Alibaba layoffs, full of wind and rain in the city: eat two separate meals a day, and ride hailing drivers also leave work three hours early

Source of this article: Times Finance Author: Xu Xiaoqian YuchenSource: pixabayThe vast world has great potentialAt the entrance of No. 1 Alibaba Park in Hangzhou, a working employee comforted his friend who had "graduated early" next to him

Source of this article: Times Finance Author: Xu Xiaoqian Yuchen

Source: pixabay

The vast world has great potential

At the entrance of No. 1 Alibaba Park in Hangzhou, a working employee comforted his friend who had "graduated early" next to him.

On the afternoon of May 24th, Alibaba Park, which was at the center of the public opinion storm, was somewhat different from peacetime, with farewell scenes unfolding. Just the day before, it was revealed that a business department in Alibaba had started optimizing organizational positions and personnel, with an overall proportion of about 7%

At 5 pm, there is still one hour left before the end of work. A slender man walked out of the park gate with a suitcase, his white hair on his temples giving him a slightly changing look. With a black computer bag on his back, scattered books and a bag of cucumber flavored Le Shi potato chips were squeezed into another accompanying pocket.

Photo source of Alibaba employees leaving the park in a hurry: taken by Times Finance

Subsequently, some people walked out of the park carrying large and small bags. Their expressions were cold and their footsteps were hasty, staring at the approaching ride hailing service. No one turned back to look at the battlefield where they had fought before. Until dusk fell, luxury cars drove out of the park gates, shining brightly with their famous brands and roaring away.

As a technology talent factory, Alibaba carries the aspirations of most employees for a great future, but under the knife edge of organizational changes and cost reduction and efficiency improvement, some people's dreams suddenly come to an end.

The above-mentioned Alibaba Park was officially put into use last year, with a north-south road separating the headquarters building from the office building of the ecosystem enterprise. At the same time, an east-west pedestrian overpass connects the two areas. It is said that this symbolizes the smooth and unobstructed transmission and sharing of data throughout the entire park.

Alibaba's response to rumors of layoffs has been delayed. On the evening of May 25th, Alibaba Group announced on its official WeChat account that a total of 15000 new employees need to be recruited by the six major business groups in 2023, including over 3000 from schools.

However, the tense and uneasy atmosphere has spread throughout the internet industry. Many companies have lowered their recruitment budgets and closed recruitment positions after hearing the news, "a Hangzhou headhunter shared on social media.

The rumor of layoffs has landed, and high P is the hardest hit area

When layoffs were not yet widespread, Yanan, who had been working at Alibaba for a year, had already smelled the danger signal. "The list of layoffs was fixed a week ago," he said.

This is a storm like layoff that comes and goes quickly, leaving the target only one month at most. Most people will choose to retreat on the same day and take N+3 as a decent compensation. I often have two breakaway meals in a day, so there's no need to be particularly anxious. Most people accept it calmly, "an Alibaba employee told Times Finance.

A Group of Employees Leaving Yungu Park: Photographed by Times Finance

According to multiple Alibaba employees, the key target of this layoff is the high P group, and most low-level "small shrimp" are implicated.

The nearly 100 fresh graduates recruited last year were not included in the scope of layoffs, but some P8-P10 leaders in the project team have left one after another, and the corresponding layoff rates for each department are also different. Our group's layoff target should be 10%. "Yanan told Times Finance, and she faintly felt that this was a precursor to a major change in the middle level team of her business department.

Outsourcing team employees are accustomed to frequent departures from large factories. An Alibaba computer room maintenance employee revealed to Times Finance that the operation and maintenance personnel in the computer room change almost every three months.

Li Xiao is an employee of Taotian Group in Xixi Park. Within a week, she has received no less than 20 greetings from family and friends. She can only respond to the concern of her acquaintances by saying 'not as powerful as what the outside world has spread'.

Although Li Xiao's department still maintains a calm state, most employees are like frightened birds, worried that the gear of layoffs will quickly turn to themselves, so that in the dense meetings and tasks, she is in a state of dissociation. The central topic of private discussion has also become what the way out after layoffs is.

