有时候，和购买可穿戴设备的客户相比，生产可穿戴设备的公司自己似乎对这种产品更感兴趣。虽然多家来自不同领域的公司，如体育用品公司耐克（Nike）、打印机制造商爱普生（Epson）、软件巨头谷歌（Google）等，纷纷推出了跟踪健康指标与其他数据的可穿戴设备，但最近有几项研究指出，这项技术缺乏对消费者的长期吸引力。咨询公司Endeavour Partners表示，在美国，有一半以上购买可穿戴设备的消费者已经把它们束之高阁。

    可穿戴设备的销售预测依然强劲，但这项技术确实有许多障碍需要克服。（不，我们说的可不是发生在酒吧里的争吵。）能够帮助可穿戴设备被消费者接受的一个主要因素来自一个意想不到的地方：工作场所。越来越多的公司开始向员工发放可穿戴设备，使员工可以跟踪自己的健康状况，同时使管理者可以密切关注整个公司的健康情况。

    改变行为

    谁是可穿戴设备最大的企业用户？石油与天然气巨头英国石油公司（BP）。这家公司与StayWell健康管理公司（StayWell Health Management）合作，向员工提供Fitbit跟踪器的使用权。Fitbit可以测量用户每天行走的步数等指标。一百万步挑战是英国石油健康计划的一部分，这项计划鼓励员工将体育活动作为日常工作的一部分，以改善健康状况，赢得“健康点数”。计划的出发点是：更健康的劳动力可以提高日常工作效率，解决医疗保险费用日益增多的情况，给公司带来好处。而员工也可以通过有规律的体育运动，改善自身的健康状况。

    跨国软件公司欧特克（Autodesk）从2011年便开始将Fitbit作为可选配件，向员工发放。据欧特克发言人亚历山德拉•康斯坦丁表示，这个做法刚推出就获得了一半以上美国员工的支持。他表示，这项措施对公司员工产生了实实在在的影响，因为数据可以促使员工改变自己的行为。

    康斯坦丁说：“步行变得越来越重要，可以取代一些不太健康的活动，比如茶歇或者静坐通勤。这种做法成了办公室里的热门话题，甚至激发了一些友好的竞争。”员工开始记录每天行走的步数。后来，员工们会将车停到距离办公室较远的地方，放弃开车，选择步行上下班，或者参加会议或去洗手间时特地绕远路，甚至员工在出差订酒店时也会将步行距离考虑在内。

    发放这款设备只是欧特克员工健康计划的一部分，其它内容还包括按摩、减肥计划、健身会员补贴和各种其他资源。自从2012年，欧特克报名参加全球企业挑战（Global Corporate Challenge）以来，公司员工的健康状况、员工之间的友谊、睡眠质量、休息和工作效率均有明显改善。康斯坦丁表示，公司的目的是“吸引、教育和刺激员工对自己的健康负责。这项计划获得了公司一些CEO的赞助，所以是一项自上而下的行动。”

    旧金山社交媒体初创公司Buffer向新员工发放的是另外一款健康跟踪设备——可穿戴设备公司Jawbone的Up手环。它认为这是理所当然的事情。公司所有员工均有权使用Up手环，而且公司鼓励员工将收集的数据与其他团队成员分享。Buffer公司的这一举措是它开放透明经营理念的一个方面，它甚至将薪酬和股份在网站上公开。这家公司鼓励员工设定目标，并将进展与同事分享，比如留出阅读的时间【Buffer员工还可以获得免费的亚马逊（Amazon）Kindle电子书】或每天坚持同一时间上床休息等。

    Buffer公司首席幸福官（没错，确实是这个职务）卡洛琳•科普拉斯切说：“虽然我们每个人都在某些独特的方面分别有所提高，但基本上所有人的运动量都增加了，睡眠质量也改善了。现代化的跟踪设备帮助我们两者兼顾——我们对跟踪的数据保持透明。这么做的目的是帮助我们围绕这些事情展开交流，为彼此加油鼓劲。”

    At times, it seems like the companies that make wearable gadgets have more interest in them than their customers do. Even as companies with little in common -- global sportswear company Nike (NKE), printer-maker Epson, software giant Google (GOOG) -- rush to offer portable devices that track fitness metrics and other data, several recent studies point to a lack of long-term consumer appeal. According to the consulting firm Endeavour Partners, more than half of those who have bought a wearable device in the United States have stopped using it.

