China's Workplaces

[Randy W]

from the Sixth Tone

When Your Manager Is Inhuman

In Chinese workplaces, decisions are increasingly made by artificial intelligence-powered software.

A worker walks through a workshop in Dongguan, Guangdong province, 2015. Liu Xingzhe/People Visual

Quote

They laugh and joke, but fall silent once they enter the elevators to go upstairs. A young man in their midst tries to continue an inside joke, but is stopped by a colleague’s stern look.

“The elevator’s camera is connected to the OA (office automation) system, and has recording equipment,” whispers a senior engineer after stepping out of the elevator. “It was supposed to be confidential, but a buddy who used to work at human resources told me.”

The reason this group of people arrived at their architectural engineering company at close to midnight on a cold December night is also due to the same OA system. They didn’t come voluntarily, nor were they told to come by the company’s leadership.

“It’s the deadlines the system gave us,” says the senior engineer, who, like other interviewees in this story, requested anonymity. “It suddenly gave an action item on the 14th, requiring it to be completed by the 16th, so that’s why we have to scramble.” No person was involved in this decision, which the OA system issued directly to employees. A failure to complete the action item on time will mean the performance portion of an employee’s monthly salary “will be reduced by 30% or more,” the senior engineer says.

 . . .

In line with similar trends abroad, management software is increasingly taking over Chinese workplaces. The government, generally a believer in digital solutions, has even provided companies with subsidies to make the switch. Data from market research firm iResearch’s “2020 China Enterprise Procurement Digital Management Research White Paper” shows the Chinese market for digital management tools grew from 7.08 billion yuan (then $1 billion) in 2017 to 11.24 billion yuan in 2019, and it is expected to exceed 20 billion yuan by next year.

Companies normally use such software to monitor employees’ attendance, manage their workloads, and reduce management costs. But these systems rob employees of being able to take their own initiatives. There is often no recourse when they disagree with the system’s decisions. They can either do as they are told, or face salary deductions. With workers having only to answer to a computer system, human relations fray.

“Things we were familiar with are gradually becoming unfamiliar,” one white-collar worker laments.

 

Edited January 31, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)