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Chinese Tech Companies Hire 'Cheerleaders' To Motivate Programmers
HughPickens.com writes: Lauren O'Neil writes at CBC News that internet companies "across China" are hiring "pretty, talented girls that help create a fun work environment." Dubbed "programming cheerleaders," these young women serve to chit-chat, play Ping-Pong with employees as part of their role, and sometimes smile and clap for male employees who play guitar in the office, as indicated by photos posted to the news service's verified "Trending in China" Facebook page. "According to the HR manager of an Internet company that hired three such cheerleaders, its programmers are mostly male and terrible at socializing," reads China.org.cn's Facebook post. "The presence of these girls have greatly improved their job efficiency and motivation."
However people from all over the world have weighed in to decry the reported role. "This is degrading — both to the 'cheerleaders' and the programmers," wrote one commenter on the original post. "Look at the face of the poor woman programmer in the second picture. Stereotypical 'bro' culture only now with Chinese subtitles." Others suggest that the company pictured should simply hire more female programmers. "What a ridiculous job, why reduce women to only be valued by their looks and to assist males. Let them have a job at the desk using their minds!" wrote one woman.
However people from all over the world have weighed in to decry the reported role. "This is degrading — both to the 'cheerleaders' and the programmers," wrote one commenter on the original post. "Look at the face of the poor woman programmer in the second picture. Stereotypical 'bro' culture only now with Chinese subtitles." Others suggest that the company pictured should simply hire more female programmers. "What a ridiculous job, why reduce women to only be valued by their looks and to assist males. Let them have a job at the desk using their minds!" wrote one woman.
In all seriousness though, how does such a massive distraction *not* interfere with a job where you have to, you know, focus?
(...not that I'd complain or anything, but seriously...)
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
The female programmer mentioned in the summary doesn't seem upset at all, just focusing on her work. But the cheerleader playing ping-pong in those high heels is asking for a broken ankle.
... just not the execution of it.
Having a dedicated staff to driving the culture of your company can have a huge impact and pay massive dividends in retention, employee satisfaction, and willingness to go the extra mile.
One of my previous employers had an employee that started out as a receptionist. She always decorated for the holidays, and she was super social, so she organized extra circular activities. Bowling leagues, wine tastings, etc... She was also tasked with organizing our holiday party, summer picnic, office Olympics, city scour scavenger hunt, and tons of other ideas she helped build in the company.
Eventually, it became clear that these tasks took too much time for her to also be the receptionist, so the CEO created a new position for her to focus on the corporate culture, events, and social media.
Best decision he made. She wasn't a cheer leader running around in a short skirt, but her efforts to make the company a fun place to work were way more impactful than any executive direction.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
TFA quotes a critic who said: "it's like bringing Hooters to [the] workplace."
The reporter omitted the rest of the quote, which might have provided some balance by explaining how there's also some kind of downside.
Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
Let them have a job at the desk using their minds!" wrote one woman.
Perhaps because those people aren't qualified for a desk job using their minds? Not all people are cut out for that kind of work.
If an employer hires somebody and discovers that they'll contribute more to the company by transitioning to a desk, the employer will make the transfer.
A brilliant but strong male who can't find work in any other industry may take a job at a construction site to make money (and many other strong but not so brilliant ones may do the same). People can jobs based on their talents. Its all about improving efficiency.
If hiring attractive females to basically make the workplace more exciting serves to increase productivity, then so be it. It's a lot less degrading to everyone than just saying "Work harder or you're fired.".
People are just too quick to be offended these days. We're supposed to be the most "tolerant" society ever in modern times yet you can't turn a corner without offending someone.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Treat them like humans and give them interesting work to do.
I wonder if part of this is due to China starting to feel the impact of their sex ratio starting to shift due to many families aborting female fetuses so that they can have a male child. Unavailability of potential mates makes younger males depressive and some have theorized that the reason we see a lot of suicide bombers and the like form the Middle East is due to a culture that permits men to have up to four wives which makes it impossible for many people to find a mate and a lot more willing to end their own life to attain some form of purpose.
Long hours and the average computer type skewing towards being introverted or social awkward probably don't help either, but if the sex balance of the local population is disproportionately male, it likely exacerbates the problem even more.
Putting all gender equality issues aside for a moment, I can't see how this would be anything but a distraction and counter-productive.
The last thing I would want in my office to aid productivity would be a ton of attractive females who have no job but to fawn over the males who are supposed to be working.... its total nonsense.
Sure, it might help them attract employees, but they will have to hire 2x to 3x the number of them to counteract the productivity hit.
We can't criticize this. Having cheerleaders at NBA, NFL etc... is very similar. Women cheering on men. Although now it's more just entertaining fans. Although I'm sure some cheerleaders here are giving athletes many free 'breakfasts'.
You are judging from a Western perspective. I've heard that in Asian countries a woman working as a courtesan doesn't offend at all. Who are we to say we're right and they're wrong?
