“I’m not your mother, I’m only interested in the results”, says vice-president of Chinese giant Baidu to workers

Qu Jing, Baidu’s vice president in charge of public relations (PR), posted several videos on Douyin, a Chinese version of TikTok, where he threatened company employees who protested the company’s work practices. “I can make them unemployed and I can make it impossible for them to get work in this industry again,” she said. “I’m not your mother, I’m only interested in the results,” she added.

Qu previously worked in PR for Huawei and as a journalist at Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

The vice president and PR director added that she needed employees dedicated enough to go on 50 days of business travel in a row and that she didn’t care if it affected their personal lives.

Qu Jing gave himself as an example and said that his commitment was such that he didn’t even know what his son’s year of schooling was. “If you work in Public Relations, don’t expect weekends off and keep your phone on 24 hours a day, always ready to answer,” he added.

“If your boyfriend calls you and asks if you want to end the relationship, what do I have to do with it? I don’t want to know why you’re crying”, he comments in one of the videos.

In another video, he attacks an effigy with the name of the Hong Kong newspaper, “South China Morning Post”, in an apparent protest against a negative article.

Qu asked employees in the PR department to create personal accounts on platforms such as Douyin, Channels, and Xiaohongshu, a lifestyleto boost the company.

Failure to create these accounts before May 2nd could lead to employees receiving low scores on performance reviews or even being fired. The executive published the videos with the intention that they would serve as an example for her team on how to use social media to promote Baidu. Instead, they have reignited criticism of workplace culture at Chinese tech companies.

Overwork and the “996 movement”

According to Chinese labor legislation, the working day is eight hours a day and has a maximum of 44 hours per week, everything else is considered overtime that the company must pay. However, the laws are not fully applied, especially in technology giants, such as Baidu.

Chinese tycoon Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba Group, another large Chinese technology multinational, stated in 2021 that it is healthy to participate in the so-called “996 movement”, where people work from nine in the morning to nine at night, six days per week. There are reports of employees from different professions who died from sudden illnesses related to overwork.

Many professionals in the sector mentioned that the recent slowdown in the technology sector and large-scale job cuts had led to the rebirth of long working hours amid intense competition.

This Thursday, Qu removed the videos from his Douyin account and apologized, saying that he had “carefully read people’s opinions and criticisms” and would “reflect deeply” on them.