Even if we avoid this layoff, it is difficult to guarantee that we will be unscathed next time. Businesses that perform well must meet the layoff targets, and employees in other businesses with poor returns should also be able to escape. "Li Xiao told Times Finance that since last year, her department has experienced two major shocks, and gradually, she has had to accept the fact that" layoffs are normalized.

Since 2022, reducing costs and increasing efficiency have become the keynote of Alibaba's business development. Financial report data shows that Alibaba's personnel decreased by nearly 20000 in 2022. According to the latest data, the number of personnel decreased by 4524 again in the first quarter of 2023.

With the major adjustment of organizational structure, the uncertainty risks faced by employees have greatly increased.

Li Ming, who has been optimized recently, has been undergoing psychological construction for nearly three months. His business team is in an awkward position and it is difficult to clearly divide it into a specific business department. He admitted to Times Finance that "employees in the business fuzzy zone are the biggest victims of this structural adjustment

Unemployment of employees in large factories, causing disaster to the fish in the pond

In 2017, Taobao employee Wang Ping bravely retreated while the mobile internet was advancing rapidly.

He has experienced a golden period of development in the e-commerce industry. In his memory, the Alibaba headquarters park has always been a thriving appearance. Every day when he opens his eyes, a series of exciting numbers urge employees to work overtime: the constantly rising GMV, the strong growth of new customers, and the rapidly expanding number of employees.

It seems that every day there is continuous recruitment, endless creativity waiting to be discovered, and during personnel expansion, even two employees are squeezed to use a workstation. Wang Ping cannot forget the warm atmosphere of the park during the upward period. Whenever the Double 11 promotion arrives, the entire Xixi park is decorated with colorful spotlights, and record breaking transaction volumes are always accompanied by the constant sound of gongs and drums and surging cheers. What he did not expect was that, The once lively scenes have become history.

In 2021, the total transaction volume of Tmall Double 11 was fixed at 540.3 billion yuan, an increase of 8.45% compared to the same period in 2020, and the growth rate slowed down. In the second year, Alibaba no longer announced GMVs to the public and instead focused on business quality. According to public information, as of 2022, the number of consumers in Alibaba's Chinese market has exceeded 1 billion, approaching the ceiling of user growth.

The brightly lit nights in Xixi Park have supported the income of ride hailing driver Yang Fan for nearly a decade. In 2013, the war on ride hailing has not yet been ignited, and taxis are a common means of transportation for employees to commute. After 8 pm, an endless stream of vehicles rushes towards the entrance of Xixi Park.

According to Yang Fan's recollection, before the rise of the internet, no one was buying houses. Instead, they were buying taxis. At that time, a taxi could sell for 1 million yuan. "Even if we worked in two shifts, we conservatively estimated that we could earn 800 yuan a day, and over 20000 yuan in a month

When Internet companies started to reduce costs and increase efficiency, a series of subsidies that were once associated with overtime culture also gradually disappeared. In July 2021, many large factories, including Kwai, ByteDance and Meituan, announced the cancellation of big and small weeks. Then, housing subsidies, afternoon tea, taxi subsidies and other benefits were also severely reduced.

The rapid development of the peripheral ride hailing market has led to the widespread cancellation of taxi subsidies by Alibaba, which has "stepped on the brakes". According to multiple employees, Alibaba has been canceling taxi subsidies for over a year now and only provides a limited reimbursement of 800 yuan per month, which has led some employees who leave work early to turn to public transportation.

The decline in the budget of the large factory directly impacted Yang Fan's income, and the last batch of off work peak arrived at 9 pm. In another hour, the order volume near the park felt like stepping on the brake. Two or three years ago, there were still quite a few orders to pick up at two or three in the morning, but now at 10 o'clock, there are almost no orders to pick up

Yang Fan witnessed the ups and downs of Alibaba employees, defining himself as the "tree hole" of frustrated employees. Last November, there was a couple working in Alibaba who were both laid off after buying a house for six months... Recently, the Da Mo Academy has not been peaceful, and the entire autonomous driving business team has been laid off... "Yang Fan gushed about his experiences.

