Chinese media have reported new waves of layoffs at major IT companies. Many employees who are over 35 years old will have difficulty finding new jobs in the industry.
Outlets, including Yicai.com and the Economic Observer, said that amid this wave of layoffs, many employees in their 30s have a greater “sense of crisis” than their younger peers. In China’s IT industry, the age of 35 is a threshold. When employees above that age are laid off, it is very difficult for them for find a new job in big companies.
Reports have told stories of a number of 35-year-old senior employees. Having not yet been told to leave, they are ready to jump ship or start their own businesses. However, not everyone has had enough time to plan for their future. One Baidu employee, who just bought a property in Beijing in August this year, received a notice on December 1, without prior warning, that he had to wrap up and leave by noon on December 3. Another Tencent employee mentioned that he has been intensively interviewed by the human resources department since October and asked to choose between leaving voluntarily and being transferred out.
The year 2021 saw the entire Chinese IT sector caught in waves of layoffs, including giants such as Tencent, ByteDance, Didi Chuxing, and JD.com.
Source: Central News Agency, December 12, 2021
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202112120132.aspx