Not long ago, the media reported that Alibaba completed the largest IPO in U.S. stock history, which may trigger a wave of employee resignations. One of the core reasons given in the article was that Alibaba had 10,000 employees sharing $20 billion, and all of these people would become millionaires. Although there is no shortage of exaggeration and the evidence is not rigorous at all, it is an indisputable fact that a large number of Alibaba employees have left, and this phenomenon had already appeared shortly before Alibaba's IPO.

Is Alibaba not good? Why do some people choose to leave?

According to incomplete statistics, before Alibaba went public, dozens of employees resigned every day, and most of them were middle-level employees. The reason is that as Alibaba moved toward internationalization, senior management tended to hire executives from other large enterprises, which to a certain extent cut off the promotion channels for old employees. In addition, Alibaba's listing allowed some middle-level employees to "promote" to millionaires or multi-millionaires with their stocks. A 9-to-5 life focused on KPI was no longer suitable for them. After all, everyone has an entrepreneurial heart. Compared with working for a big company, these new rich, holding capital and work experience, naturally prefer to realize their ambitions while they are young.

In addition, according to a survey, in order to boost performance for the IPO, Alibaba had increasingly burdened employees with heavier KPIs over the past six months or so, causing some employees to be overburdened. "Although the company does not require clocking in, the workload is there; I must complete it within a certain period of time, so working overtime is common, especially in the past six months," an Alibaba employee complained.

"Earning a five-figure monthly salary and working at Alibaba is the envy of many relatives and friends. But now I feel like I am doing the work of two or even three people alone. After overloaded work, the original 'Alibaba flavor' has also changed," another departing interviewee revealed the difficulties of many Alibaba employees. If he had not confided, who would have imagined the "hidden grievances behind the glory" of Alibaba employees that the media praised? Of course, this is also one of the reasons why some grassroots employees leave Alibaba. Now, with the "Alibaba" work experience, it is easy to double one's salary after leaving. Why not?

What do the middle-level employees who stay think?

People have different aspirations. Presumably these people are used to life in a big company. Starting a business and being the boss, doing everything themselves, is too tiring and risky. Being a 'screw' (small cog), as long as you complete your own share of work and leave other things to dedicated colleagues, isn't that more enjoyable? But some people don't think so: 'When capable people leave, our promotion space naturally becomes larger.' And a friend of mine familiar with Alibaba revealed that some old Alibaba employees have actually made up their minds to resign. The reason they haven't left yet is that they consider that after the listing, Alibaba may give employees a listing red packet (bonus). Naturally, it is not too late to leave after getting the red packet. He pointed out that not long ago, Alibaba's new business, Taodiandian, had allocated stocks to employees. One employee missed out on nearly a million yuan worth of stocks because he transferred to another department. It can be said that this is a lesson learned.

From this perspective, some Alibaba employees adopt a wait-and-see attitude. Their decision to stay or leave tests Alibaba's reward, punishment, and promotion systems.

What does the resignation wave bring?

Middle-level employees form the backbone of a company. There is no doubt that the massive loss of these employees can be fatal to any company, and Alibaba is no exception. Regarding the possible resignation wave after the listing, Jack Ma once declared that he would accept it with an open mind. Of course, being open-minded does not mean 'laissez-faire'. An unnamed Alibaba HR employee revealed that as early as when the IPO was announced, their department had thought about minimizing the turnover rate of key employees. To this end, they also talked with many middle-level managers to exchange information. In other words, Alibaba is prepared for employee turnover. However, he also admitted that the resignation wave did have a certain impact on the stability of Alibaba's organizational structure, and the smoothness of business execution in the short term would also decrease.

Conversely, for job seekers who want to join Alibaba, the resignation wave is good news. In order to fill the vacancies left by original positions, Alibaba will certainly need to bring in a batch of 'fresh blood'. In addition, according to surveys by relevant organizations, a large proportion of former Alibaba employees who left chose to start businesses in Hangzhou. There is no doubt that Hangzhou is becoming one of the hottest cities for domestic startup incubation.

Source: iresearch