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。

由于中国长期的环境污染令美国饮料巨头可口可乐很难吸引或留住员工，它对在中国工作的外籍员工支付高额的“环境补贴”。

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。

普遍认为这份近期公布的补贴为员工基本工资的15%。可口可乐公司的女发言人对《澳洲金融评论报》证实了补贴的存在，但拒绝对金额发表评论。

“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。

她在一份电子邮件声明中写道：“对派往中国工作的员工，我们优渥的搬家费中包含有环境补贴。”可口可乐表示这项措施是最近实施的，但拒绝公开有多少员工得到补贴。

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座中国城市中只有3座符合政府的最低环境标准。外国公司派遣员工去诸如北京、上海等中国城市时，危险的环境污染已经成为关键问题。约有50万外国员工在中国工作，许多公司为他们提供更好的医保补助，更高的探亲旅费和用于购买空气过滤器的补贴。

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。

澳大利亚建筑公司Hassell为在中国的员工提供面具上下班，并在重度污染期间每周更换滤芯。

“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亚洲区常务董事彼得·邓肯说：“在澳大利亚，你可能每年才换一次滤芯。”

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。

日本电子公司松下从4月起为在华的外籍员工支付“危险费”来补偿危险的空气质量。松下被认为是当时第一个采取类似措施的大型跨国企业。

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年的高速增长和宽松的管理使得中国的环境被敲响警钟。环保局的统计资料表明，在去年，74座城市中只有3座符合污染标准。

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达到政府标准。上海的情况略好，在这个经济中心，58%的时间被认为符合要求。

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.

世界卫生组织在今年早些时候宣布，空气污染在2012年造成全球共370万60岁以下的人死亡。

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。

公众环境研究中心主任马军表示：“企业不应该仅仅为员工支付特别津贴。企业也是问题的一部分，因此也应该成为解决方案的一部分。它们应该通过对自己的供应链施压来改善。”马军还补充一些公司正在和公众环境研究中心合作绿色供应链项目，可口可乐公司就是其中之一。

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。”

猎头公司Swann Global的亚洲常务董事彼得·阿科尔认为，可口可乐提供的补贴表明这家公司在招募和留住在中国工作的员工时遇到了麻烦。他说：“我听到越来越多的行政人员拒绝续约，因为他们不认为中国不是一个抚养家庭的好地方。环境补贴是个针对空气污染问题的解决办法，但对我来说，这是一笔丰厚的报酬。”

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。

阿科尔指出，目前普遍趋势是削减对外籍员工的支出，例如减少学费和住房费用的福利。但新的环境补贴和这个趋势背道而驰。

“It can be difficult to get people to come to China so that’s why this new benefit has arisen。”

“很难找人来中国，这就是新补贴出台的原因。”