2019年经济学人 巴托比专栏: 雇佣我的那个间谍 (1)

 

The new year is the moment when people vow¹ to improve their fitness.

新年是大家许愿改善健康的时刻。

They join gyms, swear off alcohol and adopt detox diets. These resolutions usually do not last beyond January.

他们去健身房，发誓要戒酒，还要吃排毒的食物。这些新年愿望通常维持不过一月。

But some employers try to help their workers stick to their goals by offering "wellness" programmes.

但是一些雇主们想要通过“健康”项目帮助他们的员工坚持目标。

One of the longest-running examples began in 1979 at Johnson & Johnson (J&J), an American health-care company.

运营时间最长的健康项目之一开始于1979年由美国强生实施，这是一家美国卫生保健公司。

The plan promotes weight loss, smoking cessation and efforts to reduce blood pressure.

该计划提倡减肥、戒烟以及降低血压。

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.

公司宣称该项目让员工每年的医疗开支减少了400美元，并且患心脏病或高血压的员工更少了。

Yet an examination of the data by Martin Cherniack of the University of Connecticut

但康涅狄格大学的Martin Cherniack对数据进行审查后发现，

found that in 2005-08, a sharp jump in alcohol use, depression and stress among J&J employees occurred.

在2005年到2008年间，强生的员工饮酒、患抑郁症以及压力的人数大幅增加。

This coincided with a period when the firm had a target of lifting productivity by 9% a year.

与此同时，这段时期内公司立下目标，生产力一年要增长9%。

So the employees may have been leaner and fitter, but it is possible that workplace pressure to produce more meant greater stress.

所以员工们或许一直很瘦且健康，但是有可能是公司增产的压力给了他们更大的工作压力。

All this suggests that employee well-being² is a rather more complex topic than can be tackled by a programme devoted³ to exercise and healthy living.

所有这一切都表明员工健康是一个相当复杂的话题，仅靠一个致力于健身和健康生活的项目是无法解决的。

A study by RAND Europe, a research institute, found that obvious bad habits

研究机构兰德欧洲智囊团的一项研究发现，明显的坏习惯

such as smoking and high alcohol use were in fact not associated with lower productivity,

如抽烟和酗酒，其实和生产力低并无关联，

while obese⁴ workers were no more likely to take time off than anyone else. The biggest productivity problems were associated with lack of sleep,

而肥胖的员工休息的时间并不比其他人多。最大的生产力问题和缺乏睡眠

financial concerns and mental health issues—factors that may well be directly linked to work-related stress.

经济情况以及精神健康问题—这些和工作压力直接挂钩的因素相关。

It seems reasonable for companies to expect some level of economic return on any wellness programme that they provide.

公司想从他们提供的健康项目中获取一定程度的经济回报，这似乎合情合理。

But the trade-off should not be too blatant⁵. Making employees fitter so you can work them a lot harder

但是这种交换不应该太过明目张胆。让员工们更加健康，这样你就能让他们更努力的工作

seems rather like drilling your infantry⁶ on an assault course before sending them to face the machine guns.

这似乎很像是在野战训练场上训练你的步兵，然后把他们送去面对机关枪。

A better impact on morale⁷ (and thus productivity) might occur if workers felt that their managers had a genuine interest in their welfare.

如果员工们感到管理者真正关心他们的福利，那么这对鼓舞士气（以及对生产力）会有更好的影响。

Any health programme that tries to alter workers' behaviour at home also raises privacy issues.

任何想要改变员工在家中行为的健康项目也会引起隐私问题。

1 vow   

n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓

参考例句：

• My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。
• I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。

2 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

3 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

4 obese   

adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的

参考例句：

• The old man is really obese,it can't be healthy.那位老人确实过于肥胖了，不能算是健康。
• Being obese and lazy is dangerous to health.又胖又懒危害健康。

5 blatant   

adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的

参考例句：

• I cannot believe that so blatant a comedy can hoodwink anybody.我无法相信这么显眼的一出喜剧能够欺骗谁。
• His treatment of his secretary was a blatant example of managerial arrogance.他管理的傲慢作风在他对待秘书的态度上表露无遗。

6 infantry   

n.[总称]步兵(部队)

参考例句：

• The infantry were equipped with flame throwers.步兵都装备有喷火器。
• We have less infantry than the enemy.我们的步兵比敌人少。

7 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。