Grab your own bonus: Employee in China walks away with over $18k cash at company dinner

This company's year-end bonuses were generous but first, the staff had take part in a game to "earn" them. 

The Kuangshan Crane Company's party in Henan, China on Feb 5 saw many employees take part in a cash-and-grab party, with one even managing to walk away with over 97,800 yuan (S$18,500) in cash, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Monday (Feb 19).

A 50-metre-long table was situated in the centre of the party's venue, where the company's employees gathered around it to try their luck at earning their bonuses themselves.

According to SCMP, all 5,000 staff from the crane manufacturing company were invited to take part in the event, with the total prize pool hitting 100 million yuan.

In videos uploaded to Douyin, staff can be seen grabbing as many 100-yuan bank notes as possible from among the piles of cash on the table before adding them up to determine how much they managed to take.

Depending on the results of a lottery, these staff members had one, three, five, 10 or 15 minutes to count their cash - every note incorrectly counted would result in a deduction of 1,000 yuan, Star Video reported.

One lucky punter managed to take home 97,800 yuan, describing the event as "awesome".

Altruism or publicity stunt?

This isn't the first time the Kuangshan Crane Company has found itself in the limelight, however.

In January last year, 40 members of staff were given at least one million yuan each. Three top-performing sales managers were given five million yuan each.

In a video of the event, employees could be seen going up to a stage to take from multiple mountains of cash, walking off with armfuls of notes.

The top prize, placed on a tray with a red cloth, was so heavy that several people reportedly had to help carry the money.

While many netizens applauded the company's generosity, some also felt that this event was meant to garner attention.

"Isn't this too much?" A user asked.

"I can't understand this. They bothered to get all the cash from the bank and give them out, but the recipients need to bring the money back to the bank to deposit it. I don't like such a corporate culture," another wrote.

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khooyihang@asiaone.com