Jason Lin
What behinds the fast development of China is hundreds of millions of hard-working individuals, with the sacrifice of their health and even lives.
The recent death of a Pinduoduo Inc. (NASDAQ: PDD) employee made Chinese people criticizing the long hours commonly practiced at China’s tech companies again.
Pinduoduo confirmed that a 23-year-old female employee collapsed while going back home at 1:30 a.m. on Dec 29th, 2020. According to a statement, the employee could not be resuscitated and died after nearly six hours of first aid. It was said that Pinduoduo employees should strictly follow “the punch in and out” system. The working hours are normally from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and it is common to work overtime on Sunday. Her death soon sparked a social media backlash against the e-commerce giant and the relentless working schedules.
What made people furious was the response of Pinduoduo on social media. On Monday morning, the Pinduoduo account on Zhihu (NYSE: ZH), a famous Chinese question-and-answer website, created a post and downplayed the worker’s death saying, “All of us grassroots people are sacrificing our health in exchange for a paycheck. You can choose an easy life, but you would suffer in the end.”
The post went viral immediately, despite being quickly deleted, leading Pinduoduo to claim that it was not a verified Pinduoduo account. Several hours later, Zhihu declared it had come from Pinduoduo’s official account. Pinduoduo then had to blame the errant post on an external agency employee, surnamed Li, who was mistakenly logged into Pinduoduo’s account and posted it. “ It does not represent Pinduoduo’s official attitude”, the company said. However, some Chinese netizens insisted that the company put the blame on a scapegoat. Now the company has to face a growing PR crisis.
The so-called 996 office schedule – from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, has been a controversial topic in China in recent years. Even though the unhealthy and illegal schedule is already under scrutiny by regulators for anti-competitive business practices, Chinese tech companies believe it should be necessary. Tech billionaires from BABA’s Jack Ma to JD’s Richard Liu have endorsed the practice for companies’ survival and the key to accumulating personal wealth.
Today, Pinduoduo shares fell more than 5%. Last year, Pinduoduo’s workforce succeeded in powering rocketing revenues, while its shares increased nearly 400% and its year-end market value reached $218bn. According to Forbes, Pinduoduo’s founder, Collin Huang, became the third wealthy man in China in 2020, with $58.6bn.
The company posted a statement about the employee’s death and an apology for the errant post on Zhihu this morning. People’s anger may disappear as time goes by, but the overtime culture in China might not be easily eliminated even though the 23-year-old girl was gone.
