Yu Minhong chose the shrewdness and responsibility behind the live broadcast

On January 10, Yu Minhong, the founder of New Oriental, released a "year-end summary" in his personal public account, saying that in 2021, the market value of New Oriental fell by 90%, the operating income decreased by 80%, the employees were dismissed 60,000 people, and the cash expenditure such as tuition refund, employee dismissal N+1, and teaching point rent withdrawal was nearly 20 billion yuan. At present, there are still about 50,000 employees and teachers left by New Oriental. Their livelihood depends in part on New Oriental's current live streaming, as well as businesses such as the university student market and the overseas Chinese market.

Last month, Yu Minhong completed his live broadcast debut, and his pedantic and frank live broadcast style was well received, but it was not popular, with 1.869 million viewers and sales of 4.689 million yuan. In contrast, Luo Yonghao's debut was viewed by 47 million people and sales were 110 million yuan. The contrast is also reasonable. Yu Minhong's popularity is not the same type as Luo Yonghao, and its network traffic is definitely not as good as Luo Yonghao's. The selection principle of live broadcasting is actually very simple: low price, low selection cost, impulsive purchase. Yu Minhong did not follow this routine, and the unit price of the goods in his live broadcast room is generally not low, but it cannot be said that Yu Minhong does not understand live broadcasting. After all, this truth is too simple to be unaware.

So, why are Yu Minhong and New Oriental not in a hurry to achieve live broadcasting, and do not pursue a hit?

Choosing to enter the live broadcast, Yu Minhong said that Yu Minhong would continue to walk with the company's employees. Many people think that Yu Minhong does live broadcasting to make quick money. In fact, the head live broadcast is very profitable, just the feeling of survivor bias. Live broadcasting is no longer the initial stage of making quick money, and it is now very professional and highly divided. For example, the new role of trader has now emerged, helping stagnant anchors to strengthen their ability to operate traffic, live broadcast operations, and supply chains. The trader must control every link of the live broadcast, from the anchor to the sub-broadcast and operation, and must analyze and adjust at any time, which is equivalent to a director plus producer role. This role is so important that Kuaishou E-commerce in its "e-commerce service provider ecosystem 2.0" regards it as the "infrastructure" in the key layout of "one infrastructure, three focuses" in 2022.

To some extent, it is precisely because live broadcasting has these higher thresholds that New Oriental can exert its human resource advantages. The quality of practitioners in the education and training industry is not low, do live broadcast pay attention to emotion and communication, in this regard, teachers have better skills and experience, some teachers will become excellent anchors, other teachers will be pulled down, but can also be turned into planning, selection, traders.

Yu Minhong and New Oriental did live broadcasts, saying in a small way that it was to avoid a large amount of termination compensation. The labor cost of the education and training industry is very high. New Oriental also has about 50,000 employees, and with the monthly salary level of 8542 yuan in the whole industry, only the salary cost needs to pay at least 400-500 million yuan per month. Based on the high mobility of the education and training industry, it is estimated that the average time of each employee in New Oriental is one year, and the termination is calculated according to "1+1", which will cost 1 billion yuan.

When you have income from live streaming, you can pay your salary. But the salary is certainly not as much as before, and the unsuitable person will soon take the initiative to resign, and the company will save a severance payment. Avoiding direct termination is a reasonable choice, giving employees a buffer and letting employees go on their own. This is not immoral, but a rational choice in extraordinary circumstances.

But it can't be said that this is just a calculation, and there is also a responsible side.

Live broadcasting is actually not suitable for large companies, and the current teachers will really become popular and bigger in the future, and Yu Minhong will be difficult to control with a paper contract, just like the case of Li Ziqi and Wei Nian. However, what should be seen is that after entering the live broadcast industry, the teaching and training teachers suitable for this industry will quickly differentiate, suitable for being the anchor of the anchor, suitable for the trader of the trader, suitable for planning and planning, and the various positions required for live broadcasting can absorb a large number of New Oriental staff.

Therefore, the live broadcast of this road, for Yu Minhong, may not be a long-term plan, but this short-term choice is a beneficial solution for many parties: can enter quickly, the threshold is relatively low, can provide a large number of jobs, and in line with the human resources characteristics of New Oriental. Therefore, for New Oriental, entering the live broadcast is almost the only reasonable path under the constraints of multiple parties. As for Yu Minhong, he is more of a ride for employees.

This choice not only avoids the company from paying a lot of severance pay, but also gives employees an industry with a high ceiling and a lot of support opportunities. This choice is shrewd and ethical, responsible for shareholders and employees; there is wisdom and responsibility. Either way, Yu Minhong deserves blessings, not criticism. □ Liu Yuanju