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We must let our "brothers" work with dignity, happiness and a sense of accomplishment.

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Text: Lujiu Finance

History is complex and simple. Its makeup may be dressed up by anyone, but the style of the times is essentially presented by people. Especially in the context of China's economic take-off through the development of technology companies, the entrepreneurs who run the company are the epitome of this era.

Their strategic decisions at the business level are not only to gain a firmer foothold in the business world and to earn a longer-term living, but also reflect their ambitions to improve the world and make people’s lives and work better. The people here are not just consumers, but also the company’s own employees.

In the current environment, even for employees of large companies, the opportunity to create personal wealth through options/stocks has been declining, but this does not affect entrepreneurs from sharing the results of corporate development with employees through various "soft and hard" experiences such as salary and working environment.

Being generous and supportive like Yu Minhong is one type, while improving employees' respect in the workplace like Liu Qiangdong and Yu Donglai is another type. In particular, Liu Qiangdong and Yu Donglai are more like preachers. After calling for "love and respect" for decades, they have also waited for batches of followers.

These followers firmly believe that although their favorite companies may not be the largest in the industry in terms of scale or market value, in a highly competitive and involutionary environment, companies want to seek a "positive cycle" at the operational level, which is closely related to the values ​​released internally - humane management, advocacy of dedication, kindness, love and freedom, and they can win the world if they get it.

Starting a business is difficult, and in addition to working hard in the market, more people have also seen the sincerity of entrepreneurs in constantly gathering resources and giving back to employees. Ensuring the basic welfare and dignity of employees, satisfying their yearning for a better life, and allowing goodwill to be expressed from the inside out, this is the greatest common denominator of corporate value.

Benefits of "Pleats"

Around 2000, when the wave of globalization slowly hit, European and American companies on the other side of the earth were stirring up the local trading markets. But their minds went far beyond that. In order to open up greater market opportunities, they kept taking flights between Europe, the United States and China to look for future stars such as China's Google and Amazon.

In order to quickly recruit outstanding talents and start business in China, the large foreign-funded enterprises that first entered China have offered high salaries. In addition, providing afternoon tea, paid annual leave, parent-child open days, etc. have also become fixed terms during recruitment.

This high-salary window period brought about by the country's economic opening lasted for about 10 years. After that, with the rise of a number of domestic Internet and technology companies, the high-salary halo defined by foreign-funded enterprises was also gradually eliminated in the context of the rapid growth of local enterprises.

In the early years, every large-scale recruitment by Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance was accompanied by a "war for talent", and offering salaries higher than the industry average was the norm. According to Bloomberg, in 2012, the average annual salary Alibaba gave to college graduates had reached 200,000 yuan, which was about 7 times the average annual income of urban workers in the mainland.

Although Huawei claims that it does not provide any in-kind benefits, as one of the first companies to implement universal employee stock ownership, it has always been known as a company that "pays high salaries to support its employees." One piece of evidence is that from 2013 to 2015, Huawei's salary package increased by 79% in total, and the average salary per person increased by 58%.

The leading companies are growing faster and faster. In order to attract and retain more talents, in addition to salary and benefits, basic infrastructure such as workstations, canteen conditions and employee dormitories are also practical. Even some considerations of employees' emotions and family life "worries" are taken into account.

For example, JD.com launched the housing welfare program as early as around 2012, where applicants could get up to 1 million yuan in interest-free housing loans - the average price of a house in Beijing that year was 20,700 yuan per square meter.

In mid-2017, at a ceremony to honor old employees, Liu Qiangdong announced that if any employee who had worked at the company for more than five years fell ill, the company would pay for any expenses that were not covered by insurance, no matter how much. In the previous year, Liu Qiangdong had given all employees who had worked at JD.com for more than five years a new iPhone 7 series phone.

In July this year, the new office building of JD.com's Beijing headquarters was put into use. When JD.com first moved to Yizhuang nine years ago, the per capita building area of ​​the office area doubled. This means that in addition to fixed workstations, each employee can enjoy more public areas including fitness, restaurants, commercial services, and childcare centers.

Compared with the "going to work on time" cognition of our grandparents and parents, the meticulous consideration of Internet companies for their employees has also made the requirements of "workplace" for generations to rise.

A large part of this naturally refers to income, including cash, five social insurances and one housing fund, project bonuses, and even options/stocks, etc.; and invisible benefits, such as workstations, dining, fitness, childcare, business and other physical environments, are also subtly influencing their employment choices.

The visible benefits and happiness hidden under the "folds" have reshaped the Chinese people's perception of the "workplace".

Choice or effort?

Whether it is Liu Qiangdong, Jack Ma, Yu Donglai or Zong Qinghou, if it is said that Chinese entrepreneurs each have their own powerful side in the business world, then when facing their employees, they have a soft side.

Yu Donglai is a typical representative.

Pang Donglai has implemented a rare Tuesday store closing in the retail industry, where people often bend down to pick up pennies. The working hours per employee per day do not exceed 7 hours, and the "employee grievance award" has been increased to more than 30,000 yuan. This is Yu Donglai's business philosophy: employees earn money to live a good life. For a company, caring for employees is the first priority, followed by caring for customers.

Liu Qiangdong, who is also "bending down to pick up coins", has a similar logic: only when the company is truly good to its employees can the employees serve their customers wholeheartedly.