    Predictions for sales of wearables remain strong, but there are clearly obstacles to be overcome. (And no, we're not talking about the barroom altercations.) One major factor that could help boost adoption comes from an unlikely place: the workplace. A growing number of companies are issuing tracking devices to employees, giving employees a means of tracking their own fitness and allowing managers to keep tabs on the health of the firm as a whole.

    Changing behavior

    One of the biggest corporate users of wearables? The gas and oil giant BP (BP), which has partnered with StayWell Health Management to offer employees the use of a Fitbit tracker, which measures the number of steps taken every day, among other things. A million-step challengeis one of the many facets of the BP Wellness Program, encouraging employees to make physical activity part of their daily routine in order to improve their health and earn "wellness points" along the way. The idea: BP benefits from a healthier workforce both in terms of daily productivity and also in the context of rising health care premiums, and employees benefit from the health effects of regular activity.

    The multinational software company Autodesk (ADSK) also issues Fitbit devices as optional extras for its employees, a practice it began in 2011. More than half of the company's workforce in the U.S. took up the offer when it was initially introduced, according to Autodesk spokeswoman Alexandra Constantine, who says the move has had a real impact on the company's employees as data prompted changes in their behavior.

    "Walking became increasingly more important and replaced less healthy activities such as snack breaks or stationary commutes," Constantine says. "This was a big source of conversation in the office and inspired a little friendly competition." Once employees began charting the total steps they took each day, staff members started parking farther away from the office, walking to work rather than driving, going the long way round for meetings or bathroom breaks, and even taking walking distances into consideration when booking hotels for business trips.

    The devices are part of a larger employee wellness program at Autodesk that includes massages, weight-loss programs, subsidized gym membership, and various other resources. Since the company signed on to the Global Corporate Challenge in 2012, improvements have been seen in terms of employee health, camaraderie, sleep quality, relaxation, and productivity. The aim is to "engage, educate, and excite so [that] employees take responsibility for their own health," Constantine says. "There are some CEO staff sponsors, so it's coming from the top down."

    The San Francisco social media startup Buffer issues Jawbone Up devices, another kind of fitness tracker that is worn on the wrist, to new employees as a matter of course. Everyone in the company receives access to an Up wristband and is encouraged to share the collected data with other team members. For Buffer, the effort is part of a larger open and transparent philosophy that extends as far as making salaries and equity shares public on the web. Employees are encouraged to set goals and share progress with other Buffer staff, whether it involves setting aside time for reading (Buffer staff also get a free Amazon Kindle e-reader) or observing the same bedtime every night.

    "While we each have very unique and separate improvements, there are also a few things that are basically true for all humans, and that is that we could always do with more exercise and better quality sleep," says Buffer's chief happiness officer (yes, that's her real title) Carolyn Kopprasch. "The modern trackers help us with both of these ... we're transparent with the data we track. The intention is to help us base our conversations around these things and serve as each other's cheerleaders."

    至于跟踪设备收集的数据，员工没有义务分享，公司也不会在年底检查员工是否按照自己的承诺坚持跑步。科普拉斯切说：“我们会选择分享自己认为合适的数据。大多数人会分享自己的睡眠情况和行走步数，也有人会跟踪食物和咖啡因摄入量，以及自己的情绪。目前，这些数据只会用于支持我们的自我改善文化，不会用于其它目的。除了Up应用显示的数据外，我们不会以任何有组织的方式跟踪数据。我们也不会根据这些数据制定任何团队决策。”

    科普拉斯切称，自去年3月份推广健康手环以来，Buffer公司的团队步行距离变得更远，睡眠质量也变得更高。不过，这项计划还有其他好处。她说：“它帮助团队将自我改善作为交流和文化的核心。因为是集体活动，所以我们可以轻松坦率地谈论行走的步数和睡眠。我相信，这种效果还会影响到其他个人改善活动，因为我们已经养成了坦率讨论目标的习惯。”

