In a controversial move, tech companies in China are now hiring young and pretty ‘programming cheerleaders’ to help motivate their male staff. The idea, apparently, is to create a ‘fun work environment’ for programmers around the country.

According to social media website ‘Trending in China’, the job involves buying programmers breakfast, indulging in small talk, and playing ping-pong with them. ‘Talented’ young women are specially trained for the job by a senior employee.

Photographs that have surfaced online show the women dressed in bright clothes, attempting to chat with employees as they work. In some pictures, they’re seen laughing with male employees, and participating in fun activities like ping-pong and sing-alongs. There doesn’t seem to be any ‘traditional’ cheerleading involved though – no pompoms or synchronised spell-outs.

An HR manager at one of the companies apparently told Trending in China that their programmers are “mostly male and terrible at socialising.” She added: “The presence of these girls has greatly motivated their job efficiency and motivation.”

But social media users weren’t too impressed with the pictures. In fact, they found the idea kind of offensive. “Or you know, hire some women who code,” one Facebook user wrote. “Oh wait, that would be too intimidating for the man-children, right?”

A female user pointed out that women would probably do the work much better, without needing any cheerleaders to motivate them. “How about female coders? Do they get some men?” another asked.

RocketNews24 writer Casey Baseel, however, seems to think the idea isn’t too bad. “See, barring life-or-death responsibilities, guys tend to get sort of lazy without a female presence around,” he writes. “Throw an attractive female or two into the group, and suddenly several dudes will have their alpha male instincts awakened as they try to show what energetic and capable dynamos they are.” Would you agree?