The source | Tech Planet
| Xi Rui
Recently, Youzan was exposed to a large layoff. In the screenshots transmitted online, the work cards of the laid-off employees are everywhere, and the company's computers are also waiting in rows for recycling.
This time there are praises for layoffs, but also affected the newly signed school recruitment of fresh graduates. According to Tech Planet, youzan terminated his contract in March this year to recruit all the 2022 graduates recruited in the autumn of last year, involving products, research and development, operations and other positions. According to the agreement, Youzan compensates 5,000 yuan per person. In addition, the layoffs will continue.
Tech Planet verified the above news with Youzan on April 2, and as of press time, it has not received a reply.
In late March, the news of the layoffs of the Zanda general did not go away. According to The China Business Daily, some netizens said that the proportion of layoffs reached 50%, and there were rumors that the proportion of layoffs was 70%. On the pulse, there are netizens who claim to have praised employees who posted that they will lay off all the departments that do not make money. In this regard, Youzan replied that the scale of layoffs was exaggerated, and the actual adjustment ratio was about 20%.
Although the scale of terminated graduates is not as large as the scale of some praise and layoffs, in the Internet industry, "try not to dismiss fresh graduates" seems to be an industry tacit understanding.
A number of recent graduates who were terminated have revealed to Tech Planet that they will no longer regard Internet companies as the first choice for employment, but choose state-owned enterprises, teachers, manufacturing and other more stable directions, "The Internet industry may be a turning point from our session, at least we have seen the bubble here." ”
Young people are fleeing the internet industry, but the struggles of internet companies continue.
It is understood that Youzan will also make layoffs this year. On March 29, youzan CEO Bai Crow sent an internal letter to employees, and even included "the overall number of people outside the direct front-line sales to reduce by a certain percentage throughout the year" in the OKR in 2022.
For Youzan, the termination of the contract and the layoffs may be a step that "has to" be done in self-help. And these are just the beginning, and more changes need to be made.
Hoard fresh graduates with high salaries and "human design"
During last year's autumn recruitment, you praised the high-profile recruitment of young people and recruited fresh graduates in 2022.
Liu Chang, who got a praise offer in the autumn recruitment, told Tech Planet that in addition to Ali's Internet manufacturers in Hangzhou, the treatment provided by Youzan to technical positions such as products and research and development is the most attractive. "The monthly salary is basically 20K-26K, 14 salaries, and the year-end bonus for employees with outstanding performance will have two monthly salaries." This also means that as long as you step into the door of praise, you can achieve an annual income of 300,000 just after graduation.
Even if it is an operation post, the treatment given by Youzan is not low. Another Cao Lei, who successfully got a praise offer, revealed to Tech Planet that the monthly salary of the operation position is between 12K and 16K, which is also 14 salaries, and the performance is outstanding with an additional two monthly monthly salary year-end bonuses.
Attractive conditions are difficult for fresh graduates to be unmoved. In addition to the high salary, under the blessing of the aura of the Internet industry, Youzan itself has also become a rare local star enterprise in Hangzhou.
The successful listing in 2018 and the rapid growth after 2019 have made fresh graduates look at it. A number of college students in Hangzhou told Tech Planet that in Hangzhou, if you can't go to the Internet factory, it is a good choice to have a like.
Especially in the field of technology, Youzan has always been labeled as "valuing technology", and Youzan CEO Bai Crow once declared: "No software company in the world hoards talents and values products and technology like us." ”
This also made Youzan once known as hangzhou's "little Ali". "Because it is easier to jump from Youzan to Ali, and Youzan has really done a good job in technology," Liu Chang told Tech Planet.
The emphasis on technical talents, the atmosphere of Internet companies, and the treatment above the market average have made Youzan become "sought-after" in school recruitment.
There were 150 people who entered the initial interview with Liu Chang, and after three rounds of interviews a day, only 10 finally got the offer. Some fresh graduates also told Tech Planet that 60 fresh graduates, like him, swept the same person's internal push code to apply for product positions, and in the end, only one successfully got the offer.
At the beginning of September last year, Youzan began to send offers to the 2022 graduates. In order to be able to "retain" talents 100%, Youzan continues to increase the conditions: confirm the Offer as soon as possible, and fresh graduates who sign a tripartite employment agreement (students, schools, enterprises) can enjoy 1500 yuan of housing subsidies for a period of 6 months.
"Youzan sent me an email in November, confirming the offer within 4 days to enjoy the room allowance," Cao Lei told Tech Planet.
In the end, in order to take root in Hangzhou, for the sake of high salaries and professional atmosphere, fresh graduates did not have time to think more and chose to be praised.
At the moment of Offer's confirmation, they began to imagine their future after joining the company, and even considered how long it would take to own their own house in Hangzhou. When they thought they had an offer in hand, stopped looking at other school recruitment opportunities, and prepared their graduation thesis with peace of mind, they didn't know what awaited them in a few months.
Compensation of 5,000 yuan, a phone call to terminate the contract
In fact, when Youzan attracts fresh graduates with high salaries, a "crack" has appeared inside it.
White Crow mentioned in an internal letter that in the third quarter of last year, they had discovered the seriousness of the problem.
At the end of last year, there were small-scale layoffs. At that time, it was the peak of layoffs in Internet factories, and the praise that began to lay off employees seemed "insignificant". Especially for fresh graduates who are still immersed in the preparation of papers, they are even less aware of it.
After Liu Chang got the offer, he still maintained a high degree of attention to Youzan. In February, he found that although Youzan was already the head company in the field, it had been losing money, and news of Zam layoffs began to circulate on social platforms.
