HONG KONG — A lead community members of the family govt from Chinese language era company Baidu apologized Thursday then she made feedback in a form of movies that critics stated glorified a tradition of overwork.
Baidu’s head of communications Qu Jing sparked a community outcry in China then she implied within the movies that she used to be now not involved in her staff as she used to be “not their mom” and stated she simplest cared about effects. She additionally stated that the connection between her and her subordinates used to be purely an “employer-employee relationship.”
The backlash used to be speedy, with many on social media platforms like Weibo criticizing Qu for her insufficiency of empathy.
Qu posted an apology Thursday on her personal WeChat account, the place she “sincerely apologized to all netizens” and clarified that she had now not sought Baidu’s permission sooner than posting the movies.
Qu stated that her decrease movies didn’t constitute Baidu’s stance. Baidu operates China’s dominant seek engine in addition to Ernie Bot, a man-made prudence provider related to ChatGPT.
“Many of the criticisms are very pertinent, I am reflecting deeply and humbly accept them,” she stated. “There are many inappropriate (things said) in the video that caused external misunderstandings about the company’s values and corporate culture, causing serious harm. I sincerely apologize.”
Qu also pledged to improve her communication and management style and care more for her colleagues.
Baidu did not immediately comment.
Chinese online media outlet 36Kr reported Thursday that Qu had left her position at Baidu. The Associated Press was not able to independently verify Qu’s departure.
The videos, which have since be taken down, came at a time when many young people in China are pushing back against a culture of competition and gruelling hours in the workplace.
Qu received criticism for a range of subjects she mentioned in the series of short videos on Douyin.
In the series, she brought up an incident of certain employees who sent hundreds of complaint letters against her to the office, and threatened to ruin their careers by ensuring that they could never again find a job in the industry.
In one of the videos, she criticized an employee who refused to go on a 50-day business trip during the COVID-19 pandemic. China had implemented strict travel restrictions that at times included weeks of quarantine for travel even within the country.
“Why should I take into consideration my employee’s family? I’m not her mother-in law,” Qu stated, including that if staff refused to progress on such work trips next they wouldn’t get wage raises or activity promotions.
Chinese technology firms have long been criticized for their long working hours.
A public debate was sparked in recent years over the “996” work culture, where employees in technology firms were expected to work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. The issue was also spotlighted after the deaths of two employees of Chinese e-commerce firm Pinduoduo, one of whom collapsed suddenly on the street on her way home from work.
Jack Ma, founding father of Alibaba, additionally confronted complaint in 2019 for endorsing the 12-hour workday tradition, announcing that those that loved their paintings would now not in finding the “996” observe to be a disease.
