PR head of Chinese tech company Baidu apologizes for comments seen as glorifying overwork

HONG KONG (AP) — A public relations executive for Chinese technology company Baidu apologized Thursday after making comments in a series of videos that critics said glorified a culture of overwork.

Baidu communications chief Qu Jing sparked public outcry in China after suggesting in videos that she didn’t care about her employees because she was “not their mother” and that she didn’t care about her employees. only cared about results. She also stated that the relationship between her and her subordinates was purely an “employer-employee relationship.”

The backlash was swift, with many people on social media platforms like Weibo criticizing Qu for his lack of empathy.

Qu posted an apology on Thursday on her private WeChat account, where she “sincerely apologized to all netizens” and clarified that she did not ask Baidu’s permission before posting the videos.

Qu said his short videos did not represent Baidu’s position. Baidu operates the dominant search engine in China as well as Ernie Bot, an artificial intelligence service similar to ChatGPT.

“A lot of the criticism is very relevant, I think about it deeply and humbly accept it,” she said. “There are many inappropriate things in the video that have caused external misunderstandings of the company’s values ​​and corporate culture, causing serious damage. I sincerely apologize.”

Qu also committed to improving her communication and management style and caring more about her colleagues.

Baidu did not immediately comment.

Chinese online media outlet 36Kr reported Thursday that Qu had left his position at Baidu. The Associated Press was unable to independently verify Qu’s departure.

The videos, which have since been deleted, were posted at a time when many young Chinese people are pushing back against a competitive culture and grueling work schedules.

Qu received criticism for a series of topics she mentioned in the series of short videos on Douyin.

In the series, she talks about the incident of some employees who sent hundreds of complaint letters against her to the office and threatened to ruin their careers by ensuring that they would never be able to get a job in the office again. industry.

In one of the videos, she criticized an employee who refused to go on a 50-day business trip during the COVID-19 pandemic. China had strict travel restrictions in place, which sometimes included weeks of quarantine for travel, even within the country.

“Why should I take my employee’s family into consideration? I’m not his mother-in-law,” Qu said, adding that if employees refused to go on business trips, they would not get a salary increase or job promotion.

Chinese tech companies have long been criticized for their long working hours.

A public debate has been sparked in recent years over the “996” work culture, under which employees of technology companies were expected to work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. The problem was also highlighted after the deaths of two employees of Chinese e-commerce company Pinduoduo, one of whom collapsed suddenly in the street while returning home from work.

Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, was also criticized in 2019 for supporting the 12-hour workday culture, saying those who enjoyed their work would not find the practice of “996” a problem.