【外刊雙語精讀】經濟雪人-雇我的間諜（3）
Bartleby
The spy who hired me
When employer health programmes go too far
巴托比
雇我的間諜
當雇主的健康計劃做過了頭
THE NEW YEAR is the moment when people vow to improve their fitness. They join gyms, swear off alcohol and adopt detox diets. These resolutions usually do not last beyond January.
新年是人們立誓提高身體素質的時候。他們走進健身房，發誓戒酒，采用排毒養生食療。而這些決心一般堅持不到2月份。
swear off sth
if you swear off a particular habit or pleasure, such as cigarettes or alcohol, you decide to stop it because it is bad for you:
Froggy discovered religion, and swore off alcohol, sex, and even gambling.
Jay had sworn off love. "Too painful, darling."
detox
when you do not eat solid food or only drink special liquids for a period of time, which is thought to remove harmful substances from your body 解毒療法，清毒療法〔一段時間內不吃固體食物或只喝特別的流質，據認為可以將體內的有害物質排出〕
But some employers try to help their workers stick to their goals by offering “wellness” programmes. One of the longest-running examples began in 1979 at Johnson & Johnson (J&J), an American health-care company. The plan promotes weight loss, smoking cessation and efforts to reduce blood pressure. The firm claims it reduced medical costs by $400 an employee per year, and resulted in fewer workers suffering from heart disease or high blood pressure.
但一些雇主推出了“健康”項目，試圖幫助員工堅持實現目標。其中一個推行時間最久的項目是美國醫療保健公司強生于1979年啟動的。它提倡減肥、戒煙和降血壓。強生稱此舉每年為每位員工減少了400美元的醫療費，患心臟病或高血壓的員工也減少了。
wellness
the state of being healthy 【美】健康：
The college has established a wellness program for its students. 學院為本院學生制定了一套保健方案。
cessation /se'se??(?)n/ n. (暫時)停止,休止,中斷
Yet an examination of the data by Martin Cherniack of the University of Connecticut* found that in 2005-08, a sharp jump in alcohol use, depression and stress among J&J employees occurred. This coincided with a period when the firm had a target of lifting productivity by 9% a year. So the employees may have been leaner and fitter, but it is possible that workplace pressure to produce more meant greater stress.
不過，康涅狄格大學的馬丁·切尼克（Martin Cherniack）分析相關數據*后發現，2005年至2008年，強生員工飲酒、抑郁和精神緊張的情形激增。而正是在這一時期，公司制定生產率年增幅9%的目標。因此，員工們可能變得更精瘦、更健康了，但提高生產率的職場壓力也可能讓員工更加緊張。
paternalistic /p?,t?:n?l'istik/ adj. 家長式作風的
make the grade phrase
to succeed in doing something because you are good enough
It’s good to see a young person making the grade in their chosen sport.
The modern equivalent of those practices revolves around technology. Some companies persuade their workers to wear a Fitbit or other device to monitor things such as their level of exercise, heart rate and sleep patterns. BP America introduced Fitbits in 2013. Those who reach certain goals, such as walking 1m steps a year, qualify for extra health benefits.
現代的這些監控措施則是通過技術實現的。一些公司說服員工佩戴Fitbit手環或其他設備來監控他們的運動水平、心率和睡眠模式。BP美國公司在2013年開始使用Fitbit。那些達到特定目標的人，比如每年走滿100萬步，可以獲得額外的健康福利。
In a health system dependent on private insurance, there may be a case for giving workers such incentives, provided take-up is voluntary. There is a parallel with car insurance, where vehicle owners pay lower premiums if they are willing to have their driving monitored.
在依賴私人保險的醫療體系中，給予員工這樣的激勵可能還有其道理，如果員工是自愿參加這種項目的話。這與汽車保險類似——如果車主愿意接受駕駛監控，就可以支付較少的保費。
provided conj. 如果, 假如
take-up
the acceptance of something offered 接受：
education is aiding the take-up of birth control.
教育正在幫助人們接受計劃生育的觀點。
parallel
a person or thing that is similar or analogous to another
可相比擬的人（或事物）：
a challenge which has no parallel in peacetime this century.
