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Two hundred feet above lower Manhattan in an airy modern conference room, some 20 employees are sitting elbow to elbow as they participate in a meditation session. Breathing in, then out, they heed the guidance of their instructor, who tells them to count to five silently -- and to start over every time their attention wavers. "Notice where your mind wanders to, " she implores. "Let go of the day's stresses."
在下曼哈顿区上空两百英尺，约20名员工肩并肩坐在一间宽敞的现代化会议室里，参加冥想课程。他们跟着导师的指导吸气和呼气。导师让他们在心中默数五个数，每次注意力动摇的时候就重头开始默数。导师轻声说：“注意你的思绪会飘向何处。放下今天的压力。”
The course grew out of the company's Resiliency Week, a wellness initiative on stress management, happiness, and work-life balance over five days. It's one of a number of unconventional perks at this plush workplace. Others include a tai chi club, five-times-a-week Pilates, bubble tea in the café, a champion dragon-boating team, lectures from visitors such as Derek Jeter, and an all-night scavenger hunt for charity.
这项冥想课程源自这家公司的“每周恢复”健康计划，涉及在五个工作日内的压力管理、幸福和工作生活平衡问题。而它只是这个舒适的工作场所提供的诸多非常规福利中的一项。其他福利还包括太极俱乐部、每周五次的普拉提课程、餐厅的泡泡茶、曾夺冠的龙舟队、邀请嘉宾到公司演讲（如棒球明星德瑞克?基特），以及出于慈善目的举办的通宵寻宝游戏等。
It may sound like the Googleplex, but you'll find Hermès rather than hoodies here: The meditators work forGoldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), the venerable 144-year-old investment bank. Yes, the one that's been in the cross hairs in recent years as it both reeled from and was blamed for the financial crisis; yes, the one where 70- to 80-hour workweeks are considered routine. Say hello to the other side of this company. Beyond the headlines, there's a unique culture and a remarkably satisfied workforce. We swear. And people are dying to get jobs here.
这些听起来像是谷歌总部才会有的活动，但在这里你会看到人们穿的是爱马仕（Hermès），而不是卫衣，而这些冥想者们都在为高盛（Goldman Sachs）工作。这家可敬的投资银行已有144年的历史。近几年，高盛一直处在风口浪尖，因为金融危机而备受指责和批评；而且，在这里每周工作70至80个小时更是家常便饭。但这家公司也有另外的一面。除了媒体上的报道外，这家公司有着独特的文化和对公司非常满意的员工。我们发誓，人们都渴望能在这家公司找到一份工作。
Don't take our word for it. Ask the employees. Goldman Sachs is No. 45 this year on Fortune's annual list of 100 Best Companies to Work For, the definitive ranking of corporate workplaces based on employee feedback. And no, this isn't the result of a new mission to improve working conditions: Goldman has earned a spot on our list every year since we started it in 1998 -- and it's one of just 13 companies that can make that claim. (J.P. Morgan (JPM, Fortune 500) and Merrill Lynch are the only other big investment banks to ever make the list, and not since in 1999.) This year Goldman employees helped to bump up their company 48 slots.
别怀疑我们说的话。大家可以问一问那里的员工。高盛在今年的《财富》100家最适宜工作的公司排行榜上名列第45位。这份榜单以员工反馈为依据对工作场所进行排名。自1998年该榜单设立以来，高盛年年上榜。榜单上像这样的“常青树”一共也只有13家公司。【摩根大通（J.P. Morgan）与美林集团（Merrill Lynch）是其他两家曾经上榜的大型投资银行，但他们直到1999年以后才开始上榜。】今年，高盛员工帮助公司的排名上升了48位。
What gives? Conventional wisdom might say it's the money that keeps people sated here. Indeed, the firm saw average compensation of roughly $380, 000 over the past 12 months. And while that number skews high because of multimillion-dollar paychecks at the top, Goldman typically sets aside more cash for compensation per employee than any other major bank.
为什么会这样？传统观念认为，人们之所以对这里心满意足无非是因为钱。确实，过去12个月，这家公司的平均薪酬约为380,000美元。虽然公司高层数百万美元的高额薪酬让这个数字有些虚高，但高盛员工的薪酬的确一直高于其他大型银行。
But according to 62 pages and more than 40, 000 words of unfiltered employee comments collected by the Great Place to Work Institute (which conducts the employee survey) and reviewed by Fortune, it's not just the pay that makes the employees so fond of their firm. Nor is it the swank corporate headquarters, the four-month maternity leave, or an obsessive devotion to philanthropy.
