‘Overtime is unethical’: Chinese retail tycoon praised online for his attack on exploitative bosses in fiery ‘who gives you the right’ speech
- Supermarket magnate Yu Donglai receives widespread support on social media following speech slamming ‘long working hours’ culture
- Respected businessman pulls no punches as he lectures greedy bosses who do not respect the work-life balance of their employees
A mainland retail tycoon revered nationwide for his staff-friendly approach to business has been widely praised on social media for a speech that condemned exploitative bosses in China.
Speaking at the 2023 Supermarket China Week, which was held in mid-March, Yu Donglai, founder and chairman of the regional retail chain Pang Dong Lai in central China’s Henan province, upbraided Chinese bosses who preside over a culture of long working hours.
“Making staff work overtime is unethical and an expropriation of other people’s opportunities for growth,” said Yu.
He asked Chinese bosses: “Who gives you the right to deprive others of their time? How ignorant are you to feel proud of making others work hard? Do you know how shameless you are?”
Millions have viewed video clips of Yu’s speech on mainland social media platforms, with many people applauding his stance.
Among Yu’s trademark staffing policies is to ask all workers, including frontline employees, to work fewer than 40 hours a week and offer at least 30 days annual paid vacation.
This is nearly triple the country’s 11-day average vacation time, according to a study by market research company YouGov in 2015.
Pang Dong Lai also demands that its middle and higher-level managers take annual leave outside Henan for at least 20 days, to “feel the beauty of life”, and bans them from taking any work-related phone calls while on vacation.
The average monthly take-home salary of the company’s employees was 5,800 yuan (US$840) in 2022. By comparison, the average salary of retail workers in China was 3,566 yuan in 2019, according to China’s retail news outlet linkshop.com.
As well as salaries and bonuses, the company also offers a “grievance compensation” scheme which pays employees deemed to have been treated unfairly between 500 and 5,000 yuan.
The company is also famous for its international-standard customer service.
It established an “unconditional return” policy in 2000, long before China’s biggest online shopping platform, Taobao, made the service available in 2008.
When vegetable prices skyrocketed in China during the Covid-19 outbreak, the company announced it would sell all its vegetables at cost price.
Despite the fact that Pang Dong Lai has fewer than 20 stores in Xuchang and Xinxiang – two third-tier cities in Henan –28 years after Yu founded the brand, it is hailed by people across the country as “the ceiling of the Chinese retail industry”.
Speaking about the future of Pang Dong Lai, whose philosophy is “freedom and love”, Yu was crystal clear: “We don’t want to be big. We want our employees to have a healthy and relaxed life, so that the company will too.”
On social media, people left supportive comments under videos of Yu’s speech.
“Pang Dong Lai proves that a company can succeed without exploiting its employees,” one person said.
“If I had a boss like Yu, I promise I would not slack off at work,” said another.
“Isn’t it sad that a company became a benchmark just by observing the law?” a third said.
A graduate of China’s top Tsinghua University said on Zhihu: “I really enjoy watching Yu’s speeches. When employees dare not speak for themselves, his voice is precious.”
The comment struck a chord with many, who said they had difficulty finding a “normal” job that abided by labour laws and required them to work for only eight hours a day, five days a week.
Due to poor labour regulation practices in China, seeking compensation from companies that violate employees’ rights can be difficult.
In April, Legal Daily reported the case of an employee who had to go through a tortuous two-year process to sue her company for compensation for overtime work.
The woman, surnamed Li, said her employer required her to be on call to answer clients’ questions on WeChat and work overtime without pay for more than 500 hours in 20 months.
The Beijing Third Intermediate People’s Court eventually ruled that the company should compensate Li with 30,000 yuan (US$4,400).
Taobao is operated by Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post.
