China worker gains envy after winning 7-day ‘rain leave’; boss also offers cash subsidies

Commuting in wet conditions complaints from staff gives spicy food firm boss days-off idea; other raffle prizes included umbrellas, dehumidifiers

A Chinese employee has caused widespread jealousy among netizens after she won seven days of paid “rain leave”, meaning she can stay home when it rains.

The woman, whose personal details have not been divulged, from Changsha in Hunan province, southern China, works at a spicy snack company and went viral after winning the unusual prize in a company raffle.

The company, Mala Wangzi, which literally means “Spicy Prince”, was founded in 2009 by Zhang Yudong and is headquartered in Changsha. The value of its annual sales exceeded 1.5 billion yuan (US$220 million) for the first time in 2024.

Zhang’s son, Zhang Zilong, was born in the year 2000, and is currently the brand’s head of online marketing.

He documented the lucky draw on his social media account, where he is known as “Spicy Son”, and has amassed over 262,000 followers.

“Have you ever seen a city where it rains for 82 out of 90 days? To cheer up my employees, we prepared a ‘rain leave lottery’ for everyone. As the saying goes, the early bird catches the worm. We are waiting at the company entrance today to see who the lucky winners will be,” Zhang said in a video.

The footage then shows employees taking turns drawing tickets from a lottery box.