AI Developer Punishes Staff Who Took Long Lunch Breaks (bloomberg.com) 66
A top Chinese AI developer punished scores of staff who took a longer lunch break than allowed, reviving memories of the relentless work culture that plagued the country's tech sector years ago. From a report: IFlytek this week fired off a companywide memo upbraiding more than a hundred employees it accused of abandoning their workstations to line up for free chicken lunches at the campus cafeteria.
As a disciplinary measure, those who took more than the allotted hour will get a "C" review rating, according to a copy of the memo that was posted online and verified by a company representative. The post drew more than 66 million views on Chinese social media platform Weibo and highlighted the immense pressures on the country's AI sector, now the hottest slice of a tech arena still struggling to regain its footing since Beijing cracked down on the industry in late 2020.
As a disciplinary measure, those who took more than the allotted hour will get a "C" review rating, according to a copy of the memo that was posted online and verified by a company representative. The post drew more than 66 million views on Chinese social media platform Weibo and highlighted the immense pressures on the country's AI sector, now the hottest slice of a tech arena still struggling to regain its footing since Beijing cracked down on the industry in late 2020.
So let it be written (Score:1)
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Just flush the bastard, it worked before.
%$#@! Paywall (Score:2)
TFS is more textual information to read than TFA.
So... (Score:5, Insightful)
So a shitty Chinese company nobody has ever heard of treated their employees shitty, and that got posted to Slashdot why? Because that shitty company happens to be involved in AI?
Who gives a fuck?
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Because it's just like shitty US companies. And in the mid-nineties, I worked for Ameritech, a Baby Bell, and if I ever hear the words "whatever it takes" from a manager, I will beat him to a pulp.
Re:So... (Score:5, Funny)
... if I ever hear the words "whatever it takes" from a manager, I will beat him to a pulp.
Well, if that's what it takes to get it done....
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I will beat him to a pulp.
That's a really good way to get a monitored amount of lunch break.
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Environmentalists despise Nuclear power because it proves that most of their beliefs and assumptions are wrong..
No,we hate it because every promise made of safety and inexpense has proved to be a lie.
96000 years of storage will cost more than every neutron released.
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And it's behind a paywall, all the way around this is a garbage report.
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It's like Citibank firing a guy because he tried to claim a second meal as an expense [bbc.com] for business when in reality he bought lunch for his SO. It wasn't the amount in question (it was only a sandwich and coffee), it was that he lied about it then made excuses about it. Sure, Citibank could have let it go, but that would encourage others to do the same which means more money lost to the company.
By setting an example of thi
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Citibank can go fuck itself with rusty razors
https://pomlaw.com/monitor-iss... [pomlaw.com]
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also this: https://www.reuters.com/articl... [reuters.com]
Citibank should be buying free coffees for everyone for a long time
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the way i guess these things work.
the guy was being unyielding and finally they got something on him that would stand up in court - to fire him.
package the PR that citi is such a bastion of fairness and totally free from internal corruption.
that image.
am 100% if it was their best profitable employee they would hand him extra vouchers with profound apologies. .....whoever was creating such fuss instead.
probably firing (or finding a way of doing so)
Reminds me of Charlie Ergen and Dishnet (Score:5, Informative)
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The Chinese company situation strikes me as different. Nobody's stealing here, it's more as "beatings will continue until morale improves" scenario. The company offered a free perk that proved popular enough that people had to wait longer than they technically had in order to get it. That's bad planning on the company's part. Even though they're *technically* justified in punishing employees for breaking their rule that's a bad idea for two reasons. First, they're offering this perk to improve morale, w
Sends many messages. (Score:2)
My company has brought me back or talked me out of quitting probably more times than I can count now. I’m not exactly sure why because I do a supremely mediocre job and constantly badmouth the company but somehow I’ve spent a large chunk of my life on their projects or directly employed by them. More than 3/4th of current employees according to the HR portal.
They must find some value in my presence and despite my complaints I have to admit they treat me better than other places ive worked but
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I don't think it's even that uncommon among North American companies, the last place I worked was pretty fast-paced and would take notice if you were a few minutes late to start work or get back from lunch, if that happened you'd better have a good excuse, and if it happened too many times you'd find yourself on the fast track to the chopping block. The people who really wanted to keep their jobs would more or less work through lunch because it didn't leave clear evidence of unpaid overtime...
