Image Source: Visual China

BEIJING, June 16 (TMTPOST) — TikTok’s owner ByteDance is facing employee backlash in the UK for imposing office norms from China, such as requiring employees to work overtime and stand by after work.

It is reported that half of TikTok’s e-commerce team in London has resigned due to the overwork culture, or 996 culture from China, which means working from 9 am to 9 pm per day for 6 days a week. Insiders from TikTok’s team in the United States said that the company emphasizes greatly on efficiency and confidentiality and that many employees feel overly pressured at the company. Many employees have resigned from TikTok’s team in the United States as well, insiders said.

TikTok’s Chinese management team and the company’s overseas staff have faced several instances of “cultural conflicts”. Joshua Ma, director of TikTok’s e-commerce team in Europe and a member of the senior management team at ByteDance, publicly stated at a team event that as a capitalist he does not think that companies should provide employees with maternity leave.

Ma’s statement met with strong opposition and criticism from TikTok’s e-commerce team in London. Many employees believe that ByteDance has brought Chinese office norms to the UK that directly conflict with the work culture and lifestyle in the country.

Some employees at TikTok’s team in the UK said that they often have to work for over 12 hours a day. To have effective communication with the teams in China, many employees in the UK would need to start working early while they would need to work overtime in the evening since livestreaming shows generally have more audience in the evening. After performing livestreaming shows, employees are required to submit a feedback report immediately. Even after work, employees are required to respond to work requests as soon as possible. Employees that fail to respond to work messages in time might be named and shamed in the company.

“The corporate culture at TikTok is toxic,” a former director at TikTok’s London office said. “People’s relationship is not built on cooperation but rather fear. They don’t care about whether employees are tired or not because they can find replacements anytime.”

Joshua Ma will leave TikTok’s e-commerce team in the UK, according to a news report by the Financial Times. The company said that its company rules and policies will comply with local laws and regulations and that it would conduct an investigation into Ma.

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