These programmers don't have to spend another day in the office. Chinese IT Companies have found a new way to keep their employees (especially the males) relax and entertained while maintaining work productivity according to a news article in HNGN.com.
As reported in News.com, tech companies in China have already kicked off employing gorgeous cheerleaders whose main task is to keep the company's 'socially awkward programmers' motivated. Chinese news agency CFP reports that these "pretty, talented girls" are employed to "help create a fun work environment" for the company's dominantly 'male programmers who are terrible at socializing.'
Labelled as programming cheerleaders, these stunning young women are employed to buy breakfast for programmers, play Ping-Pong and chit-chat with employees as part of their role.
According to the HR manager of an Internet company that employed 3 such office cheerleaders, "(I)ts programmers are mostly male and terrible at socializing. The presence of these girls has greatly improved their job efficiency and motivation;" as reported in CBC News.
In spite of the positive effects these cheerleaders bring to programmers, netizens from across the globe have weighed in on Facebook to denounce such a role for 'women'.
One commenter on the original Facebook post wrote: "This is degrading - both to the 'cheerleaders' and the programmers. Look at the face of the poor woman programmer in the second picture. Stereotypical 'bro' culture only now with Chinese subtitles."
Another netizen who considered this new office job sexist and ridiculous wrote that "it's like bringing Hooters to [the] workplace."
One of the first to write about Trending in China's Facebook photos, Steven Millward, a blogger, wrote the following in the comments section of his widely shared post about these office cheerleaders:
"For the commenters who don't get it, consider that inequality is not one barrier - it's thousands. It's death by a thousand cuts. From kindergarten to high school to the workplace, prejudices and perceptions marginalize people. That's why we're in the dire situation of women making up only 24-37 percent of the workforce at major [U.S.] tech firms.
"From the teacher who asks a girl if she wants to be a nurse or a hair stylist, to the companies who make the workplace a hostile or uncomfortable place for women - like the startup pictured in the article. That startup could've done something to be part of the solution, but instead they did a dumb thing and now they're part of the vast, nebulous, global problem. Great work, everyone."
