A company operating in Shandong province in China is undergoing investigation after it forced six of its employees to crawl through the streets on their hands and feet. This punishment was given out because these employees didn’t meet their sales targets.
This demeaning process took place on 14th January in the city of Zaozhuang. It was reported by the shocked onlookers. The videos and pictures posted online and showed six people who are crawling on all fours on the streets. They can be seen following a man carrying a flag that had been emblazoned with the company’s name. The team of employees makes its way through the traffic while wearing office clothes. The staff is barely able to keep up with the flag bearer but is doing its best out of the fear of losing its job.
Luckily, police were quick to arrive at the scene. Most likely one of the passers-by informed the police about what was going on. The police put an end to this inhumane punishment that the six employees were going through. According to Chinese media, the company responsible for this fiasco has had its operations suspended for the time being and is undergoing a formal investigation.
The beauty products’ company is taking heavy fire in the online community after the videos of the staff crawling on all fours through streets of Zaozhuang became viral. One of the managers from the company, however, maintains that the company was simply trying to motivate the employees that had performed poorly and failed to meet their annual sales targets.
Chinese companies are somewhat infamous for coming up with weird and cruel punishments for staff that doesn’t perform well. But what do you think of this approach? Should companies be allowed to treat their employees this way? More importantly, should employees allow companies to treat themselves this way? Do share what you think with us!
