Earlier this year, the steelmaker Corus decided to get the workforce in its Port Talbot plant reading by giving away books. "It was part of the National Year of Reading," explains Corus spokesman Robert Dangerfield. "The initiative provided 500 books and then we bought a further 1,500." The texts were chosen from a broad selection of thrillers, historical novels, romance and biographies, with a focus on the local area and local authors.

"The focus was very much on leisure reading. It wasn't to get people reading heavy academic texts, vocational books or thinking about social justice." The free books were snapped up.

While some companies have employees who need help with basic literacy, others are encouraging staff to read simply because it is a good thing to do. But is there a business case for it, or is getting staff to read general books for pleasure just something that makes everyone feel all warm and literary inside?

BDO Stoy Hayward, the accountancy firm, believes in boosting budding bibliophilia. "We've created bookshelves in a number of places," explains Simon Michaels, managing partner, "to encourage employees to share and borrow books. The idea is that it might get people to try reading something a bit different or, if they don't read much, to read a bit more."

This, says Mr Michaels, is part of an overall corporate commitment to reading, both inside and outside the organisation (via work with schools). The company is also encouraging book clubs and even considering hiring staff to help those employees who need recommendations, but he concedes this would need to be handled sensitively.

Unilever, too, has a bookish side. "We do have a library - well, a rather small one - at the Kingston site which is stocked by the company," it says. "We also have discount booksellers come in and that's very popular with staff...[It] is all about broadening staff's minds and getting them to think about different concepts. When you read, you get a different perspective on things."

Shell does something similar, although here it is more a matter of practical necessity. Workers on the oil rigs do two weeks on, two week off and there is not much in the way of nightlife on the rigs. So, for bored oil-workers, a well-stocked bookshelf is a godsend. In terms of corporate support, it is simply a matter of someone popping into a bookshop when they are on shore, replenishing the shelves as and when needed and then submitting a claim.

Miranda McKearney, director of UK-based charity the Reading Agency, says the business benefits of reading are clear: "You need to be reading well in order to be thinking well. E-mail and texting can undermine people's ability to think and write in a sustained way." And, she adds, books can improve social cohesion between employees. "If you take reading groups, there's something wonderfully levelling about discussing a book. Someone from the post room might have just as strong an opinion as the director of finance."

Finally, she says, other benefits include reading being a great way to understand things from someone else's point of view, a good way of connecting with other people and "it's one of the best stress-busting activities there is".

Yet, although most people clearly believereading is good in itself, proving that a reading employee is a happier and more productive employee is a different matter.

Insight has come from research by the university of Liverpool, which took brain scans of volunteers who were reading Shakespeare. The bard's linguistic gymnastics resulted in dramatic spikes in positive brain activity. Phillip Davis, a professor in the university's school of English, says: "By throwing odd words in seemingly normal sentences Shakespeare surprises the brain and catches it off guard in a manner that produces a sudden burst of activity."

Perhaps then, reading, especially high quality reading, is the mental equivalent of losing weight, eating better or going to the gym and has similar benefits.

Still, those who have seen employee reading programmes in action need no convincing. "There wasn't a particular business purpose behind it," says Mr Dangerfield, "Sometimes it's just nice to engage the workforce in something relatively frivolous."