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Chinese Tech Companies Hire 'Cheerleaders' To Motivate Programmers

Posted by timothy on from the different-strokes dept.

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.

12 of 371 comments (clear)

  1. I knew I shoulda learned to speak Mandarin... by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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?
    1. Re:I knew I shoulda learned to speak Mandarin... by thedonger · · Score: 4, Funny

      I prefer Krusty the Clown's Chinese factory motivational sayings via loudspeaker: "Laziness is counter-revolutionary. Questions are decadent! Fast hands mean less whipping."

      --
      Help fight poverty: Punch a poor person.
    2. Re:I knew I shoulda learned to speak Mandarin... by jandrese · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Given the innate natural tendency for men to want to try to show off in front of attractive women, this seems like it could actually work. They can harness the instinct to motivate programmers to pound out code. It is devious, but a little dangerous since it can lead to competition instead of cooperation between the programmers. The women have to walk a fine line between appearing interested but not too interested in any one guy to avoid anger and jealousy. They're playing with fire here.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    3. Re:I knew I shoulda learned to speak Mandarin... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Given the innate natural tendency for men to want to try to show off in front of attractive women, this seems like it could actually work.

      Given the historical amounts of epic stupidity committed in the name of men showing off for women ... you really don't want this as part of your corporate culture.

      The women have to walk a fine line between appearing interested but not too interested in any one guy to avoid anger and jealousy.

      No, pretty much the point at which this can happen is why this was a failure from the get to.

      If the guys are showing off, and honestly believe they're going to have some sexual contact as part of this ... you're really only going to get the worst forms of stupidity and harassment.

      This just screams "huge problems waiting to happen".

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    4. Re:I knew I shoulda learned to speak Mandarin... by Iamthecheese · · Score: 5, Informative

      I lived a while in Japan so I get it It's not easy to explain. Japanese, Indonesian, and Philippine culture (I'm sure there are others but I only know this about those three) emphasize... group orientation I guess? The group is more important than its members. To sacrifice for the group is good. Therefore one must be encouraging to others, even at the cost of self-expression. Therefore, in turn, keeping up apparent enthusiasm is vital.

      In Japan the above coupled with the importance of one's company (the loyalty owed) means a non-workplace is needed to hash out personal problems. You can't ever show you're unhappy at work, but you need a place to bring up real problems so you have to go. After all someone else may have a bone to pick with you. So you all go to the karaoke bar, drink a little, and whatever comes out there doesn't have to interfere with work. Steam gets released and you can return to work with a better mutual understanding and hopefully less stress.

      In the Philippines and Indonesia (and Italy?) laughing is often used to show displeasure. The root of humor is a disconnect between what one is supposed to perceive and what one does perceive. They laugh to say "I'm supposed to be feeling good about you but that's different from what I feel". But you always smile and laugh together because it means you're still socially connected. To stop laughing is to declare you're refusing future discourse: diplomacy has failed.

      So in a lot of places a lot of laughing means something completely different from, "ha ha that was funny" and a smile means something different from "I'm happy". To bring in a cheerleader is to support employees by helping them pretend and break up the tension behind the smiles.

      --
      If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
  2. I actually like the idea... by RingDev · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ... 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
  3. Re:Ping-Pong diplomacy by willworkforbeer · · Score: 4, Funny

    the cheerleader playing ping-pong in those high heels is asking for a broken ankle.

    Dude, the idea is that in heels she will miss every shot... thus having to walk slowly over to the ball, then bend over to carefully pick up said ball.

    Clearly you did not think this all the way through. Bro card suspension: One Week.

    --
    Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
  4. The way to motivate programmers by cyber-vandal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Treat them like humans and give them interesting work to do.

  5. The same as any sport by cyrille.mdc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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'.

  6. Re:Ping-Pong diplomacy by eam · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, she's the one who suggested hiring the female cheerleaders. With them around her male coworkers aren't doing as much so she has fewer of their mistakes to fix.

  7. Re:The Fine Article is incomplete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Don't diss Hooters: A few years back, I had Hooters as a client, and I can assure you that their senior management is a) mostly former Hooters girls, and b) not at all afraid to show a LOT of cleavage (or even crack off-color jokes). It was actually a bit distracting at times, but you get used to it. (And I'm definitely not complaining.)

    I visited the offices of the largest Hooters franchise several times, and the women (almost all former Hooters girls) there outnumbered the men by 2 or 3 to 1. That said, they have fun, but it is an impressively professionally-run organization - of the restaurant chains I worked with only two were more professional, and they were tops in the industry.

  8. Re:Distraction? by AnotherBlackHat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    you said

    I can't see how this would be anything but a distraction and counter-productive.

    TFA said

    "The presence of these girls have greatly improved their job efficiency and motivation."

    Personally, I find that when I'm happy I'm far more productive than when I'm unhappy.
    "Wasting" time improving my mood could easily result in more useful work being done overall.