A real estate¹ company in Guangzhou has sparked heated debate on social media in China over its controversial rule that sees employees fined if they walk less than 180,000 steps each month.

近日，广州一家房地产公司的奇葩规定在社交媒体上引发了激烈的争论。该公司规定，如果员工每月步行数不足18万，将被罚款。

Staff members are fined 0.01 yuan for each step under the target -- about $0.14 per hundred steps.

员工每少走一步就要被罚款1分钱，每百步约0.14美元。

But many of the company's employees have complained that walking 180,000 steps every month -- about 6,000 a day -- is a nearly impossible task.

但该公司的许多员工抱怨称，每月18万步（每天约6000步）几乎是不可能完成的任务。

Their argument is that they can't walk that much during company time, and their frequent late night overtime² makes it hard to reach the target outside of work hours.

他们上班时间走不了那么多路，而且他们经常加班到深夜，很难在工作时间之外达到目标。

I understand that the company wants to encourage us to get more exercise, said one employee, who didn't provide their name. "But this walking assignment has become a burden for me. I don't even have enough time to sleep because I need to take walks to meet the target."

一名不愿透露姓名的员工表示：“我知道公司想鼓励我们多锻炼。但这项步行任务已经成为我的负担。我甚至没有足够的时间睡觉，因为我下班后需要继续步行来达到目标。”

The decision by the company to impose³ fines on employees who don't reach the target has generated⁴ a lot of criticism online.

该公司决定对未能达到目标的员工处以罚款，这一措施在网上引发了许多批评。

"If the company wants to encourage its employees to exercise, it should award bonuses to those who meet the target," said one commenter. "Fines without rewards only makes people less willing to take part in the campaign."

一位评论人士表示：“如果公司想鼓励员工锻炼，就应该向达到目标的员工发放奖金。没有奖励的罚款只会让人们更不愿意参加这项运动。”

Liu Fengmao, a lawyer from the Guangdong Fasheng Law Firm, said the company has no legal grounds to use the number of steps taken by an employee as a measure of performance that can result in a fine.

广东法盛律师事务所的律师刘丰茂表示，公司将员工的步行数作为考核业绩的标准，这是没有法律依据的。

He added that if employees are spending time outside of work trying to reach their steps target, they could be eligible⁵ for overtime, although this could be difficult to prove. Likewise, there is the possibility that employees who are injured from walking could claim that it was a workplace injury.

他补充说，如果员工在工作之外花时间达到步行目标，可以被认定为加班，尽管这可能很难证明。同样，因走路受伤的员工可以声称这是工伤。