The PR director of the search engine company Baidu, among other things, announced that he is not responsible for the well-being of his employees because he is not their mother.
The PR director of Baidu, China’s biggest search engine, has issued a public apology after firing his employees and stressing that the only thing he cares about is results.
PR manager Qu Jing had previously published a series of videos on Douyin, the Chinese version of Tiktok, in which, among other things, she stated that she is not responsible for the well-being of her employees because she is not their mother.
– Keep your phone open 24 hours a day, always be ready to answer, said Qu in the video.
In another video, Qu announced that if a person works in PR, there is no need to wait for days off.
In addition, Qu threatened to retaliate against his subordinates who complained about his leadership style.
– I can make it impossible for you to find a job in this field with just a short essay, Qu wrote.
The videos and writings caused a flurry of objections on the Chinese social media service Weibo. Many critics accused the PR boss of lacking empathy and idealizing the overtime culture.
On Thursday, Qu posted an apology on his private WeChat instant messaging account for the “inappropriate videos” that led to a public “misunderstanding of my company’s values and corporate culture.”
– I learn from my mistakes and develop my communication methods and care more about my colleagues, Qu wrote and emphasized that he had not asked the company for permission to publish the videos.
The Chinese 36Kr online media reported on Thursday that Qu had left his position as Baidu’s PR director. News agency AP said that it is unable to confirm the information.
Exhausting working days are agreed to because there is a shortage of jobs
In China, there has been discussion for years about the consuming and demanding working conditions in the IT sector in particular, where employees are expected to work half-day shifts.
The phenomenon is referred to as the number code 996. It means drilling from nine in the morning to nine in the evening, six days a week.
A few years ago, a case in which a 22-year-old employee of the online store Pinduoduo lost consciousness and died while walking home from work after one in the morning hit the headlines.
Less than two weeks later, the company’s second, 23-year-old employee committed suicide by jumping from the 27th floor of his home. According to Pinduoduo, the employee had requested to go on leave a day earlier.
Many employees agree to work extra long hours, because the competition for jobs in the IT industry – but nowadays for jobs in practically all fields – has intensified to the extreme. Last summer, youth unemployment was at such an alarming level, at over 21 percent, that the country’s National Statistics Center stopped publishing unemployment figures after June 2023.
Half a year later, i.e. in January 2024, Statistics Finland published new data on youth unemployment. In December, the unemployment rate among 16-24-year-olds had unexpectedly dropped to 14.3. Statistics Finland had, however, changed its calculation method of who is counted as unemployed. It is unclear how the new calculation method reflects the country’s unemployment statistics in reality.
Source: AP