Author Tony Tang (Vice Director of Shanghai Bar Association Labor Law Research Committee, Director of Shanghai Tang & Partners Law Firm)
To establish a certain company culture, from greetings in the morning for each other to team outing, many bosses love to create specialized regulations.
A beer machine sales company in Beijing recently made a regulation of specialty that female staff line up to kiss the boss in line every morning. Many staff perform this in the purpose to get close with the boss, but two staff cannot accept but to resign.
The report invites lots of discussion, some netizens think that the boss shall not make rules out of rationality in the disguise of building company culture; some think female staff shall stand up to say “no” bravely to this clause.
This kind of regulation is everywhere in real life, the staff in hot pot shop gather to kneel down to the boss in thanks of the job; recite loudly the “bother rules”in the work day morning and awards 500 yuan bonus for the one who is fluently, etc.
Did you encounter this kind of strange rules? Do you think the company shall include those to the company handbook ?
Q1: What do you think of this behavior?
A: The news has spread widely on the net. At the beginning it was considered fictive, when the photo shown, every one frowned. To practice this kind of disgusting behavior in disguise of team building, is an ostrich policy.
The boss said he saw one American company use this to cultivate company cohesion. We have nowhere to prove it is true or not. But we shall notice the kissing manner in western countries is on the cheek, far away from the manner in the photo. Let alone in our culture, this behavior is beyond acceptable.
Next, to build cohesion is a total tale of a tub. Let’s ask how to build it among man staff? Why men are not treated as the same but just women shall build cohesion?
More surprisingly, most staff accept this request, we could see how hard to keep a job now.
Q2: Can the company write this in the handbook?
A: Can the company write this in the handbook? We think the answer is no. Handbook is like constitution law in the company which regulates the staff behavior to ensure the running of the company. The content shall be lawful and also rational.
To request staff to kiss the boss, we cannot easily define its illegalness, but the irrationality is obvious. The behavior severely breaches the social public order and good custom. The so called public order includes national interest, social economic order and the public interest. Good custom is normal moral concept including social ethics, business morality and goo social custom. Therefore this kind of behavior cannot be written in the handbook, and won’t come to effect even if written in.
Can the company punish the staff by disobey job arrangement? We think job arrangement shall be job relevant and rational. To request staff to kiss the boss is not in line with either standard. Therefore, if the staff reject, the company cannot punish.
Q3: What kind of process shall be carried out before the rule written in the handbook?
A: Article 4 in Labor Contract Law provides that When an Employer formulates, revises or decides on rules and regulations, or material matters, that have a direct bearing on the immediate interests of its Employees, such as those concerning compensation, work hours, rest, leave, work safety and hygiene, insurance, benefits, employee training, work discipline or work quota management, the same shall be discussed by the employee representative congress or all the employees. The employee representative congress or all the employees, as the case may be, shall put forward a proposal and comments, whereupon the matter shall be determined through consultations with the Trade union or employee representatives conducted on a basis of equality.
If, during the implementation of an Employer’s rule or regulation or decision on a crucial matter, the Trade union or an employee is of the opinion that the same is inappropriate, it or he is entitled to communicate such opinion to the Employer, and the rule, regulation or decision shall be improved by making amendments after consultations. Rules and regulations, and decisions on material matters, that have a direct bearing on the immediate interests of Employees shall be made public or be communicated to the Employees by the Employer.
Therefore, every employee shall be involved in the making of regulations on the matters that have direct bearing on the immediate interests of staff. This is the check and balance to the company.
In the end, we think this company is just hype. We hope this boss can make more effort on running the company instead of playing to the gallery.
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