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I don't think it's even that uncommon among North American companies
I remember having lunch at the Googleplex with my Google friend many years ago (like pre-2010). The food was free and really good. I hadn't seen my friend for several years, so we chatted for two hours in the cafe area. I was astonished that by 12:30pm, the eating area was almost deserted. Employees came to enjoy their free, gourmet-like food and then quickly returned to work. I imagine that the return on food dollars spent for "free" work from shortened lunches was tremendous. The shortened lunches w
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Because we have to be aware of every fart and burp on earth.
The fuck...? (Score:2)
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Yeah.. the idea is that they are commies
and commies are supposed to be lazy union skells
Obviously they want to be rich but they still fly that stupid hammer and sickle flag.
Re:The fuck...? (Score:5, Informative)
Today's Chinese government being "communist" is an utterly laughable idea, the hardest part of being a Chinese politician must be keeping a straight face while saying it. They're as capitalist as they are authoritarian - very. They persecute and disappear actual communists along with anyone else who dabbles in anything Marx-ish. If the MAGA crowd learned the truth about China, they'd admire and envy them.
In China, walking IS socially acceptable. (Score:2)
>> socially acceptable behaviors like jay walking
In China, walking IS socially acceptable.
They are Leninist, and anti-Marxist (Score:2)
They took from Lenin the anti-democratic tyranny for class purposes, but chose a different class.
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You're absolutely correct that they're authoritarian, but considering most of the large corporations in China are state run and funded, it's kind of a stretch to call them even resembling "capitalism". That's laughable.
Maoist, perhaps. Or Leninist. But they're decidedly anti-free-choice and freedom in general. If the state can't control it, then it's forbidden.
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That's definitely still capitalism, state capitalism to be specific:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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No, it's not capitalism, it's state capitalism.
You can't say "it's the same thing" due to a disingenuous definition which contradicts the meaning of the original by overloading it. That's all "state capitalism" is.
It isn't capitalism. It's synonymous with fascism.
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Fascism isn't an economic system and there's no reason that highly authoritarian forms of government would conflict with a capitalist economy. China has private ownership of the means of production, undemocratic workplaces, and, to essentially repeat myself, capitalists who control the companies and get a share of the profits solely through ownership. It looks, walks and quacks like capitalism. The number and size of corporations that happen to be owned by the state isn't a factor that defines whether an ec
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Perhaps you should read this, then.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics_of_fascism
While fascism isn't an economic system, it has some definite hallmarks... notably:
"Fascist movements tended to not have any fixed economic principles other than a general desire that the economy should help build a strong nation.[6] As such, scholars argue that fascists had no economic ideology, but they did follow popular opinion, the interests of their donors and the necessities of World War II. In general, fascist govern
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China has literal billionaires. There's nothing Maoist or Leninist about it.
The Leninist state is rather different because the ruling elite class collectively owns everything in the country that's worth owning, and it's the state as a whole that is economically exploiting the population to increase that shared wealth. So if you're a high-ranked Party official, you have a fancy dacha, car etc... but none of these are yours - you use them for as long as you have that position, but if you're out for any reason
we work 996 and we are nice to give you 1 hour lun (Score:2)
we work 996 and we are nice to give you 1 hour lunch mid day.
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This sounds almost as bad ... (Score:2)
maybe don't give away free chicken (Score:5, Informative)
and then your staff won't stand in line for an hour to get free stuff, exceeding their lunch break.
Not like they're beheading them (Score:5, Interesting)
I hate whip-cracking "crunch" management culture as much as the next guy, but is it really unreasonable for an employer to put a negative mark on your review if you're not at your post when you're supposed to be? An hour lunch is pretty standard. I've been caught in the bullshit position of having to pick up slack and miss breaks because of tardy co-workers. In the US military they would crucify your ass.
I realize the kind of abuse and overworking that Chinese software companies are known for, and I don't doubt this company is awful, but that doesn't even appear to be touched on by this report.
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It's blaming the workers for a management problem. I see a large number of places management could have inserted itself into that issue and avoided the whole thing. Instead, someone is covering their ass for being asleep on the job by blaming the workers.
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I'm just juxtaposing the situation and having a hard time imagining converting being unable to control my staff into something deserving of a news article. Let's say there's a clique of people who are just abusing the rules - we can deal with that with a selective firing, i've done it before. Get the ringleader and the rebellion collapses.
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If you time your workers' lunch break so poorly that they stand in line for their food for an hour, yes, you're to blame, not the worker. Your worker neither decides when his lunch break is nor does he decide how many people work in the cafeteria. What is the worker supposed to do to solve that issue?
It's a management blunder. Nothing the worker could improve.
