"Paying Employees and Matchmakers for Dating"... Chinese Company Encourages Romance

Chinese Camera Company Introduces Cash Incentive System to Encourage Employee Dating, Gaining Attention
Incentives Given for Posting External Opposite-Sex Introductions
All Receive 200,000 KRW if Matching Couple Maintains Relationship for 3 Months

Couple image unrelated to the article content. Photo by Asia Economy.

A Chinese company has attracted attention by introducing an incentive system to encourage employees to date.

On the 18th (local time), Hong Kong media outlet South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that "Insta360, a camera manufacturer in southern China, has introduced a cash incentive system to encourage single employees to date in order to increase their sense of belonging to the company and improve overall employee happiness."

The company announced that it would pay 66 yuan (approximately 12,700 KRW) for each post introducing an outsider of the opposite sex on an online dating platform. If an employee matches with an outsider on this platform and maintains the relationship for three months, the company will reward both the employee and the matchmaker with 1,000 yuan (approximately 192,520 KRW) each. A company representative explained, "Since the implementation of the system, about 500 introduction posts have been registered on the platform. However, since it has not yet been three months since the system started, there have been no cases of receiving the three-month maintenance bonus."

After the news spread, local social networking services (SNS) saw positive comments such as "More sincere about my dating than my mom," "I want to join the company," "Are there any hiring plans?" "The government should follow suit," "An impressive and bold policy," and "This is how to solve the low birthrate." However, some negative reactions also appeared, such as "Are they forcing dating with money?"

This measure is gaining more attention as it coincides with China's serious low birthrate and low marriage rate issues. According to Chinese government statistics, the number of marriages in the first quarter of this year was 4.74 million couples, a 16.6% decrease compared to the same period last year (5.69 million couples). The birthrate also dropped to a record low, falling from 6.77 per 1,000 people in 2022 to 6.39 in 2023.