六大极限项目留住人才

爱德曼

    公关巨头爱德曼公司（Edelman）的美国人力资源管理总监劳拉•史密斯说：“理查德•爱德曼很早就有一个愿景，要让我们员工的生活多姿多彩。他教导我们，为了给客户做到最好，我们需要丰富、丰满的生活，而不只是每天两点一线地上下班。”

    为了实现这个愿景，爱德曼公司推出了一个“越狱”计划，为15名员工提供了一个星期的带薪休假和1,000美元的资金，让他们从事一个个人项目或目标。“越狱”计划的赢家有的前往海地的孤儿院里做过义工，有的陪患病的亲属度过了一段时间，还有的则拜访了驻外美军的随军家属。

    史密斯说：“这绝对是留住人才的一个好办法”。她指出，“越狱”计划的赢家大多数十年后还在公司里工作。“不管他们进行的是哪种活动，每个人在结束活动回到公司后，都对我们说，他们对公司有了全新的感受。”

    比如家住纽约的高级客户主任大卫•麦肯齐就请了两个星期的假，去了肯尼亚南部一个名叫希姆尼的沿海村庄。那里的艾滋病、肺结核发病率很高，村民普遍营养不良。在全球视野国际（Global Vision International）的赞助下，麦肯齐在一家诊所里工作了一段时间，给婴儿测量体重，设计健康问题的课程教案，同时讲授电脑课程。

Edelman

    "Richard Edelman has long had a vision for our employees to live in color," says Laura Smith, U.S. human resources managing director for public relations giant Edelman. "He taught us that in order to be the best for our clients we needed well-rounded, enriched lives, where we do more than go to work and come home."

    One manifestation of that vision is Edelman Escape, a program that gives one paid week off and $1,000 to 15 employees so they can pursue a personal project or goal. Winners of an Escape have done everything from volunteer at an orphanage in Haiti, spend time with a sick relative, or meet up with a military spouse who's been deployed abroad.

    "It's definitely a retention tool," Smith says, noting that most of the Escape winners are still with the firm a decade later. "Everybody that comes back, regardless of the type of Escape, tells us it shed new light on how they feel about the company."

    Take David McKenzie, a senior account executive in New York, who added two weeks of personal time off to go to Shimoni, a village on the south coast of Kenya with high rates of HIV, tuberculosis, and malnutrition. Under the auspices of Global Vision International, McKenzie worked in a clinic, weighing babies, creating lesson plans about health issues, and teaching computer classes.