Admittedly, I'm neither 1.) a programmer, nor 2.) well-versed in Chinese culture, so those factors may raise issues with my thinking in this regard.
Having said that, I'm wondering if the abstract concept has merit. Programming (and, in my case, IT/Sysadmin work) is generally thankless, generally involves odd hours, and can very easily become a high-stress situation. While hiring beautiful women to galavant around the office seems contrived and a bit degrading, I'd argue that perhaps what could be a positive thing is the concept of "having humans on staff to give the programming folk another human with whom to interact from time to time".
I remember reading around here somewhere that a number of programmers have some inanimate object to which they describe the situation that they're in, and that the process of explaining the problem frequently yields a solution. I've got friends to whom I do my best to explain technical things in less-technical terms, and who have a propensity toward asking for further explanation. I find this helpful, and it's entirely possible that such an environment at work could assist in the same manner. An approachable person could help distill technical things so that a situation could be more quickly and effectively explained to management/marketing. Someone who genuinely feels listened to is more effective as a worker. It is in this capacity that I think having a "Counselor Troi" on staff could be advantageous to both prouctivity and morale.
Hiring hotties to play ping-pong with programmers sounds like an HR nightmare waiting to happen. Even if we put aside the "socially unskilled" stereotype, allowing "person X" to speak in confidence to "paid listener Y" is going to, at some point, yield a situation where a misunderstanding is going to escalate quickly. The general solutions to this would heavily favor one side or the other - "programmer says something wrong, assume it's a misunderstanding" becomes "programmer intentionally says something unacceptable, cries 'misunderstanding' when they get to HR". Alternatively, "Cheerleader hears something she doesn't like, we want her to keep her job, so there's no such thing as a misunderstanding that will be hand-waved away" becomes "programmer says something genuinely intended to be innocent, is misunderstood, ends up getting reprimanded", leaving us with "your call may be recorded for quality purposes", thus making it an environment where everything is being recorded, removing the possibility of truly free expression of thought...And this is why we can't have nice things.
Thus, I stand by my logic - there is merit in the abstract concept, and although I don't know if "programmer cheerleaders" is the correct implementation, I do think that "treating programmers like people, rather than caffeine-to-code conversion organisms" is something positive for the industry.
I like how people are outraged by this idea, but somehow it's perfectly okay for cheerleaders on other places like football teams. When put into the "nerdy guys place" suddenly there is a whole sexual air to it, I see comments like: "they are like hookers", "poor girls how they suffer surrounded by nerds", "this is sexual abuse".
I think is valid to question western society (specially in the US) why it's acceptable to have "cheerleaders" showing their asses on public television before a football/basketball match but it's so outrageous have girls are hired motivate workers on one of the most profitable and stressful industries in the world.
To be honest programming is a stressful environment, and it's way better if you have motivation, somebody telling you you rock, you can do it, makes you work happier and better, doesn't even have to be a woman. I don't see it more outrageous than a cheerleader show before an NBA game in my opinion, which is in fact directed more at the public than the actual players so it's even more questionable in is necessity or usefullness.
Sorry for my crappy english.
coding with a boner is always more fun.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Recognizing that is not necessarily degrading. What's degrading is treating someone as less than a total human being, which includes both the animal behavior and the advanced cognitive stuff.
Most people recognize of course that reducing someone to nothing more than an object of animal behaviors is degrading. But there is something degrading in a lot of high pressure employment too, which is reducing someone to their intellectual capacity to transform information inputs to into product outputs. But we're also animals who evolved to live in medium-sized social groups, and need family and social interactions centered around feeding, grooming and (yes) reproduction to be healthy. We need family, friends, and social novelty. We need to have a personal story that extends beyond our economic outputs.
Now as to whether this particular corporate arrangement is degrading, it could well be. However I doubt that in the current Chinese context that it is. There's a lot to this situation that doesn't necessarily fit into Western assumptions, and one of the biggest factors is the unexpected ways China's one-child policy has altered the status of women. As you'd obviously expect given the Chinese cultural value of extending the male bloodline this has skewed Chinese population male -- 1.18 :: 1 at birth. And paradoxically this has actually raised the status of Chinese girls as individuals, upending thousands of years of cultural tradition.
Young, attractive, talented women have immense opportunities in modern China; they don't have to accept any treatment they find degrading. This is a good thing, but the fact that it is ultimately rooted in the messy biological imperative to propagate the species is something that many people will be deeply ambivalent about. I think we'd be a lot better off if we just accepted our animal nature and use it to make everyone's lives better; or at least developed the ability to have a good laugh at ourselves. The kind of earnest, priggish, knee-jerk reaction something like this immediately evokes is rooted in deep discomfort with human nature, as well as cultural parochialism.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
The issue here is not tolerant meaning not trying to offend anyone, because that is an impossible task. (ex: I wear a red tie today, and the women in the elevator says the red tie OFFENDS her.. (its a freaking colour).. but rather trying to be more understanding of the other side that is expressing their individuality (ex: rather than taking offense at again, my colour tie, especially where no offense was given, or even implied, instead choosing to recognize it is in fact, just a TIE, part of any normal apparel by any human, and not look for offense where none in given. If I personally knew the person, or red was culturally insensitive (again, known) then perhaps a slight offense could be claimed.
