<p>A Chinese company recently issued a notice threatening to fire the single and divorced employees, if they remain single until September end, a <em>South China Morning Post </em><a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3299407/china-firm-withdraws-crazy-marriage-deadline-plan-fire-single-divorced-staff?module=top_story&pgtype=subsection" rel="nofollow">report</a> said. The move has also been reprimanded by the officials, the report added.</p><p>The Shuntian Chemical Group, with over 1,200 employees, announced this policy with the view of boosting the organisation’s marriage rate in January.</p><p>The report also mentioned that the company wanted all the single and divorced employees, aged between 28 and 58, to settle down and get married by the end of September, 2025.</p><p>The company also said that those who do not settle down by the end of March, shall write a self-criticism letter, the report added.</p>.Chinese company allots time slots for employees for using toilet, faces backlash.<p>The company shall conduct an evaluation of those employees if they fail to get hitched by the end of June, and finally if they still remain single until September end, they shall be fired.</p><p>Stressing over traditional Chinese values such as 'loyalty and filial piety', the company has announced another policy which says “not responding to the government’s call to improve the marriage rate is disloyal. Not listening to your parents is not filial. Letting yourself be single is not benevolent. Failing your colleagues’ expectations is unjust." </p><p>Based in the city of Linyi, the organisation was founded in 2001, and is also and was one of the top 50 enterprises there.</p><p>The publication further added that the local human resources and social security bureau told another Chinese media the organisation was inspected on February 13, and the policy stood withdrawn in less than a day. Also, no employee was fired based on their marital status.</p><p>The report further added that the policy also received much criticism online, wherein a user said that the company should mind its own business and stay away from its employees’ personal lives.</p><p>Another user said that let the company carry out the policy, and the ones fired can always apply for arbitration and get a good amount of compensation.</p><p>Another user, while mocking the company policy asked whether the company would fire its employees for not having a child too, the report added.</p><p>Yan Tian, Associate professor at Peking University Law School, told the other Chinese publication that the company policy violated China’s Labour Law and Labour Contract Law, SCMP added.</p><p>Yan also asserted that the policy was against the freedom of marriage, and thus considered to be unconstitutional.</p><p>In China, under labour laws, the companies are not supposed to ask the job applicants for marriage and childbirth, however it was not the case in reality, the publication said quoting Yan.</p><p>Marriages in China dropped to 6.1 million last year, hitting a new low. This was a 20.5 per cent drop from last year’s number which was 7.68 million, the report mentioned.</p><p>Compared to the year 2023, China recorded 9.54 million newborns last year, which showed a rise in the number of births by 5,20,000, compared to the previous year, and also the first time the index rose since 2017.</p><p>He Yafu, a demographer with China’s YuWa Population Research Institute said that the rise was only because many parents favor giving birth to their children in the Year of the Dragon.</p><p>The report further added that due to lack of interest in young people to get married, some governments had to intervene and incentivise the process.</p><p>Shanxi province, a Chinese city offered a reward of 1,500 yuan (US$200) to women under 35 years, as well as men who were to get married for the very first time.</p>
<p>A Chinese company recently issued a notice threatening to fire the single and divorced employees, if they remain single until September end, a <em>South China Morning Post </em><a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3299407/china-firm-withdraws-crazy-marriage-deadline-plan-fire-single-divorced-staff?module=top_story&pgtype=subsection" rel="nofollow">report</a> said. The move has also been reprimanded by the officials, the report added.</p><p>The Shuntian Chemical Group, with over 1,200 employees, announced this policy with the view of boosting the organisation’s marriage rate in January.</p><p>The report also mentioned that the company wanted all the single and divorced employees, aged between 28 and 58, to settle down and get married by the end of September, 2025.</p><p>The company also said that those who do not settle down by the end of March, shall write a self-criticism letter, the report added.</p>.Chinese company allots time slots for employees for using toilet, faces backlash.<p>The company shall conduct an evaluation of those employees if they fail to get hitched by the end of June, and finally if they still remain single until September end, they shall be fired.</p><p>Stressing over traditional Chinese values such as 'loyalty and filial piety', the company has announced another policy which says “not responding to the government’s call to improve the marriage rate is disloyal. Not listening to your parents is not filial. Letting yourself be single is not benevolent. Failing your colleagues’ expectations is unjust." </p><p>Based in the city of Linyi, the organisation was founded in 2001, and is also and was one of the top 50 enterprises there.</p><p>The publication further added that the local human resources and social security bureau told another Chinese media the organisation was inspected on February 13, and the policy stood withdrawn in less than a day. Also, no employee was fired based on their marital status.</p><p>The report further added that the policy also received much criticism online, wherein a user said that the company should mind its own business and stay away from its employees’ personal lives.</p><p>Another user said that let the company carry out the policy, and the ones fired can always apply for arbitration and get a good amount of compensation.</p><p>Another user, while mocking the company policy asked whether the company would fire its employees for not having a child too, the report added.</p><p>Yan Tian, Associate professor at Peking University Law School, told the other Chinese publication that the company policy violated China’s Labour Law and Labour Contract Law, SCMP added.</p><p>Yan also asserted that the policy was against the freedom of marriage, and thus considered to be unconstitutional.</p><p>In China, under labour laws, the companies are not supposed to ask the job applicants for marriage and childbirth, however it was not the case in reality, the publication said quoting Yan.</p><p>Marriages in China dropped to 6.1 million last year, hitting a new low. This was a 20.5 per cent drop from last year’s number which was 7.68 million, the report mentioned.</p><p>Compared to the year 2023, China recorded 9.54 million newborns last year, which showed a rise in the number of births by 5,20,000, compared to the previous year, and also the first time the index rose since 2017.</p><p>He Yafu, a demographer with China’s YuWa Population Research Institute said that the rise was only because many parents favor giving birth to their children in the Year of the Dragon.</p><p>The report further added that due to lack of interest in young people to get married, some governments had to intervene and incentivise the process.</p><p>Shanxi province, a Chinese city offered a reward of 1,500 yuan (US$200) to women under 35 years, as well as men who were to get married for the very first time.</p>