Penalty for prohibiting mirror viewing and eating snacks...Controversy over power abuse of executives at famous furniture companies
Jun 17, 2025
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According to Hong Kong media South China Morning Post, B, head of the e-commerce department of furniture company A, headquartered in Guangdong Province, China, notified employees in May that he would introduce new regulations.
According to the regulations, ▲Do not look in the mirror while working ▲Fine for eating snacks ▲Check commuting six times a day ▲Forced overtime work. He was found to have even mentioned that employees who disagree with these measures should voluntarily leave the company.
He said in an in-house chatroom, `There are people who are not there even though the big promotional season is coming up. Some people are in the bathroom, some people are looking in the mirror, and some people make ridiculous excuses."
"If an employee who is playing games during working hours is caught, he will be fired immediately, and he will also be fined for eating snacks."," he said. Looking at the amount of fines for snack consumption, the manager level is 2,000 yuan (about 380,000 won), the supervisor level is 1,000 yuan (about 190,000 won), and the deputy manager level is 500 yuan (about 95,000 won).
In addition, he added "If you leave your position more than three times without justifiable reasons, 2,000 yuan will be cut from your salary.", and put forward a strong control policy. If you don't shut down your computer after work, you'll be fined 100 yuan (about 19,000 won).
He said, `I will pay the money collected from the fine as a bonus to other hard-working employees" he said.
In addition, according to the in-house document, if an employee is away for more than 10 minutes, additional fines will be imposed if the computer is locked and the chair is not pushed in.
As such regulations became known to the outside world, criticism poured out online.
Netizens are saying, "'Is this a job or a prison?' A company that is obsessed with commuting is usually a company in financial trouble. They post comments such as 'Never buy such company furniture' and"It seems like this is a world where everyone becomes an executive these days".
As the controversy grew, Company A announced that it had launched an internal investigation into the incident.
Meanwhile, the company was established in 1992 and is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and its headquarters are located in Guangdong Province in southern China. It specializes in sofa, mattress, and panel furniture and has about 27,000 employees. In 2016, Hong Kong star Yoo Deok-hwa was selected as an ambassador for the brand.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
