Tencent to reserve one in five promotions for young talent to refresh managerial ranks
- Tencent is embarking on this quota system for promotions as it turns 20
Tencent Holdings, which turned 20 on Sunday, will ensure that at least one in five promotions each year go to younger talent in a bid to refresh its managerial ranks and maintain dynamism within the social media-to-gaming giant.
The 20 per cent quota will be compulsory and managers will be assessed on their ability to discover and groom young talent, Tencent president Martin Lau Chi-ping said on Friday at a town hall meeting with employees, a company tradition that forms part of its anniversary celebrations.
To ensure there is mobility, a certain percentage of managers will be moved down to make room for “rising stars” each year, he said, without elaborating on what is considered “young”.
How Pony Ma went from Halley’s Comet to building Tencent
While companies globally have used quotas as a way to ensure diversity in hiring or representation on boards, the practice of reserving promotions for young employees is relatively rare in China, where seniority-based employment practices are still prevalent, though less so in the tech industry where younger employees often have an edge over their older peers in embracing the newest technologies and trends.
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi said in September that the firm would undergo an internal restructuring to strengthen its different functions and help develop younger talent.
Tencent should focus on “things we can do but others cannot” when it comes to the integration of the consumer and industrial internet, Pony Ma Huateng, co-founder, chairman and chief executive of Tencent, said at the meeting last week.