A restaurant owner in China has given several of her employees new BMW cars after thinking about how hard their journeys to work were. Ma Yanli runs a chain of beef hotpot restaurants in the city of Jiaozuo in Henan province. Her staff travel to work on electric scooters.
She took the step after seeing them struggle through cold, rain and stormy weather. On September 24 she took several employees to a BMW showroom. They had been told there would be a meeting there, but on arrival they found out they were being given new cars.
Each car cost about 300,000 Chinese yuan, or about Tk 5.57 million. Ma had bought them about two weeks before giving them to her staff.
Li Jie, one of the employees who received a car, said: “I am so happy! I never even dared to imagine getting something like this.” Li said that on the way to the showroom, Ma had promised a big toy.
Prompted by a worker’s red face
Ma also explained why she gave the gifts. One day she saw an employee come back to work with a face red from the cold journey, and it set her thinking.
She asked why, when she herself could travel in comfort, her staff should have to go through such hardship. The decision to give the cars came from that feeling towards her employees.
Staff share in the success
Ma believes the success of her business rests on the combined efforts of her staff, and that when the business does well, they should share in it. The cars are seen as a reflection of that belief.
The story has drawn a wide response on social media. Many praised the owner’s generosity and her concern for her workers’ hardship, and it has started a discussion about how to recognise workers’ effort and give them a share in a company’s success.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report