SCMP: China’s bid to lure overseas tech talent home hits a snag: the sector’s toxic work culture

[kankan326]

Please tell us all about that hard currency China has?

GDP based on currency dominance will eventually be busted. China's GDP is based on manufacturing. Solid GDP

 

[nahtanbob]

When did I say China had a hard currency? I never denied that US dollar still enjoys global dominance, but you keep printing them limitlessly will eventually bring yourself a disaster, inflation is just a minor one to start with. Money speculation can never replace real growth and development.

Even if RMB was valuable what good is it for a non-Chinese citizen like me ?

 

[StraightEdge]

We are not concerned at all.

Out of this, you can completely ignore Japan and UK. They are done!

 

[大汉奸柳传志]

not many tech companies outside of China are in a hiring mood right now,

 

[Yaoudelizard]

There are 220 countries in the world

Do you even know what you’re responding to? Think before you respond to something.

 

[nahtanbob]

Do you even know what you’re responding to? Think before you respond to something.

a CCP bot explaining about thinking. how rich

 

[VCheng]

wet dreams again, the logistics nightmare of dealing with 20+ governments all with different laws, policies, economies, currencies, languages and cultures. Spread out across Asia with long supply chains with underdeveloped transportation infrastructure. Does America have their version of one belt one road to build the infrastructure to make it happen? If not it’s just a pipe dream. You can design something and have the prototyped and manufactured within a 2 hour drive in China. I find that Americans do a lot of talking and dreaming but when it comes to doing they often fall short, very similar to the Indians in that regard.

And yet, Altasia has now surpassed China in the volume of trade with USA, despite all those limitations, which will all slowly be improved as well with time. Please go on claiming the trade war with China is stupid and not helping USA.

 

[StraightEdge]

And yet, Altasia has now surpassed China in the volume of trade with USA, despite all those limitations, which will all slowly be improved as well with time. Please go on claiming the trade war with China is stupid and not helping USA.

China's trade with US is about 700 billion. China's trade with BRI countries is 2trillion+ and growing faster. So does that prove anything?

 

[VCheng]

China's trade with US is about 700 billion. China's trade with BRI countries is 2trillion+ and growing faster. So does that prove anything?

It only goes to show that the Great Divergence has begun. Those who are counting on a perceived dependence of USA on Chinese products are going to be disappointed, that is all.

 

[Yaoudelizard]

And yet, Altasia has now surpassed China in the volume of trade with USA, despite all those limitations, which will all slowly be improved as well with time. Please go on claiming the trade war with China is stupid and not helping USA.

the higher up the tech chain the harder the supply lines will be to maintain. Sure you can do it, it’s just going to cost you more money for less product. We know very well the US is willing to damage its own economy in an economic war against China. I’m am not so sure US will out last China with a self harming strategy in the long run. You’re inclined to be hopeful but I’m just logically thinking about the hurtles America faces. America will need their version of one belt one road to be competitive with China, so get investing and building if you still have the budget after Ukraine.

a CCP bot explaining about thinking. how rich

Of course you don’t and you’re still chiming in like and indiot.

 

[VCheng]

I’m am not so sure US will out last China with a self harming strategy in the long run.

Of course you are entitled to your views. But I obviously do not have the crystal ball that many others here seem to possess.

 

[Abdul Rehman Majeed]

‘You are a slave’: why China can’t lure home overseas tech talent

While China hopes to lure talent home amid a simmering tech war with the United States, Chinese living overseas are being deterred by a worse work-life balance and a more stressful – even toxic – work culture.

www.scmp.com

• China hopes to lure talent home amid a tech war with the US, but workers are being deterred by a worse work-life balance and more stressful workplaces
• A 40-hour working week is still a distant dream for many tech workers in China, who – at the same time – are considered old as soon as they reach age 35

China’s stressful work culture is proving an impediment to luring top tech talent home. Photo: EPA-EFE

After being caught up in a mass lay-off at Amazon in January, Canada-based software engineer Mark Liu boarded a flight back to his hometown in central China.
The 30-year-old decided to take a rest at home and spend some time with his parents and grandparents, while preparing to look for a new job. But he will not be looking in China.

Liu is still seeking opportunities in Canada, even though the current wave of tech lay-offs there shows no sign of ending.

“I still don’t consider returning to China to work for the time being,” said Liu, who moved to Canada in 2019.

