
Tencent rolls out simplified employee rating system amid job cuts, other cost-saving measures
- The WeChat owner is simplifying its performance review system to a three-tiered ranking system and reducing the feedback process from twice to once per year
- Tencent has been introducing a number of new cost-saving measures and reducing headcount since first-quarter profit halved from 2021
The previously biannual employee and manager feedback process is also being reduced to just once per year, according to the letter.
Tencent makes it harder for employees to get pay rises
Promotion of employees from levels nine to 11, consisting mostly of senior engineers, will be decided by their own department heads, and the company is encouraging management to use a simpler assessment process. Employees ranked level 12 or above, usually management and core technical talent, will be nominated by their departments for promotion rather than submitting their own applications.
The changes in the personnel policies were first reported by Chinese media outlet Latepost on Thursday. Tencent declined to comment on the report.
China’s tech crackdown fans unemployment worries
As recently as March, Tencent’s total headcount was 116,200, up 3.1 per cent over December. The latest round of job cuts is expected to be reflected in the second-quarter earnings report.
In March, Tencent president Martin Lau Chi-ping said the company would exit or streamline some noncore businesses to control headcount, a point founder and CEO Pony Ma Huateng reiterated in an earnings call last month.
