Reading tips.
Some companies set up non-work-related examination items and "voluntary" activities to test employees' enthusiasm, loyalty, emotional intelligence, perseverance and even self-discipline in their spare time. Some of the inspection and testing methods violated the Labor Law, the Labor Contract Law and other relevant laws and regulations. Experts suggest that red lines should be drawn for business management behavior.
The morning meeting at 6 a.m. and the evening party at 11 p.m. are said to be 'voluntary', but in fact they are mandatory overtime, and they are 'obedience tests'. Recently, Zhao Xiaoqing from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, told reporters that she chose to leave her job because of the "strange overtime requirements" of her former company. When Zhao Xiaoqing shared this work experience on social platforms, she found that some companies' examination forms were even more bizarre, "Some people were asked about their love status as soon as they joined the company, saying that they could test whether the emotional intelligence of employees was high." ”
Zhao Xiaoqing's experience is not unique. Towards the end of the year, the "Worker**" reporter's investigation found that some employers set up some content and items unrelated to the position when examining employees, such as requiring employees to "voluntarily" work overtime, pretending to be headhunters to "fish for law enforcement", and statistics on practitioners' movement data, etc., which attracted attention.
There are many kinds of "test" projects in enterprises.
We didn't dare to go home after work in the evening, because we didn't know when we would be notified of the party. Talking about the former company's "voluntary" overtime requirements, Zhao Xiaoqing was a little helpless.
In the eyes of her and many of her colleagues, the content of the meeting was "irrelevant": "Sometimes we were asked to wait, sometimes we were forced to do a surprise attack, we were forced to 'volunteer', and whether the boss came or not depended on the mood".
Whether or not to work "voluntary" overtime to test enthusiasm and work attitude has become a common way for some companies to test employees. In November, Mr. Wu, from Jining, Shandong Province, said he was "forced to work overtime" and that his new company leaders forced employees to work overtime until 10 p.m., and Mr. Wu was asked to leave voluntarily on the grounds of absenteeism. In the face of doubts, the person in charge of the company involved responded that the requirement was not mandatory overtime, but a training and examination of the attitude of new employees.
Not only enthusiasm, but also loyalty, emotional intelligence, perseverance and even self-discipline in spare time have become the "name" of some employers to evaluate employees. The corresponding examination methods include pretending to be a headhunter to "fish for law enforcement", as well as investigating employees' marriage and childbirth, or setting reading check-in tasks and WeChat step goals to test employees' perseverance and self-discipline.
The headhunter who came to me turned out to be an acquaintance of the boss of our company. Yang Yi, an employee of an Internet company in Beijing, said in an interview that he did not get the company's year-end bonus after failing to change jobs, and only after many inquiries did he know that headhunting was a trap set by the company, which was just to grasp employee trends and test employee loyalty.
The amateur dynamics of employees have also become an indicator for some companies to evaluate employees. "The manager asked us to hand in thousands of words of reading notes every week, and he would also see how many steps there were on WeChat. Cui Li, from Zhengzhou, Henan Province, told reporters that her education and training institutions evaluated employee self-discipline in the above way, "If the task is not up to standard, the leader may talk to me the next day." ”
Employee rights protection faces the difficulty of obtaining evidence.
Test emotional intelligence, test attitude, test loyalty ......Why do these strange examination items appear frequently?Is it legitimate?What are the difficulties in protecting employees' rights?
The imbalance between labor and management has led some employers to abuse their dominant position and set up strange examinations for workers. "In addition, the degree of compliance of enterprise management is insufficient, resulting in the inability to grasp the boundaries of management in practice and abuse of management authority." ”
The cost of violating the law of enterprises is low, which may also lead to the frequent occurrence of various strange examinations and tests. Wang Sufen, a professor at the Law School of Liaoning University, said.
The assumption in some companies is that employees are lazy and all about human capital, rather than truly seeing employees as human resources. Meng Quan, director of the Department of Labor Relations of the China Institute of Labor Relations, believes that in terms of means, there is also a hidden purpose behind the strange examination of enterprises to avoid labor legal risks and supervise employee performance.
So, are strange examinations like this illegal?
Some of the examination and testing methods violated the Labor Law, the Labor Contract Law and other relevant laws and regulations, especially the provisions on labor standards. Wang Sufen said that some overtime requirements have in fact formed a soft "forced overtime" for workers, which is suspected of infringing on workers' right to labor remuneration.
Who would 'volunteer' to work overtime?But if you don't go, you will be considered bad and disloyal. Zhao Xiaoqing told reporters that considering the long-term development and difficulty of rights protection in the company, he and many colleagues had to swallow his anger, "otherwise, it will be difficult and 'wearing small shoes' may happen, and I am worried that the leader will give a low score in the assessment and evaluation, and finally lose his job." ”
Regarding the difficulties in rights protection in this type of examination, the scope said, "The strange examination of enterprises is generally relatively hidden, and it is usually presented orally and other means, which is difficult to collect evidence".
Meng Quan believes that there will be differences in the acceptance and tolerance of different employees in the enterprise for this type of management style, which adds a certain difficulty to the collection of evidence and rights protection.
The infringement of workers' rights in such circumstances is often presented as the subjectivity of verbal expression and the transient nature of the infringement. Wang Sufen explained that some of the "workplace PUA" methods are mainly manifested in the fact that corporate leaders or bosses attack employees' self-confidence through various methods such as abuse, intimidation, and anxiety, and the transient and non-repetitive nature of infringement may also lead to the inability of workers to obtain evidence.
Draw a red line for enterprise management behavior.
Using a strange way to test employees is actually putting the cart before the horse. Zhang Zhuo, an employee of a technology company in Henan, told reporters that according to his many years of experience in human resource management, enterprises should follow the basic logic of human resource management to carry out incentives and supervision. "The so-called examinations that are forcibly carried out under the banner of 'voluntary' will cause risks to the corporate image, talent development, and company competitiveness, and ultimately lead to 'lose-lose'. He said.
Wang Sufen suggested that all parties can work together to build a whistleblower protection mechanism to ensure that employees' right to work and privacy are protected. In the case of retaliatory dismissal by the enterprise, after it is clear that the dismissal due to the report is wrongful dismissal, it should be stipulated that the employee can choose to continue to perform the employment contract or economic compensation.
Strengthen the role of trade unions, and increase the restraining force for enterprise management behavior through the collective strength within the company. The scope said that supervision and law enforcement, as well as illegal correction of arbitration and litigation, should be strengthened, and a red line should be drawn for the management behavior of enterprises.
The basic premise of assessing the performance and ability of employees is that the enterprise has a clear appraisal system, and the appraisal system must also meet the basic requirements of labor laws, and there can be no illegal clauses. Meng Quan pointed out that from the perspective of supervision, enterprises should implement quantitative management in management, and leave traces at each management node to prevent the problem of "undocumented management" caused by lack of evidence. (Some of the interviewees have been named).