A company in China which asked its staff to crawl down the street at night after they failed at a team-bonding game has shocked mainland social media.

A video clip that has attracted four million views on Douyin, shows a group of young people on all fours making their way along a street in southern China’s Guizhou province, on Jan 3.

The person who posted the video said he initially thought they were having a meeting, then they suddenly began crawling - “seems to be some slave company’s punishment for its staff,” he said.

Local police said they had talked to the company’s boss and employees, who told them it was “just the penalty for a team-bonding game” and all the staff had “volunteered” for the extreme activity.

Social media was shocked by the bizarre company team-bonding event and the employees’ response.

“I thought I was watching a zombie movie,” one viewer commented.

Another said: “I wonder how much the company pays its staff for them to agree to such a humiliating event?”

“‘Volunteered’, like we don’t know what that really means for those who cannot say no to their bosses,” said a third.

Other observers called for some kind of objective, external supervision of the firm to prevent exploitative behaviour, adding that companies were able to treat their staff badly due to a lack of proper regulation.

This is not the first time companies in China raised concerns among the public for making unreasonable requests.

Last year, a group of women employees poured cups of water over another female staff member’s head at a training event in southwestern China’s Sichuan province. They said the woman agreed to the deed to boost her motivation.

In 2019, a logistics company in northeastern China’s Liaoning province told its staff to make piles of sand on a beach, which represented their “graves”, and kowtow in front of them as a symbolic gesture for embarking on a new phase of life.

Not all team-bonding activities at Chinese firms are as extreme, they usually take the form of dinner parties and travelling.

In recent years, employees - especially the younger generation - have expressed a dislike for company team-bonding activities.

They say it takes up their precious leisure time and they would rather be given the money than have it spent on a staff party.

China’s Labour Law bans any form of physical punishment imposed by companies on employees, and they face legal action if anybody is harmed.

 - SCMP