別讓健康計(jì)劃累垮員工

　　Why pay employees to exercise when you can threaten them? That is the somewhat menacing conclusion some people have drawn from a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine last week.

　　既然可以威脅員工鍛煉，為何還要花錢讓他們鍛煉呢?這是一些人從《內(nèi)科醫(yī)學(xué)年鑒》(Annals of Internal Medicine)近日發(fā)表的一項(xiàng)研究成果中得出的有點(diǎn)危險(xiǎn)的結(jié)論。

　　The researchers challenged a few hundred people to take 7,000 steps a day and offered different incentives to different groups. They discovered that people were much more motivated by the fear of losing money than the hope of earning some.

　　研究人員要求參加實(shí)驗(yàn)的幾百人每天走7000步，并且對(duì)不同的小組實(shí)施不同的激勵(lì)措施。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，比起想要領(lǐng)到一些錢，害怕被罰錢帶給人們的激勵(lì)效果強(qiáng)得多。

　　For the $6bn corporate “wellness” industry — which aims to cajole employees into being healthier — the implication seems to be clear. Employers should put down carrots and start brandishing sticks.

　　對(duì)于以勸導(dǎo)員工強(qiáng)身健體為宗旨、規(guī)模達(dá)60億美元的企業(yè)“健康”行業(yè)而言，這項(xiàng)研究結(jié)果的含意似乎很清楚。雇主應(yīng)該放下“蘿卜”，轉(zhuǎn)而揮舞“大棒”。

　　The study hit a nerve with me because last year I strapped on an array of gadgets to allow my bosses to track my exercise, heart rate and sleep patterns for a week. Companies were giving these devices to employees as part of their wellness initiatives and I wanted to try one.

　　這項(xiàng)研究觸及了我的痛處，因?yàn)槿ツ暧姓�整一周的時(shí)間，我在身上綁上了一系列小設(shè)備，讓我的老板追蹤我的鍛煉、心率和睡眠模式。作為員工健康計(jì)劃的一部分，很多企業(yè)給員工派發(fā)了這類設(shè)備，我當(dāng)時(shí)也想一試。

　　In the course of that week, I think I figured out the answer to the question of how best to incentivise employees to exercise more. It is not to bother at all.

　　在那一周里，對(duì)于如何更好地激勵(lì)員工多鍛煉這個(gè)問(wèn)題，我認(rèn)為我找到了答案，那就是順其自然，根本別費(fèi)事。

　　Admittedly, it is hard to argue with the wellness industry’s sales pitch that a healthier workforce is more productive and cheaper (if you are on the hook for employee healthcare costs, that is). The question is how you go about it.

　　健康行業(yè)的推銷詞是更健康的員工更有工作效率，成本更低(如果你要承擔(dān)員工健康成本，那么的確如此)，這一點(diǎn)的確無(wú)可爭(zhēng)辯。問(wèn)題是怎么做。

　　Wellness programmes that encourage employees to exercise more, eat better food and give up smoking are popular but the hard research, such as it is, suggests that these “lifestyle interventions” are the least effective part of any strategy. A seven-year study of PepsiCo’s programme concluded that the company did reap lower healthcare costs but all the savings came from the “disease management” part of the programme: the bit that helped people with existing problems such as diabetes.

　　鼓勵(lì)員工多運(yùn)動(dòng)、吃健康食品和戒煙的健康計(jì)劃很流行，但詳實(shí)的研究，雖然不一定正確，認(rèn)為這些“生活方式干預(yù)”在任何一種策略中都是效果最差的部分。對(duì)百事公司(PepsiCo)健康項(xiàng)目歷時(shí)7年的一項(xiàng)研究得出結(jié)論，該公司的員工醫(yī)療成本的確降低了，但節(jié)省的資金全部來(lái)自于健康項(xiàng)目中“疾病管理”的部分：即幫助原本就患有糖尿病等疾病的`員工的那部分。

　　There is also the risk of unintended consequences. When I was wearing my gadgets I felt I would be judged not just on what I did at work, but on what I did in my free time too. One night I walked around the block at 11pm because I was worried my “step count” was too low. My flatmate thought I was slightly unhinged.

　　這種健康計(jì)劃還可能造成意想不到的后果。當(dāng)我佩戴那些設(shè)備時(shí)，我感到不僅僅是我工作時(shí)間的所作所為，連我在空閑時(shí)間的所作所為都會(huì)成為評(píng)判我的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。我有一天夜里11點(diǎn)還在街上轉(zhuǎn)悠，因?yàn)槲覔?dān)心我的“步數(shù)”太少了。我那個(gè)室友都覺得我有點(diǎn)精神失常了。

　　I wasn’t the only one, it turns out. When researchers André Spicer and Carl Cederström investigated the effects of corporate wellness programmes, they found they often ate into employees’ free time and made them anxious.

