PR executive reportedly leaves China’s Baidu after comments glorifying overwork spark backlash

HONG KONG — A Baidu public relations executive has reportedly left the Chinese technology company after sparking public outrage over her comments perceived as glorifying a culture of overwork.

Baidu communications chief Qu Jing suggested in a series of videos that she didn’t care about her employees because she was “not their mother” and said she only cared about the bottom line . 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 saying Qu lacked empathy.

Chinese online media outlet 36Kr first reported Thursday evening that Qu had left his position at Baidu, citing unnamed sources. Internal systems showed that Qu was no longer with the company, according to a Baidu employee who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to provide that information to the media.

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

Qu said his 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.

His comments come at a time when many young Chinese are pushing back against a competitive culture and grueling work schedules.

Qu was also criticized for other comments she made in the series of short videos on Douyin that have since been deleted.

In the series, she threatened to ruin the careers of employees who sent hundreds of complaint letters against her to the office, ensuring they couldn’t find another job in the industry.

She also criticized an employee who refused to go on a 50-day business trip during the COVID-19 pandemic — a time when China severely limited travel and required weeks of quarantine for travelers.

“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 issue was also highlighted after the deaths of two employees of Chinese e-commerce platform Pinduoduo, one of whom collapsed suddenly in the street while returning home from work.

Jack Ma, co-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.