The Chinese tech company Insta360, based in Shenzhen, has been rewarding its outstanding employees with pure-gold keyboard keys for the fourth year in a row. The heaviest of them — the space bar — costs about $45,000. The news was reported by the South China Morning Post.
“Gold factory”
Insta360, known as a competitor to GoPro in the 360-degree camera segment, recently celebrated Programmer’s Day in China (October 24) by giving several outstanding employees 21 gold keyboard keys. Over the past four years, the company has given out a total of 55 such keys.
The most expensive one, the space bar, weighs 35.02 grams and is currently valued at around 320,000 yuan ($45,000). Due to the rapid rise in gold prices, the value of these bonuses has more than doubled since the first year.
Thanks to this tradition, the company has earned the informal nickname “the gold factory” in China’s tech industry.
Gold as a symbol of stability
The gold bonuses are not limited to Programmer’s Day. For the company’s 10th anniversary in July, all employees and interns received a “gold blind box” containing a 0.36-gram pure-gold sticker with the message: “Everything that shines is not only gold, but also you.”
For a wedding or the birth of a child, employees are given a 1-gram gold coin.
At the most recent New Year’s party, the top lottery prize was a 50-gram 999-fine gold bar.
Employees speak positively about this type of motivation. One worker called the gold bonus “very pragmatic,” noting that it “helps me manage my money.” Another said he would not sell his gold coins because “some things cannot be measured by money.” Yet another employee expressed determination: “I will work harder and fill my entire keyboard with gold keys.”
Insta360 founder Liu Jingkang explained that the company gives gold not because of its monetary value but because of the “stability” it symbolizes. He emphasized that the company’s stability depends on its talented employees, and the gold keys symbolize that each keystroke is a touch that “turns stone into gold.”
Author: Katya Ve