本世紀和平時期的一個無可比擬的挑戰。
premium /'pri?m??m/ n. 保險費
But there is less excuse in a country like Britain, which has a public health service. Nevertheless, research published in 2017 showed there had been a 37% leap in the share of British workers who had been offered a wearable device by their employer. Many people, however, will regard these as a spy on their wrists, transmitting information back to the boss. A PwC survey in 2016 found that 38% of British employees did not trust their firms to use the data collected in a way that workers would benefit.
但在英國這樣提供公共醫療服務的國家，這么做的理由就沒那么充分了。盡管如此，2017年發表的研究顯示，在英國，由雇主提供可穿戴設備的員工比例激增了37%。不過，許多人會認為這些設備就是他們手腕上的間諜，會把信息傳回給老板。普華永道2016年的一項調查發現，38%的英國員工不相信自己的公司會以對他們有利的方式使用收集到的數據。
PwC
普華永道（英文：Pricewaterhouse Coopers；簡稱：PwC）是一間提供專業服務公司。普華永道是四大國際會計師事務所之一，其他三大事務所是畢馬威、德勤和安永。
At least you can take a Fitbit off (and some workers have reportedly strapped them to their dogs to boost their activity scores). A few firms, such as Mindshare, a media agency in Sweden, and Three Square Market, a tech firm in Wisconsin, have already moved on to the next stage: implanting a chip under a worker’s skin. Employees gain a way to open doors and pay for meals in the canteen, but what do they lose in return? There is nothing wrong with employers offering a bit of fitness coaching. But nobody wants their boss to turn into a stalker.
至少你還能摘下Fitbit（據說有的員工為了提高運動評分，把它綁在自己的狗身上）。一些公司，如瑞典的媒體公司傳立媒體（Mindshare）和威斯康辛州的科技公司Three Square Market，已經進入了下一個階段：在員工的皮膚下植入芯片。員工多了一種開門和在餐廳里付飯錢的方式，但他們為此失去了什么？雇主提供一些健康指導沒有錯，但沒人會希望自己的老板變成跟蹤狂。
strap
fasten or secure in a specified place or position with a strap or seat belt 用帶捆, 用帶扣住; 用帶固定：
I had to strap the bag to my bicycle
我得用帶子把包捆到自行車上
原文選自 2019/1/5?Business - Bartleby
lean /li?n/
(of a person or animal) thin, especially healthily so; having no superfluous fat（人, 動物）瘦的（尤指健康的表征）; 無贅肉的：
his lean, muscular body.
他精瘦剛健的身體。
All this suggests that employee well-being is a rather more complex topic than can be tackled by a programme devoted to exercise and healthy living. A study by RAND Europe, a research institute, found that obvious bad habits such as smoking and high alcohol use were in fact not associated with lower productivity, while obese workers were no more likely to take time off than anyone else. The biggest productivity problems were associated with lack of sleep, financial concerns and mental-health issues—factors that may well be directly linked to work-related stress.
所有這些都表明，員工福祉是個相當復雜的話題，不是一個注重鍛煉和健康生活方式的項目就能解決的。研究機構蘭德歐洲（RAND Europe）的一項研究發現，吸煙和酗酒等明顯的壞習慣實際上與工作效率低下并無關聯，而肥胖的員工請假的可能性也并不比其他人高。影響工作效率的最大因素與睡眠不足、財務方面的擔憂和心理健康問題有關，而這些因素很可能與工作壓力直接相關。
It seems reasonable for companies to expect some level of economic return on any wellness programme that they provide. But the trade-off should not be too blatant. Making employees fitter so you can work them a lot harder seems rather like drilling your infantry on an assault course before sending them to face the machine guns. A better impact on morale (and thus productivity) might occur if workers felt that their managers had a genuine interest in their welfare.
對企業來說，期望自己提供的任何健康計劃都能產生一定的經濟回報似乎也合情合理。但這種交換的動機不該太過赤裸裸。如果讓員工更健康只是為了讓他們加倍辛勞地為自己工作，那這就像在野戰訓練場操練步兵一番后，再派他們頂著機關槍的彈雨沖鋒陷陣。如果員工感覺到老板們是真誠地關心他們的福祉，那么他們的士氣（以及生產率）可能就會受到更正面的鼓舞。
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