China company sets up monthly bonus and staff must run at least 50km to qualify in the belief firm can only thrive if ‘employees are healthy’

The scheme also takes into account mountain hiking and speed walking, which could account for 60 and 30 per cent respectively of the total exercise required.

The distance is calculated by apps on the employees’ phones.

As news of the company’s innovative policy went viral on Chinese social media, the company’s boss, Lin Zhiyong, explained the value of such a scheme for employers: “A company can last long when its employees are healthy”.

According to the firm’s official WeChat account, Lin practises what he preaches, having reached the summit of Mount Everest twice.

He said he has spent the last three years encouraging his employees to enjoy sports and fitness as he does.

The company has been keeping track of its employees’ exercise output, and Lin said: “Basically, all of them qualify to get the full amount of bonus”.

An employee said the new bonus scheme is “killing two birds with one stone” as “we can get both health and money.”

Another employee with top exercise performance, Zhou Jian, had been running 90km every month, and said it helped him reduce his blood sugar.

Views on the policy were divided among the online community.

“I need a company like this to help me keep fit,” said one person.

“The intention of the company’s policy is good but it should take into consideration any existing conditions or health issues among its employees,” said another.

“The company should add an extra bonus to the employees who do exercise, instead of using the existing bonus as a bargaining chip,” said a third.

Similarly, in 2019, the canteen of Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication encouraged its students to work out by giving a free share of crayfish to those who walked more than 10,000 steps a day, and half price for those who walked over 5,000 steps a day. The campaign received an enthusiastic response from students.