Boss's kind gesture praised

A company boss is praised by internet users for giving his employees a half-day off to shop during the annual online Singles Day shopping spree, which started on Friday just after midnight.

"Considering our employees would stay up late to buy things online, and that would affect their rest and consequently their efficiency at work, I made the decision to give them a half-day free," said Qiu Ling, general manager of Lingdong Media Co Ltd in Jining, Shandong province in eastern China.

The company has more than 30 employees, most of them of the post-1980s and post-1990s generations, with an average age of 29.