　　事實(shí)證明，我不是唯一出現(xiàn)這種情況的人。當(dāng)研究人員安德烈•斯派塞(André Spicer)和卡爾•塞德斯特倫(Carl Cederström)調(diào)查企業(yè)健康項(xiàng)目的效果時(shí)，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)這些項(xiàng)目往往擠占了雇員的空閑時(shí)間，讓他們感到焦慮。

　　Stress and anxiety are the health risks you can miss if you are too focused on issues like fitness. A friend of mine used to work at a big management consultancy where he did long hours under a lot of pressure.

　　如果你太專注于健身這樣的事情，壓力和焦慮可能會(huì)成為你注意不到的健康風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。我的一個(gè)朋友過(guò)去在一家大型管理咨詢機(jī)構(gòu)工作，在那里他需要在巨大的壓力下長(zhǎng)時(shí)間工作。

　　As a coping strategy, he started going to the gym late at night. He said it was the only time he felt he had any control over his life. He was doing so much exercise he would have won a gold star in most wellness programmes but in fact he was burning out.

　　作為一項(xiàng)應(yīng)對(duì)策略，他開始深夜到健身房鍛煉。他說(shuō)，當(dāng)時(shí)那是他唯一感到他能掌控自己生活的時(shí)間。他的鍛煉量非常大，按說(shuō)能夠在大多數(shù)健康項(xiàng)目中贏得嘉獎(jiǎng)，但事實(shí)上，他把自己弄得精疲力盡。

　　This is what irks me about initiatives that simply urge employees to run more and eat better. Such wellness programmes are based on the idea that your health affects your work but ignore the fact the reverse can also be true.

　　這就是僅僅督促員工多跑步、改善飲食的健康計(jì)劃讓我惱怒的地方。這種健康項(xiàng)目基于一個(gè)想法——你的健康狀況會(huì)影響你的工作，卻忽略了反過(guò)來(lái)可能也是對(duì)的。

　　The evidence that work can be bad for your health is abundant. Studies show links between shift work and heart attacks, between poorly designed chairs and back pain and between workplace bullying and anxiety.

　　工作可能有害你的健康的證據(jù)很充分。多項(xiàng)研究表明輪班制和心臟病、設(shè)計(jì)不好的椅子和背痛、工作場(chǎng)所霸凌和焦慮之間存在聯(lián)系。

　　Surely this should be a rich seam for the wellness industry. Tools that help you figure out when you the employer are the problem would be much more useful, since fixing these matters is directly within your power.

　　當(dāng)然，這對(duì)健康行業(yè)來(lái)說(shuō)應(yīng)該是個(gè)寶庫(kù)。有些工具能夠幫助你弄清楚在哪些情況下作為雇主的你才是問(wèn)題所在，這樣的工具應(yīng)該有用得多，因?yàn)榻鉀Q這類事情正好在你的能力范圍以內(nèi)。

　　I met a start-up recently called Soma Analytics that aims to provide employers with a diagnostic tool just like this. Its product is an app for employees’ smartphones which, it is claimed, picks up on subtle shifts in their stress levels — changes in tone of voice, for example, or quality of sleep. The employer does not receive individualised data but it can see when a whole team, division or demographic appears to be stressed out.

　　最近我接觸了一家叫做Soma Analytics的初創(chuàng)公司，該公司就為雇主提供這樣的診斷工具。該公司的產(chǎn)品是一款安裝在員工智能手機(jī)上的應(yīng)用，據(jù)其宣稱，該應(yīng)用能夠監(jiān)測(cè)員工壓力水平的細(xì)微變化——比如語(yǔ)調(diào)變化，或者睡眠質(zhì)量。雇主不會(huì)接收到個(gè)人數(shù)據(jù)，而是會(huì)在一個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)、部門或者某一類人壓力過(guò)大時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)情況。

　　Johann Huber, one of Soma’s founders, hopes this will prompt companies to figure out when they are working particular teams too hard, so they can address the problem before people start going off sick or quitting.

　　Soma Analytics創(chuàng)始人之一約翰•胡貝爾(Johann Huber)希望，這能夠促使企業(yè)發(fā)現(xiàn)它們什么時(shí)候讓某些團(tuán)隊(duì)工作過(guò)量了，從而在員工生病或者辭職之前解決這個(gè)問(wèn)題。

　　Technology like this will have its critics but at least it is aimed in the right direction. Companies should stop urging employees to be “well” and focus on not making them sick.

　　有人會(huì)批評(píng)這樣的技術(shù)，但至少這類技術(shù)的目的在方向上是正確的。企業(yè)應(yīng)該停止敦促員工保持“健康”，把關(guān)注點(diǎn)放在別害他們生病。

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