Tech Firms Describe Sackings as "Graduation"

JD.com and Bilibili have turned sackings into "graduations"

Chinese tech stocks have taken a beating recently, which has led to numerous layoffs in companies like JD.com, Bilibili, and ByteDance. However, these firms are using euphemisms to describe employees being given the pink slip.

"Sorry, you are terminated" is now replaced with "congratulations, you graduated" in dismissal notices issued by some Chinese technology companies, sparking controversy.

The translation of one dismissal letter

Large firms usually describe massive layoffs as business "optimisation", JD.com and Bilibili are using the term "graduation" which led to many fired employees to angrily post their dismissal notices on social media.

The employers don't describe the large-scale job cuts as layoffs because that often invites the intervention of labour authorities, and is seen as a sign of market weakness.

The JD.com termination letter offered "congratulations on your successful graduation" from the company, and gave details on how to handle social security issues, employment records and other administrative matters, while Bilibili's dismissal letter has the title "graduation day" and provided instructions on human resources issues.

The authenticity of the letters was confirmed by the companies' current and former employees, and it was also pointed out that they would also get this letter if they resigned voluntarily.

Referring to work colleagues "schoolmates" is part of the culture at many Chinese tech firms, including TikTok owner ByteDance.

Tech firms like TikTok call staff "schoolmates"

The layoffs at JD.com were mainly at its group-buying business Jingxi, which is expected to sack 10 to 15 percent of its staff, or about 400 to 600 people.

Another JD.com business unit that handles books, pet products and cross-border e-commerce also plans to cut 15 to 20 percent of its staff.

Bilibili started laying off staff last year, mostly in its gaming department, where nearly 20 percent of its staff were sacked.

Some social media users were angry at the use of the term "graduation". One Weibo user said sarcastically that JD.com was "too merciful" because it paid employees but "did not ask them for tuition fees".

Another asked why an employee who got sacked should be congratulated.

A third Weibo user said everyone who left JD.com was called a "graduate" whether they were fired or resigned. 

Staff "graduate" if they resign voluntarily too

"Doesn't the work experience one received before the layoff count as personal growth?" she asked.

Meanwhile Hong Kong's Covid-19 count continues to drop, though incrementally.

Today 6,639 cases were reported, 119 deaths, of which 102 were in the past 24 hours, and 17 backlogged.

China Limits Kids' Gaming to Three Hours a Week

Chinese kids under 18 can only play three days a week

 

Children under the age of 18 in China must be either fuming or trying to figure out a way to continue playing games on their smartphones after Beijing came down with a decree that they can only play it three days a week -- Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 8pm to 9pm.

The rule came down from the National Press and Publication Administration (NAAP), China's top watchdog for gaming and other forms of online media, in a bid to stop gaming addiction among teenagers, according to state media outlet Xinhua.

Government wants to prevent gaming addiction

It had previously issued rules in 2019 that limited play time for minors to no more than 90 minutes each day, and three hours on statutory holidays.

While kids must be throwing tantrums, gaming companies may not take a big hit on the stock exchange as children don't make up a big part of their revenues, but it could result in a bigger impact in terms of the player bases, now that they can only play an hour a day for three days.

Imagine on a Friday night at 8pm, everyone in China will know what kids under 18 are doing -- furiously playing games on their phones.

There isn't much anyone can do about it because all players have to register with their real name and ID. It might inspire some children to start downloading VPNs to get around the system, but would that work? Or how about playing games developed by outside of China?

Gaming companies will be anxious to comply to the new rules because if they are caught having minors playing outside of the specified times, the government could easily shut them down. No one wants that.

Children don't spend much money on gaming

"Many parents have said that the gaming addiction problem among teens and children has gravely affected their ability to learn and study as well as their physical and mental health, even causing a series of societal problems," a spokesman for NAAP told Xinhua.

NAAP said gaming companies are responsible for stopping children from becoming addicted to gaming, and it seems this policy is yet another spanner in the wheel for gaming giants like Tencent, NetEase and Bilibili.

However, minors are only a small percentage of gaming receipts for these companies. For example for Tencent, players under 16 constitute just 2.6 percent of its gross gaming revenues in China, and those under 12 accounting for just 0.3 percent. Bilibili said minors only contributed 1 percent of the company's gaming revenue.

Nevertheless, it seems China is determined to curb young people's addiction to gaming and possibly insist on more national education instead? Either way it will make young people resent the government even more, unless state media comes up with stories of kids who realize how much time they have wasted playing games and that studying Xi Jinping thought is the only way to enhance their lives...