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Well at a certain point the worker is responsible. If they are avoiding doing their job then management can crack the whip at them.
That entirely depends on expectations. At a US tech company, we're salaried, there are no "lunch breaks". You start clocking lunch, coffee, smoke break time, and we're coming for overtime pay.
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is it really unreasonable for an employer to put a negative mark on your review if you're not at your post when you're supposed to be?
Yes. Yes, it is.
If you have workers who are slacking off, that's a problem. A long lunch is not highly correlated to workers "slacking off."
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I hate whip-cracking "crunch" management culture as much as the next guy, but is it really unreasonable for an employer to put a negative mark on your review if you're not at your post when you're supposed to be? An hour lunch is pretty standard. I've been caught in the bullshit position of having to pick up slack and miss breaks because of tardy co-workers. In the US military they would crucify your ass.
I realize the kind of abuse and overworking that Chinese software companies are known for, and I don't doubt this company is awful, but that doesn't even appear to be touched on by this report.
Yah the combination of a tech company with a cafeteria and free food plus watching the minutes seems odd. I don't care how you slice it, is this some kind of company town situation? Because that's what the military is, and that's not a good comparison to a tech company developing AI products.
I'm a POG that worked behind a desk, with more autonomy than most but other than showing up on time in the mornings, nobody watched the clock for our lunch breaks. Run three miles, clean up, chow hall, never had any pro
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I hate whip-cracking "crunch" management culture as much as the next guy, but is it really unreasonable for an employer to put a negative mark on your review if you're not at your post when you're supposed to be? An hour lunch is pretty standard. I've been caught in the bullshit position of having to pick up slack and miss breaks because of tardy co-workers. In the US military they would crucify your ass.
The thing is, those who are really taking the piss aren't the ones taking long lunches, they're the ones who are always trying to look busy without producing any actual work. The "water cooler meeting" types, the "this meeting could have been an email" types. The key to not getting hit is to always be a moving target, you don't want people coming to you to give you work so you always make it look like you're constantly busy, "sorry mate, I'd love to help but I'm snowed under. I'm under the pump, I won't eve
Its china (Score:1)
I guess that is why... (Score:3)
I guess that is one of the reasons why countries lag behind others in innovation.
Many times, when me and some colleagues took a long lunch, we would eventually start talking about our projects. Many good ideas came out of those informal get-togethers. Far more than formal meetings.
So China, keep it up, you will never get away from stealing other company's innovations.
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At the very least you need to be able to rest your brain. I don't think China has any monopoly on this though.
Sub-optimal performance (Score:2)
Beatings (Score:1)
The Beatings will continue until morale improves. In the meantime, that free lunch you got will now be expensed to your wages.
Some of these companies are bad enough, but no doubt, this Chinese company pays nowhere near what it costs to truly work. Throwing employees a free chicken lunch is like throwing a dog a rotten bone. Not much of a reward when this is what the employee deals with. It's why they take longer at lunch. The culture is toxic, and they are avoiding having to throw themselves back into the
If it was a problem (Score:2)
If it was such a problem then just have someone deliver the free chicken meals to their workstations.
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Or let them order ahead of time and notify them when it's ready to be picked up.
The problem at that Chinese company reminds me a lot of this post about a highly ranked U.S. university. [reddit.com]
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Or just rotate the lunch break hours between offices so the cafeteria doesn't get overburdened to the point where people stand in line for an hour to get their food.
Well, he's done (Score:2, Troll)
There aren't a lot of people in this world that can write their own ticket, people with the math chops to program LLMs are one of them.
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I suspect changing jobs without getting flagged in China's "social credit" system as someone not dedicated to one's employer, therefore not trustable, is probably complicated.
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I didn't get a raise one year because manglement told me I had to use up some vacation time before the end of the year, and then dinged me for taking off at the end of the year.
Well duh it's against the law (Score:2)
You can be very quickly fired if you have a fixed schedule and don't follow it, or even a flexible schedule and don't put in the 40 hour week.
So they pulled an (Score:1)
...Amazon.
Why is this news? (Score:2)
Chinese workers have no rights because individual rights are a Western invention. The east (a few doomed dissenters proving the rule) does not value individual rights or life, howls of CCP shills notwithstanding.
Wow...caution... (Score:2)
Wow...caution...they might be a subsidiary of Belko Industries.
Late from lunch and *bang* *splatter* they detonate the charge in the back of your neck.
JoshK.
How is this news? (Score:2)
then we'll see. (Score:2)
flogging will continue until morale improves.