经济困境中西方裁员东方减薪 折射文化差异

From bankers to factory staff, employees in the West face the bleak prospect of losing their jobs as a global recession starts to bite. For colleagues in the East, the pain is more likely to come through a pay cut.

Human resource experts say cultural differences explain why Asian firms try harder to preserve jobs in difficult times, which will stem unemployment and may help keep Asian economies afloat at a time of slowing exports.

The East Asian attitude may also make it easier for firms to recover quickly from the economic downturn since they will not need to rehire or train new staff, leaving some experts predicting a Western shift to Eastern flexibility.

"In the Confucian mindset, the right thing to do is to share the burden. There's that sense of collective responsibility whereas in the West, it's more about individual survival," said Michael Benoliel, associate professor of organizational behavior at Singapore Management University (SMU).

Steven Pang, Asia regional director for Aquent, a headhunting firm, said in many East Asian companies there was an obligation "to take care of members of the family and go through the pain together" even if that meant incurring losses.

In contrast, Western counterparts often felt compelled to make dramatic statements to show investors they were serious about cost-cutting, Pang said.

US firms from General Motors to Goldman Sachs plan to lay off workers by the thousands, but at the Asian units of Western multinationals, job cuts will probably be less severe.

Japan's jobless rate was 4 percent in September, up from 3.8 percent in January, while Hong Kong's was flat at 3.4 percent. But US unemployment is expected to have jumped to 6.3 percent last month from below 5 percent in January.

Experts say that while there are noticeable differences in labor practices in East and West, the gap will narrow as more firms become more multinational and competition forces firms to adopt the best practices of rivals from abroad.

随着全球经济衰退的影响逐渐显现，西方国家从银行职员到工厂工人，都面临着丢饭碗的风险；而对于东方“同仁“们来说，可能只是减薪而已。

人力资源专家将这种差别归因为文化差异。在经济困难时期，亚洲公司会更努力地保留职位，这不仅可以减少失业，还能帮助该地区经济在出口放缓的情况下保持平稳。

东亚企业的这种作风可能有助于其迅速从经济衰退中复苏，因为这些企业无需再重新招聘和培训新员工。因此一些专家预测，西方企业将来或许也会借鉴东方企业的这种灵活模式。

新加坡管理大学组织行为学副教授迈克尔．贝诺列尔说：“儒家思想倡导有难同当，他们有一种集体责任感，而西方文化则更关注个人生存。”

“领群”猎头公司亚洲区主管Steven Pang称，很多东亚公司认为有义务“照顾公司大家庭的成员和共渡难关”，尽管这样做可能会给公司带来损失。

相反，西方企业往往认为他们有必要做出明确表态，让投资者相信他们降低成本的决心。

通用汽车和高盛投行等许多美国企业计划大批裁员，而相比之下，西方跨国公司的亚洲分公司的裁员力度可能要小一些。

日本今年9月份的失业率为4%，高于1月份的3.8%；香港的失业率仍保持在3.4%。而美国上月的失业率预计已升至6.3%，其1月份的失业率还不到5%。

专家指出，虽然东西方企业在对待员工方面存在显著差别，但随着越来越多的企业更加国际化，以及竞争压力迫使企业采取国外的先进做法，这种差异将逐渐缩小。

Vocabulary:

come through:经历

afloat:Free or out of difficulty, especially financial difficulty（免于经济困难的）