卡。另外還有彈性工作制，讓員工在工作和生活之間取得良好的平衡。此外還有慷慨的帶薪產假和陪產假，以及給補貼的幼兒看護設施，方便媽媽們在準備好之後回來上全日或半日的班。
Such employee benefits have developed over many years. Some have been due to union pressure, and some to government and EU laws. Others have come from business itself. A modern employer invests a lot of money in training his employees. In return, he wants to keep them — and to keep them working hard. He knows that a happy worker is a harder worker. His workforce is his most valuable resource.
這些員工福利是多年發展的結果。有一些是迫於工會的壓力，有一些則是政府和歐盟法律規定的，還有一些則是企業自己提供的。當代的僱主斥巨資培訓自己的員工，因此會想要留住這些員工——並且讓他們努力工作。他們知道，快樂的員工工作更賣力。員工是他們最寶貴的資源。
「But how can they afford all these benefits?」 grandfather finally asked.
In today’s competitive world of work, this is a very good question, and many European business leaders and politicians are asking it.
「但是他們怎麼負擔得起這麼多福利？」爺爺最後問道。
在當今競爭激烈的就業市場，這是一個很好的問題，歐洲的許多企業領袖和政治家也在問這個問題。
The big problem is this: companies in rich, expensive Europe have to compete globally, especially with low-cost East Asia. There, working hours are long, pay is low and benefits are few. In order to compete, European companies have been taking tough action. First, they have sent the manufacturing part of their business and also many white-collar workers and IT jobs to East Asia and other low-cost regions. It has also been taking away some of its generous benefits. For example, Europe’s short 35-hour week is dying. German firms have forced employees to accept longer hours. Now the French are starting to work longer hours too.
最大的問題是：在富有的、生活水平高的歐洲的公司必須參與全球競爭，特別是和低成本的東亞公司競爭。在那裡，工作時間長，報酬低，福利少。為了競爭，歐洲公司採取了強硬的措施。首先，他們把企業的製造部門以及許多白領工人和IT崗位遷到東亞和其他低成本的地區。他們還取消了一些慷慨的福利。例如，歐洲較短的每周35小時的工作時間正在消失。德國公司強迫員工接受更長的工作時間。現在法國也開始延長工作時間。
After an increasingly hard working life, Steve may one day have to answer his grandfather’s questions like this: they really couldn’t afford all those benefits, at least not for very long.
在一段越來越艱難的職業生涯之後，史蒂夫有一天或許不得不這樣回答他爺爺的問題：他們實際上並不能負擔所有這些福利，至少不能長期負擔下去。