25 billion software manufacturers, worried about year-end bonuses
Reporter|He Ji sent Yan Ziwei
Edit|Yan Ziwei
On January 8, in Xibeiwang, Haidian District, Yuan Zhenggang, chairman and president of Glodon, held an exchange meeting to communicate with employees face-to-face.
The location was originally set in the chairman's office, but due to the large number of people, it was temporarily changed to a large conference room. The seats filled up quickly, with some employees standing and listening, others huddled at the door to watch.
(The scene of the exchange meeting, photo provided by the interviewee)
Previously, a number of Glodon employees broke the news and received a verbal notice that the year-end performance of all employees was forced to clear zero.
The explanation given by Chairman Yuan Zhenggang is that the industry environment is not good, the goal is set high, and I hope that employees will understand. Qin Wei told the "21CBR" reporter, "At the meeting, the management said that a part (bonus) would be issued, but it was not mentioned at all who and how much it would be given." ”
Qin Wei revealed that on the afternoon of January 9, the company held a communication meeting again, which was changed to a 1-to-1 format, "not allowing everyone to communicate face-to-face together".
A person from the secretary office of the board of directors of Glodon replied to 21 reporters that the company will appropriately adjust the incentive according to the business situation, and will not deduct everyone's year-end bonus, but will still have a certain amount of distribution.
The storm arose
What makes Glodon employees feel aggrieved is that "the annual performance bonus is part of the salary package".
Qin Wei joined Glodon in 2023 as a senior software development engineer, and after becoming a regular employee, the total annual salary (before tax) is 163,000 yuan. Among them, the basic salary is 11,000 yuan/month, which is paid on the 10th of each month, and the annual performance bonus is 30,000 yuan, which is paid in a lump sum.
"Performance bonuses are issued according to the company's performance, organizational performance and individual performance appraisal. The letter of appointment he provided to the reporter shows.
Another employee explained that around 2021, the company reformed the salary system and split a part of the monthly salary into April of the following year.
"Optimize the correlation between incentives and performance, and implement the concept of pay for performance. Glodon explained the remuneration policy.
On the evening of January 6, Glodon issued an internal open letter, saying that it would motivate employees accordingly according to the performance results, and at the same time, in order to take responsibility for the overall business results, the annual bonus of the management team was zero.
"The general direction is definitely to reduce costs and increase efficiency, but in the future, we will continue to invest. What we can do is to do a good job in the business, open source and open source, reduce expenditure, and tap the potential. Glodon's secretary of the board of directors explained.
At the end of 2022, the company had more than 10,000 employees.
This year, the total compensation of its employees was 3.91 billion yuan, accounting for the majority of operating costs. "Profits are sensitive to changes in employee compensation. It said in its financial report.
Rumors of "layoffs" fermented simultaneously. "At this stage, it may not be a bad thing to get a 'gift package' to leave the company and receive N+1 compensation. Qin Wei has heard the news and has not yet received a specific notice.
Regarding the rumors, the "21CBR" reporter asked Glodon, and the company's relevant people said that the rumors are untrue, and the company is adjusting and implementing the annual incentive policy according to the operating situation and development needs, which will take a certain amount of time.
Rising costs
According to the open letter, the root cause of the turmoil is that the business in 2023 did not meet expectations.
From January to September, Glodon's revenue was 4.75 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7%, and its net profit was 260 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 59%.
This progress is far from the target set by management.
According to the original plan, in 2023, Glodon's revenue and profit will both maintain a year-on-year growth of 30%, and at the same time, the scale of the organization will not be expanded, and it will be the same as in 2022.
"The company's estimates for the external environment, revenue and profit targets are relatively optimistic. The open letter states.
The profit decline is obvious, and the management attributes it to the high growth rate of costs and expenses, and the core lies in people.
"Last year, the number of employees increased a lot, and the labor cost increased by 499 million yuan year-on-year. At the third quarter performance communication meeting, Li Shujian, senior vice president and secretary of the board of directors of Glodon, said.
If the year-end bonus of all employees is cleared, a huge amount of expenditure will be saved.
In the eyes of some employees, decisions related to performance bonuses are related to whether the ban on executive stock can be lifted.
According to the announcement disclosed by Glodon in August 2022, the company granted 7,759,500 restricted shares to 417 members of the management team and core backbone personnel at a price of 25.04 yuan per share.
The assessment year of the incentive plan is three fiscal years from 2022 to 2024, and the assessment targets are: net profit of not less than 950 million yuan in 2022, net profit of not less than 1.25 billion yuan in 2023, and net profit of no less than 1.56 billion yuan in 2024.
As of the close of trading on January 9, the company's market value has shrunk sharply, only 25 billion yuan, and the price per share is 15 yuan.
In the first three quarters of 2023, the net profit will only be 262 million yuan, which is a big gap from the assessment indicators.
However, according to Glodon's latest adjustment, the profit target unlocked by employees is 1.25 billion yuan.
Shaozhuang took over
Yuan Zhenggang took over as chairman, but only half a year.
In 2023, Diao Zhizhong, the 60-year-old actual controller of Glodon, will step back and hand over the post of chairman to Yuan Zhenggang, who was born in the 70s, while continuing to serve as the company's strategic development consultant.
Yuan has a doctorate degree and a technical background, and when he was president, he received an annual salary higher than Diao Zhizhong, who gave him full trust.
In this year-end bonus turmoil, according to Qin Wei, Diao Zhizhong did not give any response to employees.
少壮派上任，革新动作激进。
Yuan Zhenggang received the military order to double the revenue by 2025 compared with 2022. This means that he will lead the team to achieve a revenue of 13 billion yuan in three years.
Under his leadership, Glodon's organizational structure was adjusted, and the core logic changed greatly.
The original three BGs fought their own battles and had a low degree of coordination. At the beginning of 2023, the company will be newly adjusted to four major customer groups and 12 product lines of construction enterprises, design institutes, construction parties, and management parties.
The KPI assessment and incentive mechanism were adjusted synchronously, from the commission system to the target bonus responsibility system.
The effect of the change action of opening and closing did not meet expectations.
"The development of the business has been affected by the painful period of organizational restructuring. At the investor communication meeting two months ago, the management said frankly.
Due to the large amount of adjustment and running-in involved, there were a lot of detours.
For example, management mentioned, "In terms of customer base, the initial strategy is to hold high and push from the top down, and the effect is not ideal." Subsequently, the company adjusted its strategy and shifted to hierarchical alignment, distinguishing between project size and customer development stage.
In mid-2023, Yuan Zhenggang talked about business strategy, saying that "it will definitely not be conservative" and "if we remain unchanged or become slow, we will fall behind".
In the second half of 2023, there is a subtle change in management's attitude.
"Looking back, it can be further optimized in terms of timing and the centralized introduction of reform actions. ”
In late November, Glodon's management mentioned that it would be more cautious in its macro and industry forecasts, and at the same time, it would strictly control expenses, strengthen profit and cash flow assessments, and further optimize the structure of products, businesses and personnel.
What the company released is all signals of living a "tight life".
(Qin Wei is a pseudonym)