When it comes to keeping employees happy, Apple Inc. appears to be taking some inspiration from Google Inc.
怎样让员工满意的问题上，苹果公司(Apple Inc.)似乎正在借鉴谷歌(Google Inc.)的一些做法。
Earlier this year, Apple told some employees about a new initiative called 'Blue Sky' that allows a small group of staffers to spend a few weeks on a pet engineering project, according to three people told about the program.
三位知情人士说，今年早些时候，苹果向部分员工介绍了一个名叫"蓝天"(Blue Sky)的新计划。根据这个计划，少数员工可以拿出数周时间从事自己最喜爱的项目。
It is a more limitedversion of similar initiatives for hatching new ideas that have long existed in Silicon Valley. The most well-known of those is Google's '20% time,' which allows employees to spend up to a fifth of their time on projects outside their normal responsibilities.
类似的创意孵化计划在硅谷存在已久，只是苹果的版本更局限一些。在其他公司，最有名的便是谷歌的"20%时间"计划，即员工可以拿出最多五分之一的时间去做正常职责之外的项目。
The idea was previously anathema at Apple. The Cupertino, Calif., company is known for organizing teams around a few focused projects that come from the top. Employees have often griped about the lack of leeway.
之前这样的想法在苹果极不受欢迎。众所周知，这家总部位于加州库珀蒂诺的公司喜欢围绕最上层指定的少数重点项目组织团队。员工经常抱怨工作中缺少灵活性。
When it comes to culture among technology companies, Apple is still an outlier. Its managers have long ignored standard Silicon Valley perks, such as free lunches, believing the opportunity to work at the company and on its popular products compelled people to stay.
在科技公司的文化方面，苹果仍然不随大流。它的管理层长期忽视硅谷公司一般都会提供的免费午餐等福利，觉得在苹果公司工作、打造其流行产品的机会本身就足以让员工留下来。
Last year, in a session of Apple's internalmanagementprogram Apple University, officials discussed how the company is in some ways more like the military than a traditional corporation, according to a person who was told about the presentation.
一位知情人士说，去年在内部管理项目"苹果大学"(Apple University)的一节课上，高管谈到该公司在某些方面更像是军队，而不是传统的企业。
But under Chief Executive Tim Cook, who took over from co-founder Steve Jobs last year, Apple is becoming more employee-friendly.
但在去年接替联合创始人乔布斯(Steve Jobs)担任首席执行长的库克(Tim Cook)的带领下，苹果对员工越来越友好。
Mr. Cook has introduced small corporate benefits that Mr. Jobs resisted or never cared much about, such as new employee discounts on Apple products and a charitable matching program.
库克推出了乔布斯坚决反对或从未多想的一些小规模公司福利，比如新的针对苹果产品的员工折扣，以及员工为慈善项目捐款时公司也会跟着捐款。
Mr. Cook, who cuts a humbler figure than Mr. Jobs, has also gone out of his way to praise employees at Apple's media events.
另外在苹果的媒体发布会上，比乔布斯显得更加谦卑的库克还特意对员工提出表扬。
He has gushed about them far more than Mr. Jobs did, saying 'they are doing the best work of their lives.'
他对员工的热情夸奖远多于乔布斯。库克说"他们是在做一辈子最出色的工作"。
Apple is moving to address long-standing employee gripes, like flexibility on what they work on. Mr. Cook has also signaled he is more open to letting employees take sabbaticals, according to an executive who has spoken to him about it.
苹果正在采取措施化解员工长期以来的一些牢骚，比如工作中的灵活性问题。而在是否允许员工休长假的问题上，据一位和库克谈过这个话题的高管透露，他的态度也显得比乔布斯更为开放。
The status of Blue Sky is unclear. Apple's iPhone software head Scott Forstall, who was involved in the program, was pushed out of the company in a management shake-up last month.
"蓝天"计划的状态未知。参与这一计划的iPhone软件负责人福斯托尔(Scott Forstall)在上个月的管理层调整中被赶出了苹果公司。
Some Apple employees said the moves are somewhat symbolic and haven't resulted in big changes. Still, they come as the company considers how to retain employees.
一些苹果员工说，这些措施在一定程度上是象征性的，并没有带来大的变化。不过，在采取这些措施时，苹果也正在思考怎样留住员工。
Apple has become more aggressive about giving counteroffers to some employees thinking of leaving, said two Silicon Valley executives who have tried to hire Apple employees recently.
据两位最近试图从苹果公司挖人的硅谷公司高管说，对一些考虑离开的员工，苹果在要不要提供更高待遇的问题上也比以前更加积极。
And Apple has also taken steps to highlight the attractiveness of its compensation packages. During annual reviews last month, the company began listing stock grants by dollar amount as opposed to just the number of shares, said people familiar with the packages. The people said this made the offers appear more generous.
苹果还通过一些措施强调其薪酬方案的诱人之处。知情人士说，上个月的年度评审期间，苹果开始按金额、而不只是数量来衡量赠送给员工的股票。这些人士说，这样一来，其薪酬方案就显得更加慷慨。
JESSICA E. LESSIN
- project [prə´dʒekt, ´prɔdʒekt]
v.设计；投掷 n.计划 (初中英语单词) - valley [´væli] n.谷；河谷；流域 (初中英语单词)
- well-known [,wel´nəun] a.著名的，众所周知的 (初中英语单词)
- normal [´nɔ:məl] a.正规的 n.正常状态 (初中英语单词)
- culture [´kʌltʃə] n.修养；文化；饲养 (初中英语单词)
- management [´mænidʒmənt] n.管理；处理；经营 (初中英语单词)
- program [´prəugræm] n.说明v.为...安排节目 (初中英语单词)
- corporation [,kɔ:pə´reiʃən] n.社团；法人；公司 (初中英语单词)
- executive [ig´zekjutiv] a.行政的 n.行政官 (初中英语单词)
- spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- retain [ri´tein] vt.保持；保留；留住 (初中英语单词)
- annual [´ænjuəl] a.每年的 n.年刊 (初中英语单词)
- amount [ə´maunt] n.总数；数量 v.合计 (初中英语单词)
- inspiration [,inspi´reiʃən] n.鼓舞；灵感；启发 (高中英语单词)
- initiative [i´niʃiətiv] n.主动权；首创精神 (高中英语单词)
- engineering [,endʒi´niəriŋ] n.工程技术；工程学 (高中英语单词)
- limited [´limitid] a.有限(制)的 (高中英语单词)
- previously [´pri:viəsli] ad.预先；以前 (高中英语单词)
- session [´seʃən] n.会议；会期；(开庭)期 (高中英语单词)
- internal [in´tə:nl] a.内部的；国内的 (高中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
- compensation [,kɔmpen´seiʃən] n.补偿，赔偿 (高中英语单词)
- version [´və:ʃən, ´və:rʒən] n.翻译；说明；译本 (英语四级单词)
- traditional [trə´diʃənəl] a.传统的，习惯的 (英语四级单词)
- charitable [´tʃæritəbəl] a.仁爱的；慈善的 (英语四级单词)
- status [´steitəs] n.身份；情形；状况 (英语四级单词)
- aggressive [ə´gresiv] a.进攻的；侵略的 (英语四级单词)
- taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)
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