Friday Frivolity: Constructive Firing in China
This isn’t that frivolous, except that I learned of it through National Public Radio’s comedic news quiz, “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.”
As reported by Yating Yang in the South China Morning Post, a company in China moved its headquarters from an urban center to a remote mountain top in order to get its employees to quit and avoid having to pay them severance. The commute took two hours each way. Employees who did not have their own vehicles had to take public transportation, a bus that ran only once every three hours, and then they had to climb a three-kilometer mountain path. On their way home, often in the dark, they had to watch out for packs of stray dogs. The facilities at the new location lacked basic amenities. Female employees had to walk to the nearest village to use public toilets.
Then, once 70% of the workers had quit, the company returned to its urban setting and began hiring new staff. A company spokesperson claimed that the move was a cost-cutting measure and was always intended to be temporary so that the company could continue to operate while its main offices were being renovated. Employees claim that they were told that the relocation would last an unspecified amount of time and could stretch into the new year. The company claimed that it was considering legal action against the departing employees for damaging the firm’s reputation.
Although the story broke in January, I have found no updates.