Four Signs a Chinese Tech Company Is About to Lay You Off

Hello everyone, I'm Feiyu.

The overall environment is extremely poor right now (across all industries). Today I want to talk about layoffs.

Many people who have been in the workplace for years suddenly get laid off. Some might even find it strange, thinking, "I was clearly doing a good job, why was I chosen?"

Actually, there are many signs before a company lays people off. Based on my experience and the experience of friends around me, there are roughly the following points.

First is the sudden handover of work:

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For example, if you are in a core position in the company.

But suddenly your leader asks you to hand over your tasks to another colleague to share the load, under the euphemism of being a "BackUP."

Or they directly ask you to hand over your work to another colleague and assign you to other tasks.

Of course, they might dangle a carrot, saying they want you to do something more challenging.

But in reality, this is the company or your leader starting to make a move against you.

The second point is frequent changes in your company's entire organizational structure:

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Usually, this happens every quarter.

Especially in internet companies, changes happen very fast. A senior leader might suddenly leave, and someone new comes in to take over.

The newcomer, in order to promote their own people, will distribute core tasks to their subordinates.

For the team left behind by your previous old leader, you will likely be assigned tasks that don't easily yield performance results.

In fact, much of performance management is mainly for the purpose of managing people, not for pursuing fairness.

Everyone should always remember: in the Chinese workplace, never expect fairness.

The third point is that your leader suddenly starts becoming very cold towards you:

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Specific manifestations include them not reading your weekly reports, not replying to questions you ask in the group chat — basically a sudden 180-degree change in attitude.

This situation is also a precursor to them making a move against you.

The last point is that your leader starts giving you more work without more pay:

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Don't think they are doing this to promote you or train you.

The more likely possibility is to make you uncomfortable.

Including the coldness mentioned earlier, it's all to make you uncomfortable.

Because this can pressure you into resigning voluntarily, so they don't have to pay a single cent in compensation.

If anyone has other points to add, feel free to leave a comment!

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Finally: The article will be included on my personal website: http://hardyfish.top/