However, with a fluke mentality, Liu Chang did not choose to take the initiative to terminate the contract. "I don't think it's happening to me yet, and the favor of having a thumbs up does give a lot of money, and I haven't adjusted to face the huge salary gap." Liu Chang told Tech Planet.
In March, Youzan began to cancel the enrollment of the school in batches, which caught the fresh graduates off guard.
Cao Lei told Tech Planet that in early March, he was still communicating with Youzan HR about the internship time, but he did not expect to receive a call from HR again but it was a notice to terminate the contract.
Liu Chang, who was nervous, could not contact HR in March. "I originally wanted to ask which department I was assigned to, and I wanted to familiarize myself with the work content in advance," Liu Chang told Tech Planet, but HR did not reply to the message for half a month.
Until the middle of March, Liu Chang waited for the new HR termination call.
According to Tech Planet, Youzan terminated the contract for all the 2022 graduates recruited at the time of last autumn recruitment, including products, research and development, operations and other positions. According to the tripartite agreement, Youzan paid 5,000 yuan each to the dismissed graduates.
For Youzan, terminating the contract before entering the job is the lowest cost solution, but for the dismissed fresh graduates, missing the job search time window and other recruitment job opportunities are now in an extremely passive situation, about to graduate after two or three months, they may face "graduation and unemployment".
Liu Chang told Tech Planet that some of his classmates even gave up offers from NetEase, Huawei and other companies at that time and chose to praise, "I know some R& D masters, they have a lot of companies' offers on hand, they have given up", but now they are also terminated.
At the end of March, the spring recruitment has entered the end, and there are not many job opportunities to choose from. They once held multiple offers, but now they face being priced by unknown Internet companies.
"Now if the students who do not have an Offer on hand are actually quite panicked, the original position is not as much as the autumn recruitment, the quality is not so good, there are still two or three months to graduate, you are looking for it at this juncture, the small company will have a price-cutting behavior," Liu Chang told Tech Planet.
They are preparing to step into society, and they have already been taught a lesson by society. They have not even been able to get their badges and workstations before they have been "turned away".
Behind the layoffs: radical expansion and dependence on big platforms
Whether it is a layoff or a newly graduated graduate who has terminated his contract, it seems that it is a choice that must be made for Youzan.
After stepping on the industry outlet, Youzan became radical. This is intuitively reflected in the expansion of personnel, according to the financial report of Youzan, in two years, the number of employees of Youzan has expanded from 2941 in 2019 to 4494 in 2021, an increase of more than 1500 employees.
In the eyes of fresh graduates, the rapid expansion of employees before indicates that this is a company with "a lot of opportunities", and for Youzan, the rapid expansion has brought about a rapid rise in labor costs. In 2021, the expenditure of more than 4,000 employees reached 170 million yuan.
At that time, Youzan did not care about the cost, they were more concerned about the expansion of the product line. However, former employees of Youzan told Tech Planet that in addition to the Zamwei Mall, other business sectors have always been in a state of loss and investment.
The financial report also shows that the loss of Youzan is increasing. In 2021, Youzan lost about 3.293 billion yuan for the whole year, an increase of 503.5% year-on-year, which even exceeded the total loss from 2018 to 2020.
On March 29, Youzan CEO Bai Crow, in an internal letter on the occasion of the company's 2021 annual report, called 2021 the year in which youzan founded the biggest business challenges. The problem has always been there, but after the tide recedes, it is more thoroughly exposed.
In fact, Youzan provides tools, and merchants are still stuck in the stage of needing traffic. In addition, merchants without operational capabilities will not be able to experience the changes brought about by the tools.
"We make tools that meet demand, but merchants don't use them very well." Wang Wen, who previously worked in the Youzan channel department, told Tech Planet, "Perfect tools require a certain degree of operational capability. ”
"There are some likes that are a bit up and down, and large merchants need more customization, but this requires more labor costs." Small merchants don't have the ability to pay, and they don't need such a perfect tool, it only needs a very lightweight tool. Wang Wen said.
The drawbacks of Zan's dependence on large platforms have also been exposed. After the launch of free lightweight tools on platforms such as Tencent, WeChat, and Kuaishou, the basic needs of small and medium-sized businesses have been met, and they have no need to pay. According to Frost & Sullivan data, youzan's churn rate of paid merchants in 2020 reached a record high of 54.8%.
According to the 36Kr "Ten Mile Village" report, for most small B users, doing business in WeChat does not require too many complex functions. As long as it can meet the normal order transaction, the previous user did not have to choose, only a few platforms with likes and micro-stores. But since WeChat launched a small store, this has been a heavy blow to Youzan.
Wang Wen also told Tech Planet that the customer renewal rate before Youzan was good in the industry, but it was far from being profitable.
These problems, in fact, White Crow also indirectly admitted in the internal letter on March 29, he mentioned in the future plan, "in the future, after a certain scale, combined with data intelligence technology to provide more merchants with simpler and more inclusive products and services." ”
At the same time, White Crow also responded to the layoff rumors in an internal letter, "Next, we will fully run to the annual target of 500,000 per capita of all employees, and more than 3,000 likes will achieve positive cash flow together." According to the data disclosed in the financial report of Youzan, the number of employees in Youzan in 2021 is nearly 4500, which means that the scale of layoffs will be about 1500 people.
The white crow's frank attitude in this internal letter gave the employees a little comfort, and even some departing employees read the internal letter and said, "The internal letter is very thoroughly written."
Despite the layoffs, the employees who remained in the Zan section still have confidence in the company. In order to reduce costs and increase efficiency, White Crow even included "the overall number of people outside of direct front-line sales by a certain percentage throughout the year" in the OKR in 2022.
The challenge of having praise has only just begun.
(Note: The names in this article are pseudonyms.) ）