We use cookies to tailor your experience and present relevant ads. By clicking “Accept”, you agree that cookies can be placed per our Privacy Policy
ACCEPT
avatar image
Advertisement

From blockbuster bonuses to pink slips: China’s tech industry nurses a hangover

  • The world’s second-largest economy is growing at its slowest pace in nearly three decades, adding to the gloom in the country’s once red-hot internet economy

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
Jobseekers attend a job fair in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, June 23, 2018. Nearly 100 enterprises took part in the job fair, offering more than 2,600 jobs. Photo: Xinhua

A long-waited promotion can make you feel on top of the world and an unexpected lay-off can take you to rock bottom. In China’s rapidly changing tech scene, this career roller-coaster can be ridden in days – not months or years.

One ex-employee from Chinese internet major NetEase was promised a promotion ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday after several years at the Hangzhou-based company. But soon after she returned from the seven-day national holiday, NetEase laid her off as part of a companywide restructuring.

“It was sudden and unexpected,” said the ex-employee in her late 20s, who declined to be identified after losing her job. “Some new hires reported for work in mid-February, after the holidays, and just weeks later they were laid off too.”

NetEase, China’s second-biggest online games publisher with a growing e-commerce unit, is one of a wave of technology companies that are laying off employees amid a slowdown in China’s economy – and the retrenchment runs from “low-end” manufacturers to some of the country’s “high-end” tech darlings., including China’s second-largest e-commerce firm JD.com and ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing.

The world’s second-largest economy is growing at its slowest pace in nearly three decades, adding to the gloom in the country’s once red-hot internet economy, which has also seen a pullback in venture capital funding, adding to the uncertainty for some of China’s most well paid office workers.

Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x