小投资，大回报：企业界热捧健康新宝典

    其他公司企业采购这本书时更舍得花钱。西蒙舒斯特出版公司（Simon&Schuster）的拥有者哥伦比亚广播公司在一份声明中称，它已经向员工分发了约1.5万本《长寿指南》，希望教育和引导员工关注自身健康。（为了避免大家认为哥伦比亚广播公司买书只不过是为了增加自家图书的销量，公司发言人指出，这是这家公司第一次为所有全职员工购买西蒙舒斯特出版的书。）

    西蒙舒斯特出版公司的一位发言人表示，派拉蒙影业和蓝十字保险公司也以企业采购的方式购买了这本书。（截至发稿前，这两家公司均未回应置评请求。）

    当然，企业为员工投资预防性保健的途径多种多样，购买阿古斯这本书只是其中的一种。非营利性政策智库兰德公司（RAND）的最新研究显示，如果企业的福利项目帮助员工应对慢性疾病，企业每投资1美元就能在未来为公司节省3.78美元。2012年，美国超过九成拥有5万名及以上员工的公司，以及半数拥有至少50名员工的公司都启动了福利项目。

    然而，企业福利和预防性医疗措施也面临着一些质疑。取决于各家公司为激励员工参与所采取的各种激励手段，大多数项目都伴随着大量支持与反对的声音。例如，建立在金钱基础上的激励机制会受到某些人的称赞，但同时也会遭到另一些人的批评。此外，阿古斯表示，越来越多的员工每隔几年就要跳槽，很难衡量单个福利项目的投资回报。福利项目唯一立竿见影的好处体现在，员工会因为雇主关心他们健康而心存感激。

    他说：“公司关爱员工的目的就是留住他们为公司效力。”

    《长寿生活简明指南》已于1月7日正式发售。西蒙舒斯特的一位代表透露，这本书预计本月底将登上《纽约时报》畅销书排行榜建议类图书的第11位。（财富中文网）    

    Other companies have made even larger corporate purchases. CBS, which owns Simon & Schuster, distributed about 15,000 copies of the book to educate and engage its employees about health, according to a company statement. (Lest you think CBS is merely trying to pump up sales of one of its own titles, a spokesperson points out that this is the first book the company has purchased from the publisher for all of its full-time employees.)

    Paramount and Anthem Blue Cross also made corporate purchases of the book, according to a Simon & Schuster spokesperson. (Neither company responded to requests for comment at press time.)

    Of course, buying Agus's book is only one of many ways companies are investing in preventive health care for their employees. Corporate wellness programs that help employees deal with chronic disease save $3.78 per dollar invested, according to a recent study from the nonprofit policy think tank RAND. More than 90% of U.S. employers with 50,000 workers or more and half of those with at least 50 workers offered a wellness program in 2012.

    Still, corporate wellness and preventive medicine have their skeptics. Most programs come with a long list of pros and cons depending on the incentives companies put in place to get workers to participate. Financial-based incentives, for example, are lauded by some and criticized by others. Also, with more and more employees changing workplaces every couple of years, it is hard to measure the return on investment of one wellness program or another, Agus says. The only immediate benefit to wellness programs is seen in workers who are grateful that their employer cares about their health.

    "You want to take care of your employees because the goal is to keep them there for their career," he says.

    The book, which was released on Jan. 7th, is slated to hit the New York Times Bestseller list at No. 11 in the advice section later this month, according to a representative from Simon & Schuster.