American beverage giant Coca-Cola is offering a hefty “environmental hardship allowance” to its China-based expatriate employees, as foreign companies struggle to attract and retain staff with many people scared off by chronic pollution。
由于中國長期的環(huán)境污染令美國飲料巨頭可口可樂很難吸引或留住員工，它對在中國工作的外籍員工支付高額的“環(huán)境補貼”。
The allowance, which was introduced “recently”， is believed to be 15 per cent on top of an employee’s base -salary. A company spokeswoman confirmed the introduction of a wage premium to The Australian Financial Review, but declined to comment on the amount。
普遍認為這份近期公布的補貼為員工基本工資的15%�？煽诳蓸饭镜呐l(fā)言人對《澳洲金融評論報》證實了補貼的存在，但拒絕對金額發(fā)表評論。
“Our competitive mobility package includes an environmental allowance for postings to China,” she said in an emailed statement. Coca-Cola said it was introduced “recently” but would not disclose how many employees stood to benefit from the extra pay。
她在一份電子郵件聲明中寫道：“對派往中國工作的員工，我們優(yōu)渥的搬家費中包含有環(huán)境補貼。”可口可樂表示這項措施是最近實施的，但拒絕公開有多少員工得到補貼。
China’s hazardous air pollution, with just three out of 74 cities last year meeting minimum government standards, has become the key issue for foreign companies looking to post workers to cities such as Beijing or Shanghai. Many companies offer better medical insurance benefits, more paid trips home and subsidies for air filters to the roughly half a million foreigners working in China。
去年，74座中國城市中只有3座符合政府的最低環(huán)境標準。外國公司派遣員工去諸如北京、上海等中國城市時，危險的環(huán)境污染已經(jīng)成為關(guān)鍵問題。約有50萬外國員工在中國工作，許多公司為他們提供更好的醫(yī)保補助，更高的探親旅費和用于購買空氣過濾器的補貼。
Australian architectural firm Hassell provides its staff in China with face masks to travel to and from work. It also changes its air filters every week during periods of heavy pollution。
澳大利亞建筑公司Hassell為在中國的員工提供面具上下班，并在重度污染期間每周更換濾芯。
“In Australia, you might do that every year,” said Peter Duncan, Hassell’s managing director for Asia, who is based in Shanghai。
在上海工作的Hassell亞洲區(qū)常務(wù)董事彼得·鄧肯說：“在澳大利亞，你可能每年才換一次濾芯。”
Japanese electronics firm Panasonic started in April paying its expatriate staff in China “hazard pay” to compensate them for the dangerous air quality. At the time it was believed to be the first major global corporation to do so。
日本電子公司松下從4月起為在華的外籍員工支付“危險費”來補償危險的空氣質(zhì)量。松下被認為是當時第一個采取類似措施的大型跨國企業(yè)。
Three decades of double-digit growth and lax regulation has taken its toll on China’s environment. According to environment ministry statistics only three cities out of 74 met government standards for pollution last year。
30年的高速增長和寬松的管理使得中國的環(huán)境被敲響警鐘。環(huán)保局的統(tǒng)計資料表明，在去年，74座城市中只有3座符合污染標準。
In Beijing, more than half of the days in May failed to meet government standards for air quality, while Shanghai fared slightly better with 58 per cent of days in the commercial capital -considered satisfactory。
在北京，五月大半的日子都不能達到政府標準。上海的情況略好，在這個經(jīng)濟中心，58%的時間被認為符合要求。
The World Health Organisation said earlier this year that air pollution was responsible for the deaths of 3.7 million people under the age of 60 across the globe in 2012.
世界衛(wèi)生組織在今年早些時候宣布，空氣污染在2012年造成全球共370萬60歲以下的人死亡。
Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs said “companies need to do more than just pay special allowances. They are part of the problem so they need to be part of the solution and put pressure on their supply chain to improve。” Mr Ma added that Coca-Cola was one of the -companies working with his -organisation on their green supply chain program。
公眾環(huán)境研究中心主任馬軍表示：“企業(yè)不應(yīng)該僅僅為員工支付特別津貼。企業(yè)也是問題的一部分，因此也應(yīng)該成為解決方案的一部分。它們應(yīng)該通過對自己的供應(yīng)鏈施壓來改善。”馬軍還補充一些公司正在和公眾環(huán)境研究中心合作綠色供應(yīng)鏈項目，可口可樂公司就是其中之一。
Peter Arkell, managing director Asia for recruitment firm Swann Global, said the Coca-Cola allowance showed the company was having trouble retaining and attracting staff to China. “I hear more and more stories about executives not extending their contracts because they don’t think China is a good place to bring up a family,” he said. “It [the environmental payment] is a way of addressing the air pollution issue but it does look like a pretty generous payment to me。”
獵頭公司Swann Global的亞洲常務(wù)董事彼得·阿科爾認為，可口可樂提供的補貼表明這家公司在招募和留住在中國工作的員工時遇到了麻煩。他說：“我聽到越來越多的行政人員拒絕續(xù)約，因為他們不認為中國不是一個撫養(yǎng)家庭的好地方。環(huán)境補貼是個針對空氣污染問題的解決辦法，但對我來說，這是一筆豐厚的報酬。”
Mr Arkell said the new allowance went against the broader trend of cutting back on expatriate packages by reducing the value of benefits like school fees and housing。
阿科爾指出，目前普遍趨勢是削減對外籍員工的支出，例如減少學費和住房費用的福利。但新的環(huán)境補貼和這個趨勢背道而馳。
“It can be difficult to get people to come to China so that’s why this new benefit has arisen。”
“很難找人來中國，這就是新補貼出臺的原因。”
