A bizarre trend sweeping through China has unemployed youths paying fees to pretend to work in rented offices for absolutely no financial gain.
Millions of Chinese people report to their office jobs every day, but while the overwhelming majority get paid to do so, some actually pay fake companies to allow them to pretend to work there. In exchange for a daily fee of between 30 and 50 yuan ($4-$7), these specialized companies offer anyone the chance to experience various working environments, complete with desks, lunch facilities, and free Wi-Fi. While most simply allow clients to chill in their facilities, those looking for an extra layer of realism can pay extra for fictitious tasks, fake managers, and even staged employee rebellions. These so-called “pretend-to-work companies” have been growing in popularity this year to meet a growing demand among unemployed youths.
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So why would anyone pay to pretend to work? Well, there isn’t one clear answer to that question. Spanish newspaper El Pais recently wrote an article on this bizarre, growing trend and actually visited one of these pretend-to-work companies to see what made it so attractive. Some of its “employees” said that they were there just because they found the concept interesting, others that it was just nice to be able to go somewhere to chill out on the cheap instead of hanging around at home, and a few hoped that the experience might help them secure a real job in the near future.
“Although some members do need a place to pretend to work, most of us are just there because it’s interesting,” Xu Lin, a content creator, said.
In March, the youth unemployment rate reached 16.5% among 16- to 24-year-olds (excluding students) and 7.2% among those aged 25 to 29, which, coupled with the availability of cheap office space in big cities like Beijing, led to this unusual work-mimicking trend. Such spaces are incredibly cheap to rent, and for those looking to hang out, they are cheaper than cafes.
You’re probably thinking that there must be better ways to spend unemployment than having to pay to pretend to work, but work culture is so different in China that such unusual services can become mainstream.
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