In fact, from the perspective of employee composition, JD.com is not entirely an Internet company. Liu Qiangdong has more than 600,000 employees under him, with nearly 100,000 employees responsible for warehousing and 400,000 employees responsible for distribution. Employees call him "Dong Ge", and Dong Ge's emphasis on "brothers" is obvious to all.

JD delivery boys once became the most envied title in the express delivery industry. From being the first to distribute fans to express delivery stations to being the first to install air conditioners, some people jokingly said, "On hot summer days, delivery boys will go wherever the cold air is." Behind these actions, there is evidence of respect for work.

In comparison, facing such a large number of grassroots employees, social security expenses are a bit of a "headache" for any company. Liu Qiangdong was the first person to provide full social security for all employees. "If a company relies on deducting employees' five insurances and one fund, sacrificing the life-saving money of brothers after the age of 60, it is shameful money. No matter how much money is earned, I will feel guilty."

In order to provide a place for the "X drifters" to stay, JD.com has allocated a large sum of money for the construction of dormitories for its employees. However, in Liu Qiangdong's mind, dormitories are not just for sleeping, but also an independent and private space for employees to do their own things after work.

During a visit to the construction process of employee apartments in Suqian, Jiangsu, faced with the plan of 4-6 people per room, Liu Qiangdong said angrily, "I had always been talking about high-end single apartments, but after seeing the model room today, to be honest, I don't treat employees as human beings." He then demanded immediate rectification and implemented the plan of no more than 2 people per room, with each employee who has worked for more than three years having a separate room.

In 2023, JD invested 6.5 billion yuan to start the construction of "JD Youth City" opposite its headquarters. One year later, the first phase of the project has been capped. In the future, 4,000 apartments will be provided for newly graduated college students and young employees. These apartments are fully equipped with home appliances and furniture, and employees can move in with just their luggage. At the same time, they are also equipped with kindergartens, cinemas, basketball halls, swimming pools, and commercial streets.

In addition to the opening of the new headquarters office building mentioned above and the addition of more leisure, fitness and commercial service space, Shanghai Warehouse has begun planning to build a cinema in the multi-purpose hall of the training room, using a projector, and also plans to build a radio station to commend role models or announce happy events at home or wish birthdays to employees. The third phase of the "JD Smart City" project built in Suqian also provides customer service employees with sports stadiums and commercial complexes.

Today, as the "curl" continues to upgrade, the thoughts on these details are not so easy for employees to perceive, but it is undeniable that behind these, there is indeed an entrepreneur's most simple wish: to let the "brothers" work with dignity, happiness, and a sense of accomplishment.

From selecting a company to selecting an organization

Today, when more and more news reports about "post-00s are cleaning up the workplace" and "young people are difficult to manage", many people think that this may be a problem of organizational management. The fundamental reason is that when round after round of "industry dividends" are exhausted, companies need to stimulate employees' creativity through more scientific and humane management models.

This is also the reason why when people find a job that is relatively satisfactory in terms of salary, environment, atmosphere, etc., they will shout out from the bottom of their hearts, "I found the organization." Imperceptibly, the emotional value of employees has been gradually maximized.

For enterprises, if they want to build long-term competitiveness and strive to cross the cycle, they cannot do without the "support" of two groups of people:

Externally, we should return to the user-centric approach, change the idea of ​​treating users as traffic, and return to the direction of valuing and satisfying user needs.

For example, during the 618 shopping festival this year, e-commerce platforms such as JD.com cancelled pre-sale mechanisms and simplified preferential policies. The "deposit + final payment" model that users hated was finally abandoned by the market. In addition, more than 20,000 customer service representatives were arranged to handle user issues online around the clock. The threshold for free shipping was lowered, and free door-to-door returns and exchanges were provided, which maximized the "faster, better, cheaper" strategy.

Internally, at the employee level, on the one hand, we boost employees' fighting spirit, and on the other hand, we provide employees with adequate welfare benefits, enhance their sense of happiness in the workplace, and give them better advancement channels so that they have confidence in themselves and the company.

Here I would like to mention a few words about JD.com's purchasing and sales department. Starting from July 1 this year, the annual salary of this department will be increased from 16 salaries to 20 salaries within a year and a half, and there is no upper limit on performance incentives. More than 20,000 customer service staff have already completed an annual average salary increase of more than 30% in February. The care and kindness of the company for its employees are also transmitted to the consumer end in their daily work.

For a mature enterprise, the goodwill expressed in its organization and mechanism is probably more contagious than any quality. Whether it is GMV or DAU, the quantifiable commercial value is the echo sent to the market; while the unquantifiable goodwill is the highest standard for measuring the upper limit of value.

The progress of commercial civilization is a profound change in people. The fundamental benefits belong to people, and the powerful motivation also comes from people. The thinking of each generation on career planning is highly condensed in the context of the era of rapid development: at the beginning, it was uniform, and now it is a free choice based on different physical sensations. This is also an implicit expression of the historical torrent surging forward.

Details determine not only success or failure, but also people's hearts. The direction of the entrepreneur's blade is a test of the precise grasp of business trends and public sentiment. Only when these are done well can employees, investors and consumers have the confidence to talk to the company about the "future".