TikTok owner ByteDance laid off a global HR team in December
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Shanghai ByteDance, Shanghai ByteDance, December 8, 2020. Shanghai, China.
Getty Images| Costfoto | Barcroft Media | Getty Images
TikTok’s Chinese Internet company, ByteDance eliminated its global human resource department team in December.
One former HR worker said that members of the Talent Development team were informed that they would not be able to continue their jobs during a five-minute town hall meeting. The Dec. 1 invitations had already been sent several hours prior, she said.
CNBC spoke with two former employees of ByteDance HR, and one currently employed employee. They requested anonymity because they were professional.
One of two ex-HR staff members said that the town hall was held in Mandarin, with English translation for the employees.
Chinese media outlets reported on the December layoffs.
According to an internal ByteDance memo circulated among HR leaders — the content of which was seen by CNBC — the employees whose positions were eliminated were allowed to apply for other jobs within the company. New university graduates could be guaranteed transfer.
Two former employees stated that those who failed to secure new positions within three weeks were required to quit the company on December 27. According to them, the layoffs affected 70 to 100 employees.
An employee affected by the layoffs, who managed to move to an internal HR position after the incident, said that the number of those affected was closer to 100 than 10
CNBC received confirmation from ByteDance about layoffs. However, the company did not provide details on how many employees were affected. According to the company, “most” employees were transferred to new groups.
A spokesperson for ByteDance stated that all Talent Development employees had the opportunity to apply for various opportunities in the company. Most of those impacted have been able find new jobs and are now able transfer and integrate into their new organizations.
Memo explains the reasons team was disbanded
ByteDance “took an objective look at our team and our employees’ needs” and “restructured this area of the business to better integrate across the HR organizational structure.” The spokesperson stated to CNBC that Talent Development remains a high priority for both ByteDance and its employees.
HR leaders were informed by an internal memo that the work of the team had “limited practical use” and was a disconnect from company needs.
Initial plans were to limit the scope and apply TD elements, then evaluate and decide which ones are scalable. We have now decided not to retain the Talent Development Center because many of its functions and roles aren’t in line with our current development strategies.” The note explained.
CNBC interviewed one former employee who was puzzled by the decision to eliminate the team without discussing how to restructure it to work within the company’s plans.
‘Mediocre quality’
ByteDance stated that it had discovered from some employees in the company that they were not aware of the work done by the Talent Development group.
“Many online learning events such as talks by mediocre quality and over 1000 attendees or sharings are offered by [key opinion leaders]It was easy to find on the Internet. However, it did not maximize the time of our employees,” the memo claimed.
According to the survey, “Some employees claimed that these initiatives would be personally useful”, but it said candidly that they are more like a ‘feel good initiative that is self-indulgent, and doing things just for the fun of it, with little or no real value.
A separate memo of nearly 1000 words stated that ByteDance valued talent development, even though it was disbanding its team under that name.
“We value talent and we do not want to waste our time or mislead people into believing that they can grow. We made these major changes because of this. The note stated that it is easy to believe employees are growing in their careers, but this can be dangerous and even fatal for both employees and company.
According to the ByteDance employee, talent development remains a very active part of the company. He transferred from an internal role.
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