China’s bid to lure overseas tech talent home hits a snag: the sector’s toxic work culture


China hopes to lure talent home amid a tech war with the US, but workers are being deterred by a worse work-life balance and more stressful workplaces    A 40-hour working week is still a distant dream for many tech workers in China, whom – at the same time – are considered old as soon as they reach age 35




China’s stressful work culture is proving an impediment to luring top tech talent home. Photo: EPA-EFE


After being caught up in a mass lay-off at Amazon in January, Canada-based software engineer Mark Liu boarded a flight back to his hometown in central China.

The 30-year-old decided to take a rest at home and spend some time with his parents and grandparents, while preparing to look for a new job. But he will not be looking in China.


Liu is still seeking opportunities in Canada, even though the current wave of tech lay-offs there shows no sign of ending.

“I still don’t consider returning to China to work for the time being,” said Liu, who moved to Canada in 2019.


In the past few months, as tech sector lay-offs intensified and China reopened its border after three years of zero-Covid policy, Chinese engineers based in the United States and Canada have been wondering whether to stay or go.


While China hopes to lure talent home amid a simmering tech war with the US, Chinese living overseas are being deterred by a worse work-life balance and a more stressful – even toxic – work culture.


Liu is one of them, though he does occasionally wonder if it is the right choice to stay over 9,000km from home just to escape endless overtime and oppressive management.

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2014, he joined a state-owned bank in Shanghai, where his boss told the team explicitly that their “compulsory” overtime hours should be 46 each month.

“If you don’t reach the 46-hour requirement, the boss will criticise you. And in the second year, it became 50 hours,” Liu said, adding the company also frequently required employees to attend seminars after work.


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