Company forces employees to gulp down live earthworms as punishment after they fail to achieve sales targets
A company in China has allegedly punished its underperforming employees in a very inhumane way as it asked them to eat live earthworms as punishment. The unnamed interior design company in Bijie, Guizhou province of south-western China reportedly gave this bizarre punishment to the workers who failed to achieve their sales targets.
According to reports, the alleged incident took place on May 25, was filmed by one of the employees and then shared on social media. The clip shared online showed a staff member holding the wriggling worm in her palms as another worker gobbled it down with water while covering her mouth in disgust. The whistleblower also reportedly said that other punishments for the employees included eating live pond loaches or cleaning the office toilets. A manager of the company said that the harsh punishments were part of the organization’s new disciplinary policies to which all employees had agreed upon.
The footage also showed the members of the company's sales team standing in a line at a staff meeting as they receive the cruel penalty. One staff member can also be heard saying, “Does it have parasites?” To which another person commented, “It sometimes explodes in your mouth when you bite it.”
The local media reports also released a screenshot showing a chart titled “The third stage penalty list”, explaining the types of punishment the staff members were assigned to. Some of the company’s workers initially believed the new punishment guidelines were “only a joke”. However, later they got to know that they could choose to be fined with $70 (500 yuan) and buying breakfast for the whole company or eat worms. Since most of them could not afford the fine, they agreed to eat worms instead.
The unidentified employee who shared the footage online said they called police after receiving threats from the company for uploading the viral footage. Meanwhile, local authorities said they were investigating the matter. Besides, spokesman for the Qixingguan District Bureau of Market Regulation told the local press as reported by The Daily Mail: “We're investigating the incident, but I have no details to disclose. The results of the investigation will be published by the district government when it is concluded.”
A similar incident took place in November 2016 when another Chinese company forced its underperforming employees to eat live yellow mealworms. The workers were reportedly were asked to eat the worms in public.
According to reports, it was compulsory for staff members to report their work targets every morning to the supervisor, and those who fail to achieve their goals were punished the next day. “Today's punishment is eating worms they bought from a pet market. Four worms for losing one customer,” said one of the employees at the time. While another one added: “We set sales targets for the next day and everyone signs a guarantee. If anyone fails to achieve the target, he or she will accept the punishment voluntarily. The targets are set by employees, with the purpose of self-motivation."
You can watch the video here.