Foreign Property News | Posted by Hnin Ei Khin
A company in China has imposed a controversial rule by fining employees who take more than one bathroom break during their shift.
The factory said it imposed the regulation to improve efficiency after discovering that some workers were spending time in the bathroom playing games on their phones or smoking cigarettes.
According to photos published online by disgruntled employees last week, the factory in the city of Dongguan, in the province of Guangzhou fined six workers US$3 for using the restroom twice during their eight-hour shift. Another was fined for not registering her bathroom break on the company log.
It’s not the first time that Chinese employers have been caught imposing strict restroom rules on workers. In November 2020, Kuaishou, a leading video sharing company based in Beijing, reportedly installed timers above bathroom stalls that displayed how long a person had been using the toilet.
Supermarket workers in the far western region of Xinjiang were told that bathroom breaks could be no longer than eight minutes or they would be fined US$3 for every extra minute.
And in 2018, technology giant NetEase spent about US$300,000 to block internet service signals in restroom areas, a move aimed at stopping workers from playing on their phones while on the toilet. In the latest controversy, Anpu Electric Science and Technology Company in Dongguan of Guangdong started imposing the penalties in late 2020.
The rules stipulated factory workers had to register when they were using the restroom and were told they were allowed one bathroom break during their 8-hour shift. Angry staff posted photos of their fines on social media, which sparked fierce debate on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform.
“To chase high efficiency, a company can adopt the ways of rewarding workers. On the contrary, too much restriction and exploitation would lead workers to be strained all the time and to lose their energy and concentration in the end,” wrote one user.
“What era is it now? The freedom of going to the toilet has become a luxury,” another wrote. But some supported the company’s tough rules. “I sympathize with this company, believing it is forced to do so,” wrote one user at portal website 163.com. “Some employees use the toilet for too long and use it frequently. It will no doubt hurt the company’s productivity.”
However, officials from the municipal government said the rule was illegal. They ordered the company to reverse the fines and refund the money, a local news outlet The Paper reported last week. A manager from the company, identified by his surname Cao, said the fines were deducted from employees’ monthly bonuses and would be reinstated.
He explained that the company introduced the policy because some workers often smoked in the toilet and slacked off during work hours, Guangdong TV reported. “We are helpless with the fact that the workers are lazy on work,” he was quoted as saying.
“The management talked with those workers many times but didn’t achieve a good result yet.” Cao said rather than fire the workers, the boss thought imposing restroom regulations would solve the issue.
Chinese employers say it has become common practice for workers to go to the bathroom with their mobile phones and relax by checking their social media or playing games. When Netease blocked internet signals in the restrooms, staff found a solution by playing single-player games or downloading television shows and videos in advance.
Ref: inkstonenews
