What would it take to motivate you at work? Ping-pong tables? Beer kegs? Cash bonuses?
How about sexy cheerleaders?
That’s the strategy at least one company in China is employing to motivate its staff of socially awkward programmers and create a fun work environment. Their role is to chat with male programmers, fetch them breakfast, play games with them, and even clap and smile when they play guitar in the office.
According to a Facebook post about one company that has employed three programming cheerleaders, “The presence of these girls has greatly improved job efficiency and motivation.” Makes sense, I guess, but it’s also severely damaging to an industry that’s already daunting enough for women to penetrate.
Predictably, response to the practice has been resoundingly negative – some are forecasting obsessions between nerds and cheerleaders that will result in death, while others are taking a more reasonable approach by suggesting these companies could simply hire qualified female employees.
In short, f*ck this trend. Just not literally.
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