China beverage firm apologises over recruitment ad

BEIJING (China Daily/ANN): A coconut drink company has apologised for a recruitment advertisement that asked candidates to pledge their houses as security for lifelong employment and to sacrifice family time for work.

On Wednesday, Coconut Palm in Hainan province published an online advertisement looking for 40 people to train as managers.

The company, which has been operating for more than 30 years, offered the prospective employees generous annual salary packages of up to 1 million yuan ($145,000) that included stock options and sea-view apartments.

Qualified candidates needed to devote themselves to the job, including giving up time with their families, and committing to stay with the company their entire working lives, the advertisement specified.

"A candidate should hand in his or her house if they decide to leave us someday. This is a preventive method to stop those who have learned from our company switching jobs to work for others," the advertisement explained.

The advertisement triggered public criticism, and was satirized online as a type of indentured labour under which a worker is sold to do the bidding of an owner.

"It is quite ridiculous that such a big company wants to control their employees by forcing them to accept such a nonnegotiable contract," said a Weibo user named BoBo Lady.

"It is not looking for employees, but slaves."

On Thursday, the company released a statement on its website apologizing for the "improper language" in the advertisement and conceded it had violated labour laws and caused a negative social impact.

"Coconut Palm seeks talent who are eager to work. We will further intensify our training on policies and labour laws, and release legitimate recruitment advertisements that are respectful of people's personal lives," said the statement.

A lawyer from Beijing said requiring employees to commit to a lifetime of employment with one company was a breach of the Chinese Labour Law.

According to the law, an employee can dissolve their work contract if they notify the employer in writing 30 days in advance.

"It makes no sense for Coconut Palm to threaten its employees to stay with them their entire working life and put up their house as a guarantee," Ming Ming, a lawyer from Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, said in an interview with China Central Television.

"Any labour contract signed based on this recruitment condition would be considered invalid."

He added that requiring employees to sacrifice their family time for work is against the principle of balancing work and rest, which the labor law advocates.

An official from the Hainan Human Resources Department said parts of the advertisement violated the labour law.

He said they had already urged the company to improve training on awareness of the law and to conduct recruitment in accordance with its regulations.

The advertisement, which was published on the WeChat account of the Hainan human resources market on Wednesday, was deleted on Thursday.