Chinese employees who missed sales targets forced to crawl in public

A series of photos showing a group of employees crawling in public as physical punishment for not hitting their sales targets is making the rounds online.

The controversial pictures, believed to be snapped on October 2, emerged in the popular Chinese social media site Weibo. The photos showed 10 males and females crawling around Ruyi Lake in Zhengzhou in China’s Henan Province.

Ruyi Lake is a 23-acre lagoon located in the city’s central district.

A report by People’s Daily Online revealed that the staff were ordered by their company to do the humiliating act because they didn’t make enough sales for their bosses.

Several eyewitnesses claimed that almost everyone’s shirts and pants were torn while doing the embarrassing punishment. Some even reported injuries such as cut knees and feet from the ordeal.

Because of the harshness of the punishment, at least one staff member was spotted crying on the side of the road.

Reportedly, the unnamed company even assigned personnel to supervise the employees during the humiliating task.

The photos of the shocking treatment of the employees angered Chinese netizens and led to an online rage on Weibo.

One user commented, “How can the company expect to gain employee commitment with policies like this?”

It is undetermined whether police investigated the incident.