Working 12-16 hours/day, meeting regardless of day and night
Recently, some former employees of TikTok have publicly spoken out against the former company’s policy of overworking and non-transparent pay.
Former TikTok employees who worked in the San Francisco and New York offices from 2019 to 2022 describe the “996 culture” (working 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week) hurting harm to their mental health and personal life. “996” is quite common culture in China, especially in the tech industry.
Chloe Shih (San Francisco) joined TikTok in 2020 as a product manager but resigned after 1 year, in October 2021. Shih (now a product manager at Discord) posted a 15-minute video on YouTube shortly after leaving her job explaining why she was leaving because she often had to work 12 to 16 hours a day.
“Work-life balance sounds like a myth. Anyone who works for a technology company based in China doesn’t have time to relax. It’s really bad.” she shared.
Chloe Shih (Photo: Internet).
Shil said she must be ready to meet any day or night with colleagues in the UK and China. When she complained to the executive team, they said she didn’t have to attend every meeting. However, she felt she was not privileged to refuse the meeting.
Pabel Martinez, former global account manager at TikTok, said: “The ‘996’ policy is notorious. I think this work culture is pervasive throughout the company and people are often encouraged to work overtime. “.
Shih and other former employees say this practice is common in China, but parent company ByteDance put in place some measures to prevent it last year.
TikTok currently has more than 1 billion users around the world. The company has established its global headquarters in the US, but according to many employees, they are still influenced by China both in terms of products and working culture.
For its part, TikTok declined to comment on the matter. A spokesman for the company said they have never applied the “996” scheme and confirmed they have a decent recruitment and compensation policy.
The person added: “As a global company, our teams collaborate with colleagues around the world. We’re still looking for ways to give employees support and flexibility, including incentives. encourage using downtime to recharge, designate times when not to hold meetings, or automatically display time zone reminders.”
While a part of TikTok employees complain about the harsh working regime, there are still people who accept to work long hours to earn extra income. Shil said that a colleague in China often works overtime, including weekends, to take care of her family.
Melody Chu is another former TikTok employee in San Francisco. She used to be a product lead from July 2020 to November 2021. According to her, the regime at TikTok requires a high degree of personal sacrifice because the work week can last up to 80 hours and work messages. delivered almost all the time, including midnight.
Especially, during the time when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in the world, the frustration of TikTok employees was more public than ever before.
Dylan Juhnke – a former director of brand partnerships, once expressed frustration with the company’s lack of transparency about salary. He once asked his superiors why managers are paid differently despite having similar jobs.
Pabel Martinez, a former account manager, also said that he was internally reprimanded for sharing on LinkedIn his $220,000 base salary, along with $55,000 in bonuses.
Source: BIEN
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