It is about 5 minutes' walk from Xixi Park and is a large residential area: Fuding Home, where most young Alibaba employees live. However, this is only their temporary foothold. According to the security guard at the entrance of Fuding Homestead, the tenant turnover rate here reached its peak in 2023. "Last year, there were many people living here, but this year, the number of residents has significantly decreased, and much less

Source of supporting facilities around Alibaba Xixi Park: Taken by Times Finance

As income rises, acquiring a house in the future technology city is often the goal of Alibaba employees. The Sunshine City Future YueMAX, Zhongnan Yuefu, and Dongyuanyin Future near Xixi Park form the "three brothers" of the Future Technology City. In the years of Alibaba's slimming down, the surrounding housing prices have experienced significant fluctuations.

According to the shell search, the Sunshine City Future Yue MAX is currently selling a total of 118 units, with mainstream listing prices ranging from 55000 yuan/square meter to 65000 yuan/square meter. At its peak, the overall average listing price of the community exceeded 70000 yuan/square meter.

Rebirth or stalling, internet giants at crossroads

After reducing costs and increasing efficiency throughout 2022, Alibaba has adopted the most direct approach - organizational slimming.

Since the beginning of this year, Alibaba has undergone the largest organizational change in history. On March 28th, Zhang Yong issued an open letter stating that Alibaba will launch an organizational change of "1+6+N". In addition, Alibaba's once proud central platform will be comprehensively downsized. According to "Later" reports, Alibaba's central platform was completely dismantled in mid May, with a team of over 10000 people at its peak.

Former employee Wu Fan has experienced the drawbacks caused by a large organization, and a problem requires countless internal tugs and consumption. Some high-level managers only want to guard one acre of land and do business that won't go wrong

In the past decade, major internet companies, including Alibaba, have provoked changes of all sizes. From ride hailing, group buying, mobile payments to sinking markets and community group buying, these companies are constantly transforming users' daily lives and expanding their business boundaries.

At the same time, the rapid expansion of the organization quietly arrived. From 2018 to 2020, the number of employees on Alibaba grew at a rate of 20000 per year; The ByteDance, which believes in miracles, has exceeded 100000 employees in just eight years; From 2016 to 2019, Tencent steadily expanded with an annual increase of 10000 people.

In my impression, as long as the company's top leader mentions that there will be no local investment, at least two teams will follow up on this business, and hundreds of people will participate, "said Wu Fan.

Undoubtedly, the ultimate result of the two major actions is personnel contraction. Multiple business sectors have plans to go public, so personnel organization adjustments are inevitable. It's not because the business has encountered difficulties. "A middle-level employee who resigned from the Dharma Institute speculated that after experiencing rapid personnel expansion, lightweight operation will become the norm for Alibaba's future development.

At the time when domestic internet companies are launching large-scale layoffs, major technology giants in the United States are also simultaneously experiencing a layoff storm. After Musk acquired Twitter, he launched a series of bold measures, reducing the number of employees from 7500 to only 1500; Recently, Meta completed its second round of layoffs with a total of approximately 21000 employees; Last November, Amazon established a long-term layoff target and laid off 27000 people within three months.

Internet managers seem to have tasted the sweetness of reducing costs and increasing efficiency. Recently, Musk predicted at the London Summit that Twitter could turn losses into profits as early as June. After a quarter reduction in personnel, Meta achieved a 3% revenue growth in the first quarter of 2023, with advertising growth returning and revenue reaching $28.101 billion.

The days of careful budgeting by big factories will continue for some time, and their attitude towards the wind has become much more cautious. After the concept of the metaverse cooled down, the arrival of the era of big models did not disrupt the situation, and some leading big factories have not even officially taken action. In addition, they almost unanimously chose to bring the group's CFO to the front desk, with Zhang Yong from Alibaba, Zhou Shouzi from TikTok, and Xu Ran from JD.com... earlier, the head of Weibo was also replaced by Wang Gaofei from a financial background.

Ten years ago, the managers of the internet were still people who really relied on business to fight. It can only be said that all major internet companies have reached a turning point in the need for refined operations

(The interviewees in the article are all pseudonyms.)

Disclaimer: The content of this article is sourced from the internet. The copyright of the text, images, and other materials belongs to the original author. The platform reprints the materials for the purpose of conveying more information. The content of the article is for reference and learning only, and should not be used for commercial purposes. If it infringes on your legitimate rights and interests, please contact us promptly and we will handle it as soon as possible! We respect copyright and are committed to protecting it. Thank you for sharing.(Email:[email protected])