The issue with this situation is people are getting offended by a cultural difference that does not subject these people to any degradation or offense. (other than what we, the outsiders) want to attach. I think many people said it here already, in most work places (even those outside of china), the mindset is "I don't care about your life, I wand productivity.. work harder or you are fired".. but what some people fail to recognize is programming is an art, and you can write junk code (functional but non elegant which requires more work down the line (QA, bug fixes, etc..) or elegant code.. and yes.. mood and life does enter into it by being inspired).
Simply (as some have suggested).. hire more females to program doesn't turn anyone instantly from shy to outgoing, especially if there is no assistance on HOW to interact. (and the same is true for females as well).. I've worked in programming shops in Japan (some where the ratios have been 60/40 (yes, still higher men than women).. but in ALL cases, both groups were afraid to talk with each other for fear of one, making an faux pas, or worse, an embarrassing mistake which might cost them their job.
The purpose of these "cheerleaders" is to one, break the cycle of monotony.. (yes, it can get dull hacking out code, especially if you are a grunt), two, allow these people (some of who spend 80 - 90% of their lives at work) a chance at a break, and allow them to incorporate some social norms back into their lives without fear of retribution and education. Or to put it another way.. the socially awkward geek(s) gets connected with the socially adept socialite in order to learn how to be cool (ie: almost every teen flick in the past 30 years). Virtually EVERY study indicates a happy employee is a productive employee. (why do you think Google, or Microsoft, etc... all spend so much on employee perks (food, social gatherings, etc..) these are all to bring some normality back into their lives, to forge better team bonding, and for those that are shy a chance to interact in a socially prescribed way that does not require them to use skills they may not have or suck at.
And for those that are arguing these women are being hired SOLELY on their looks, that is not always the case.. yes, their looks are part of the equation.. but their ability to help these folks out of their shells, and in effect become a "Cheerleader" is also a factor.. (not every "hot girl" off the street is going to qualify because they lack the temperament and skills to help others.
God made the Idiot for practice, and then He made the School Board -- Mark Twain Look for http://Thebar.steelbeachca
I also noticed that there was a single "cheerleader" for a group of 5 or 6 programmers.
That's where the motivation is coming from. The males are all now in extreme competition with each other to impress her. They all know that it's just her job, but they all also know that they're all just human. Who's to say she might not just develop a special relationship with the best worker in the group?
In order to get the job at all she'd have to be fairly good looking, and almost certainly single and China already has a big gender gap.
This has nothing to do with sexism. It's a cold, calculated, move by management to turn up the pressure.
This would irk me so much. First i'd be pissed that the company was paying people to decorate the office. taking that money and just boosting the salaries of the engineers tends to make us happier. Second, i'd be insulted that they think i'm so shallow.
Finally, I'd be pissed at myself. Id suffer from cognitive dissonance knowing it was a cheap trick, but feeling giddy excitement with some pretty girl hanging around at my desk.
The next one who did not understand my post. Very interesting.
Put yourself in the position of such programmer: The management employs some sexy girls to cheer you up. However, in reality you are only allowed to look at them. At one point the becomes frustrating. And it also tells you that you are inadequate to get a women on the "free market". This is not helping. It is like going to a hooker, in short it might help, but essentially you will feel empty afterwards.
On a side note: Asia is not in anyway overtaking my society. Especially, as Asia is a little too big to be a homogeneous thing. so I conclude that you are most likely from the US and born there. And you have no clue about the world. For example, Asia include Japan. Japan is not a western country, but it is still declining. China is an Asian country, it is twice as big as the EU and the US together. They perform well, however, they have large social problems, due to their believe that boys are worth more than girls which resulted in an significant imbalance in the men/women ratio. They have also an increasing Gini-Index. It could be very dangerous there in future. India, is also Asia, and so is Thailand, and Vietnam, and Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan (all countries where western countries messed with).
I've had the same experiences (though not church camp). Warmth and openness to conversation can very much bring me out of the introvert shell.
Also, it might be worth noting that certain keywords, like "commodify a person", "rape culture", or "patriarchy", generally indicate a strong resistance to logic and reasoning. Arguing with such a person is rarely a fruitful endeavour.
Anyone have an idea of why submitting the same story yesterday morning (http://slashdot.org/submission/4917489/chinese-tech-startups-hiring-cheerleaders-for-programmers) doesn't seem to show even in the firehose and shows as still pending to me, but "HughPickens.com" (nothing promotional there...) with the same primary link and who seems to submit stories daily has already been included and posted?
Granted, you can certainly make an argument that he quoted more from the article in his post and say that's superior... I'm mostly trying to figure out why the story submission I made never even seemed to appear on the firehose and is still pending, while this duplicate of it seems to have passed it by. Is there a submission process glitch?
The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.