Chinese tech companies reportedly see large scale job cuts as 2021 wraps up

Several Chinese tech companies are said to be laying off staff due to the government's tightening grips on the sector, sparking fear among employees.

A report from the South China Morning Post said that Kuaishou, ByteDance and streaming platform iQiyi were laying off its staff. The report stated that  while it is common for Chinese tech companies to sack underperforming employees at the end of each year, the scale of staff cut is bigger than usual given the Chinese government has been cracking down on the tech sector this year. The report said Kuaishou had started laying off employees who received low scores in performance reviews. These employees had been offered compensation based on years they had served, in addition to a month's salary. Kuaishou had also laid off highly-paid team leaders, which reportedly has caused further panic among employees.

Meanwhile, iQiyi has also been trimming more than 30% of jobs at departments using a lot of the company's budget, including marketing and distribution. The employees required to leave have been offered similar compensation as their counterparts at Kuaishou. Tthe report added that lay-offs may continue through Chinese New Year. .

Bytedance has also dismissed more than 1,000 employees in its online education unit after the authorities in China had forced tutoring companies to turn to non-profit organisations. Besides, its AI-powered tutoring service Guagualong has been affected too. This service arm targets kids from two to 12 years old. Although the Chinese government cracked down on the tutoring service sector, English earning service for adults OpenLanguage, as well as knowledge sharing platform Xuelang, have also seen job cuts.

Tech companies in China have been facing changes in 2021 and leadership shuffles. For example, Kuaishou's CEO Su Hua left the position in November and was replaced by co-founder Cheng Yixiao. With the move, Su will devote more time to formulating the company's long-term strategies and exploring new initiatives. Kuaishou said in a statement on 29 October that Su ceased to serve as CEO of the company but he will continue serving as the chairman of the board, an executive director and a member of the remuneration committee. 

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming also stepped down as chairman of the company in November, and he is said to be staying on with the company to help formulate the company's longer-term strategy. CEO Liang Rubo will now replace Zhang on the five-member board which includes representatives from several investors such as Susquehanna International Group and Sequoia Capital China. The shuffle came shortly after ByteDance announced leadership changes in May with Zhang then CEO handing the title over to co-founder and HR head Liang.

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