    测量影响

    使用健康跟踪设备和其他透明措施为Buffer的招聘提供了一个自动的筛选机制。科普拉斯切称，如果求职者反感分享的理念和这种工作方式，表明他或许并不适合Buffer的文化。

    另一方面，像Buffer这样的初创公司鼓励15名员工收集和分享数据比大公司在数千名员工中推行一项制度要容易得多。在大公司，员工甚至连彼此的名字都不知道，就算以非正式地的方式推广健康跟踪和数据分享，也可能会面临重重阻力。

    有些员工可能不希望老板知道他们到底有多缺觉，也不想让老板知道他们去健身房的次数少得多么可怜，推行健康数据收集与分享可能让这些员工产生恐慌。在目前的公司制度中，跟踪的健康数据不会包含在绩效评估或公司升职政策当中。但不难想象，未来它将成为一种必然的趋势。有一天，你可能因为没有记录足够的步数而被炒鱿鱼。

    投资回报也很难判断，除非对数据进行仔细的采集和分析。更健康、更快乐的团队可以减少病假，提高生产效率，形成更好的工作环境，但要想测量价值100美元的手环在这个等式中到底有多大影响，并不是件容易的事。与在消费市场中一样，可穿戴设备不仅要应对如何准确收集数据的挑战，对数据进行智能分析也是难题之一。

    据市场追踪公司ABI Research估计，未来五年内，预计将有超过1,300万部可穿戴健康跟踪设备被整合到员工健康计划当中。对于目前已经对员工健康进行投资的公司，这是一个自然的结果，而已经采用这项技术的公司得到的好处绝对积极：更明确的目标、保持健康的积极方式，会经常考虑改善生活方式的员工。这是一个不错的开始。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    As for the data served up by the trackers, there's no obligation to share and no end-of-year annual review to check if you've been jogging as often as you said you would. "We each choose to share whatever we feel comfortable with," Kopprasch says. "Most of us share our sleep and steps, and some track food and caffeine intake and mood as well ... Other than supporting our culture of self-improvement, the data is not used for anything at this time. We don't track the data in any more organized fashion than the Up app displays, and we don't base any team decisions around it."

    The team at Buffer has been walking farther and sleeping better since the fitness bands were first introduced in March last year, Kopprasch says, but the program has had other benefits, too. "As a team, it has helped us base our conversations and culture around self-improvement," she says. "Since we're all in it together, we speak very openly and easily about steps and sleep. I believe that this spills over into our other individual improvements, since we're in the habit of talking openly about our goals."

    Measuring impact

    Together with Buffer's other transparency measures, the use of fitness trackers provides an automatic screening facility for job applications, too. If you're put off by the thought of sharing and working in this way, Kopprasch notes, then you might not fit into Buffer's culture in the first place.

    On the other hand, it's certainly easier for a startup like Buffer to encourage data collection and sharing among its 15 employees than for a larger corporation to roll out a scheme among thousands of employees. In an atmosphere where everyone doesn't know each other's name, there may be resistance to the idea of fitness tracking and data sharing even on an informal basis.

    The implications for staff who don't want their bosses to know how little sleep they're getting or how infrequently they hit the gym can be frightening to some. In corporate schemes in place today, tracked fitness statistics aren't included in performance reviews or company promotion policies. But it's not inconceivable that they could be in the future. One day, it's possible that you might miss out on a job because you didn't log enough steps.

    Return on investment can be tricky to judge too, unless data is carefully collected and analyzed. A healthier and happier workforce leads to fewer sick days, increased productivity, and a better working environment, but it's not always easy to measure the impact a $100 wrist strap has had on any part of this equation. As in the consumer marketplace, wearables face a challenge to not only collect data accurately but to analyze it intelligently too.

    More than 13 million wearable fitness tracking devices are expected to be incorporated into employee wellness programs within the next five years, according to estimates from ABI Research. In many ways, it's a natural progression for companies invested in the health of their workforce -- and in firms where the tech is already in place, the benefits have been overwhelmingly positive: clearer goals, proactive approaches to health, and employees who are thinking about improving their lifestyle on a regular basis. Not a bad first step.