然而，员工意见显示，他们热爱这家公司并不只是因为薪酬。更不是由于气派的公司总部，长达四个月的产假，也不是因为对慈善捐助的痴迷。针对此次榜单，卓越工作场所研究院（Great Place to Work Institute，负责员工调查）共从这家公司收集了62页超过40,000字未经过滤的员工意见，并经过《财富》杂志审核。
Above all else, employees say, it's the opportunity to work with, and count yourself among, an ultra-elite group. Less than 3% of 97,600 applicants for analyst and associate roles won a seat at the firm last year, making it twice as hard to get into as Harvard. That, plus what employees describe as a flat, consensus-driven, collaborative culture (there are 188 references to "team" in those 62 pages), is what they say they like about their company. "You don't have to be the smartest person, but it's probably the highest combination of smart and interesting and interested-in-the-world kind of people," says Lloyd Blankfein, the 31-year veteran who became chairman and CEO in 2006 and who, according to the most recent SEC filing, has more than 21 million reasons to agree that Goldman Sachs is a splendid company to work for.
员工表示，他们最注重的是能够有机会与一群超级精英共事，并有望成为其中一员。去年，共有97,600人申请高盛公司的分析师和助理职位，而最终录用率不到3%，进入高盛的难度是考哈佛的两倍。此外，员工形容为扁平的、共识驱动的合作文化（在62页调查意见中，共有188次提到了“团队”），也是他们喜欢这家公司的一个原因。劳埃德?布兰克费恩说：“你不一定是最聪明的人，但我们这里一定是由聪明的人、有趣的人和对世界好奇的人所组成的最强组合。”劳埃德?布兰克费恩在高盛工作了31年，2006年就任公司董事会主席兼CEO。据美国证券交易委员会（SEC）的最新文件来看，他至少有2,100万个理由为高盛入选最适宜工作的公司投赞成票（SEC文件显示，他在2012年的年薪是2,100万美金）。
To be sure, the past few years have been anything but easy at Goldman. There was the financial crisis and ensuing bailout, in which it took $10 billion from the government. There was scrutiny that led to a $550 million settlement with the SEC over a subprime-mortgage product, and a Department of Justice inquiry (which was later dropped). There was Goldman-bashing everywhere, from late-night talk shows to President Obama to a round of books critical of the firm's ethics. And there was the press -- most notably the 2009 Rolling Stone article that compared the company to a vampire squid. Yet another challenge: regulators cracking down to stamp out the type of risky trading Goldman always did best. The business community never quite shared the vitriol -- clients stayed loyal, and in 2010, even as Main Street's antipathy toward Wall Street crested, the firm climbed seven spots in Fortune's list of the World's Most Admired Companies. But that doesn't always help when almost every article about the company still refers to that cephalopod.
确实，过去几年，高盛的日子并不好过。它先是遭遇金融危机，紧接着在美国政府的救助计划中接受了100亿美元的救助。后来，面对SEC针对它次贷产品的审查，这家公司不得不付出5.5亿美元达成和解。此外，它还要面对美国司法部的调查（后来调查被中止）。此后，对于高盛的抨击遍地开花，从午夜脱口秀，到奥巴马，以及一系列批评公司道德的新书等。其中当然也少不了媒体的声音，最著名的是2009年，《滚石》杂志（Rolling Stone）把这家公司比作一只吸血乌贼。它还要面临另外一个难题：监管机构采取严厉措施遏制高盛最擅长的高风险交易。然而，这些批评和嘲讽并没有影响到商界——它的客户依然忠诚，而且在2010年，“缅因街”（代表普通大众——译注）对华尔街的反感达到最高潮的时候，这家公司在《财富》“全球最受赞赏的公司”榜单（World's Most Admired Companies）上的名次依然上升了七位。但尽管如此，几乎每一篇文章仍然把高盛比喻成“吸血乌贼”。
It's true, though, that if Goldman is a great place to work, no one would ever call it an easy place to work. The pressure can be intense. But employees say the upside of admission makes it worthwhile -- and many say those difficult years after the meltdown had the effect of bringing people together in a way that boosted corporate self-esteem. "I will always believe that the culture was one of the most important factors in getting us through the crisis," says John Rogers, the firm's executive vice president and chief of staff to its last three CEOs.
虽然高盛是最适宜工作的公司之一，但没有人会认为这里是工作最轻松的地方，毋庸置疑。高盛员工都面临巨大的压力。但员工们表示，积极的一面让这一切都变得值得。而且许多员工认为，经济危机之后陷入困境的这几年反而让公司的同仁们变得更加团结，集体荣誉感也得到了提升。高盛执行副总裁约翰?罗杰斯曾担任之前三任CEO的幕僚长，他说：“我始终相信，公司文化是让我们度过危机最重要的因素之一。”
