A company in China has landed itself in hot water for praising employees who work extra hours after it emerged that the longest overtime total for one employee was 160 hours in a month.

On August 6, the Yisai e-commerce Company in Shanghai issued a notice of commendation for the overtime performances of its staff.

The document soon went viral on mainland social media, the China Youth Daily reported.

“After gathering the data of our workers’ clock-off times at the entrance guard system, we found a group of employees who are highly responsible about their jobs and have made selfless contributions to our company. They are the role models for all of us,” the company said in the notice.

The company said it collected data on how much overtime its staff did on its “entrance guard system”. Photo: Getty Images

It listed the top 15 workers in terms of their overtime hours in July.

The highest-ranked employee spent a total of 159.96 hours doing extra shifts, with the average time for him finishing work being 11.12pm.

The worker at the bottom of the list had worked overtime for a combined 68.41 hours in July, while his average time leaving the office was 7.56pm, the document showed.

The sports goods company has about 100 employees, most of whom were born after 1990.

Its information on a leading recruitment website states that its working hours are from 8.30am to 5.30pm.

The highest ranked overtime hours were done by a worker who, on average, finished work at 11.12pm. Photo: Getty Images

“We thank all the above listed staffers. Meanwhile, we call on all employees to follow in their steps and learn their spirit of loving the job and making a selfless contribution,” the company concluded.

An anonymous manager from the company told the media that the worker with the most overtime hours comes from the operations department, which is normally busier than other departments.

“We do not force workers to do overtime. Sometimes, workers do extra hours voluntarily,” the manager said.

“If the company assigns them to work overtime, workers can receive overtime pay. But if they do it out of their own initiative, there is no overtime pay.”

It is not clear how much overtime was done on the orders of this company.

Guo Zheng, a lawyer from Beijing Tianchi Juntai Law Firm, said China’s Labour Law stipulates that, generally, employers should not ask employees to work overtime for more than one hour a day.

Legal experts said that the company’s actions were questionable under Chinese law. Photo: Getty Images

Under special circumstances, overtime on a single day should not exceed three hours, while the cumulative hours for a month should not be more than 36, according to the law.

The news sparked discussion and disbelief online.

“I cannot imagine how they survived after working for so many hours a day,” one online observer said.

Another person said: “Life is hard. If you do not want to work overtime, you will be immediately replaced by others. If you are not willing to work overtime voluntarily, many other people are willing to do so. That is the situation of the current job market.”