In the past few months, as tech sector lay-offs intensified and China reopened its border after three years of zero-Covid policy, Chinese engineers based in the United States and Canada have been wondering whether to stay or go.

While China hopes to lure talent home amid a simmering tech war with the US, Chinese living overseas are being deterred by a worse work-life balance and a more stressful – even toxic – work culture.

Liu is one of them, though he does occasionally wonder if it is the right choice to stay over 9,000km from home just to escape endless overtime and oppressive management.

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2014, he joined a state-owned bank in Shanghai, where his boss told the team explicitly that their “compulsory” overtime hours should be 46 each month

“If you don’t reach the 46-hour requirement, the boss will criticise you. And in the second year, it became 50 hours,” Liu said, adding the company also frequently required employees to attend seminars after work.

“The company is trying its best to manipulate you, to restrain you and control you. It just feels that the company is not your partner and supporter, but rather you are a slave that gets paid.”

Chinese labour law stipulates that statutory working time is eight hours per day and 40 hours a week, but few employers adhere to it.

The average working week for Chinese employees was 47.9 hours as of December, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. By comparison, in January 2023, the average working week for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls in the United States was at 34.7 hours, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics said.

Chinese companies are well known for their hardcore work values, epitomised by the tech sector’s 996 culture, which refers to working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week.

While some tech companies have reduced their hours in the past two years amid fierce backlash on social media, 40 hours per week is still a distant dream for many tech workers, whom – at the same time – are considered old as soon as they reach the age of 35 and risk being deemed “redundant”.

On 1Point3Acres, an online community for Chinese tech workers overseas, posts comparing Chinese and American work cultures have sprang up regularly over the past few months, as many users are weighing up a return to China.
“Compared to the companies in the US, there is more office politics, less freedom in Chinese ones and talent is not valued,” one user said.

That could spell trouble for China, which is thirsty for tech talent, especially those with overseas research and work experience, as the country is facing heightened tech containment from the US and its allies.

China’s under-pressure semiconductor industry – from state-owned companies to private start-ups – are offering impressive pay packages to lure engineers.

A Chinese chip engineer based on the west coast of the US, who only gave his name as Neo, said he asked himself every day if should he return home.

“The answer is no,” he said. “The workload will be much bigger, but the pay may not be. So far I don’t know any young engineers who have chosen to return.”

Most returned home because they had hit the glass ceiling in the US and could secure a higher position at vice-president or executive level in a Chinese company.
“Usually they’ve already got a green card at that time, so they can either stay in China for a longer period if they want to, or go back to the US after some time,” he said.

The difference in work cultures is also an important consideration for Neo.
And as a new father, he usually attends the morning meeting in bed, before having breakfast, feeding the baby and walking the dog. Only then does he go into the office.

“I can’t imagine doing this if I go back to China,” he said. “And whenever a problem occurs here, everyone can focus on finding a solution rather than a culprit. No one competes with each other by staying in office for a longer time.”
Although Liu is happy in Canada for now, he has not ruled out returning to China in the future.

“Does anyone really want to stay far away from home, without parents, relatives and friends being around, and not being able to speak one’s mother tongue?” said Liu.
“I think everyone would want to go back to China if conditions allow, to help build their own country from a broader picture, or just to reunite with their family.”

Why can't China kidnap them into China like US did with with the Operation paperclip?

 

[beijingwalker]

It only goes to show that the Great Divergence has begun. Those who are counting on a perceived dependence of USA on Chinese products are going to be disappointed, that is all.

If US importers and consumers love to paid extra dollars for transit fee to Vietnam and other countreis, China got no problem with it.

many Chinese firms quickly shifted gears, supplying Vietnam and others for onward shipment to North America. In 2017, China accounted for 10.8 per cent of the US-imported content in Vietnam’s exports. By 2021, that figure nearly doubled to 20.3 per cent.

US bid to shift supply chains away from China ineffective: analysts

Bilateral trade has continued at a high level overall, especially in computers and farm equipment, despite tariffs begun in 2018, report finds

www.scmp.com

 

[VCheng]

If US importers and consumers love to paid extra dollars for transit fee to Vietnam and other countreis, China got no problem with it.

LOL. Our money, our choice. China has no say in this at all. Just as no one has any say in how China spends its money. Build more HSR please!

 

[beijingwalker]

LOL. Our money, our choice. China has no say in this at all. Just as no one has any say in how China spends its money. Build more HSR please!

If US doesn't say too much about other nations, the world will become a much better place.