Caught on Camera: Chinese Bank Workers Spanked for Bad Performance

Eight employees of Shanxi Rural Credit Cooperative Association were spanked by their trainer. (Photo: iStockPhoto)

Getting spanked for poor performance–that was the price eight employees of a Chinese bank had to pay for their unsatisfactory performances.

Video footage of the condemnable act was first published by People’s Daily. In the footage, Jiang Yang, the trainer of Shanxi Rural Credit Cooperative Association, is seen asking eight employees on a mildly lit stage why they did not “exceed themselves” at training.

After getting answers such as “I failed to exceed myself” and “lack of cohesion”, he shouted: “Get your butts ready!” and proceeded to beat them four times in a row with what appeared to be a thick wooden paddle, defying labour laws.

Several employees watched the ordeal that their colleagues were made to go through. One woman even cringed in pain.

Some Chinese reports cited employees of the bank saying that other trainees had their hair shaved as punishment.

The announcement made by the Shanxi Rural Credit Cooperatives said that this was a ‘Breakthrough in Performance’ training session for their employees. The trainers were hired from ‘Hongfeng Leadership Academy’ in Shanghai. One of the trainers graded their performance on 18 June, and punished those who were ranked at the bottom by spanking and cutting hair.

<i>People’s Daily</i>

According to a BBC report, Shanxi Rural Credit Cooperative Association has issued a statement saying it has initiated an investigation. It added that the bank’s chairman and deputy governor has been suspended for “failing to strictly check the content of the course”.

Jiang, too, apologised in a video for his action– not to the employees but to the leaders of the bank and the clients.