- Title: China's tech startups offer beds to employees working longer hours
- Date: 11th May 2016
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) HEAD OF KEY CLIENT DEPARTMENT OF BEIJING DOUMIYOUPIN TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO, LIU ZHANYU, SAYING: "In fact, as a member of Doumi, I think this (sleeping at work) is quite normal. As our boss always says, we are woken up by our ambitions, thus we won't feel tired. In terms of not being able to go home, the hardest part is that sometimes I can't see my child. Just like our boss, he usually has a video chat with his child every night, which makes me feel sad. But I think men should take some responsibilities and make achievements at work." BUNK BEDS IN ROOM LIU AND HIS COLLEAGUE STANDING UP AND LEAVING DESK LIU AND HIS COLLEAGUE WALKING OUT OF BEDROOM PEOPLE WALKING IN CORRIDOR SIGN READING (Chinese and English): "TOILET"/ PEOPLE WALKING INTO TOILET LIU'S HAND TURNING ON TAP/ WATER FILLING UP CUP BEING HELD BY LIU MIRROR REFLECTING LIU BRUSHING TEETH PEOPLE WASHING CUP BEING PLACED ON TABLE PEOPLE GETTING INTO BEDS LIU TAKING OFF TROUSERS / HANDS PUTTING CLOTHES ON TABLE MAN SWITCHING OFF LIGHTS OUTSIDE AND IN BEDROOM BEIJING, CHINA (MAY 4, 2016) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF GALAXY SOHO, WHERE THE OFFICE OF RENREN CREDIT MANAGEMENT IS LOCATED LIGHTS ON IN OFFICE, SEEN THROUGH WINDOW PEOPLE WORKING IN OFFICE OF RENREN CREDIT MANAGEMENT
- Embargoed: 26th May 2016 02:02
- Keywords: China startups tech startups sleeping workers employees work overnight
- Location: BEIJING, CHINA
- City: BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0034HD2DZ9
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Many of China's tech startups have started providing their employees with beds, making it possible to put in 14 to 16 hours of work a day and avoid a long, daily commute.
Some employees, like Liu Zhanyu who works for recruitment and human resources platform DouMiYouPin Technology Development Co., don't make it home from Monday through to Friday.
Liu stays overnight in a conference room that is now decked out with bunk beds, saving more than an hour from the office to his home in Beijing's far eastern suburbs.
"I think this (sleeping at work) is quite normal. As our boss always says, we are woken up by our ambitions, thus we won't feel tired," he said.
As head of the key client department, Liu rarely gets more than eight hours of sleep, generally retiring to the room shared with one or two others between midnight and 3 a.m. He has to use the sink to wash his extremities for lack of a shower or bath.
While workers say the potential payoff of working at a startup is worth the long hours, it isn't without a social cost.
"In terms of not being able to go home, the hardest part is that sometimes I can't see my child," Liu said. "But I think men should take some responsibilities and make achievements at work."
Renren Credit Management, an independent third-party credit assessment and credit management agency, provides its employees with fold-up beds during night.
The company's Chief Executive Wang Chen says the trend of sleeping in an office demonstrates China's diligence.
"Chinese people add a new dose of fighting spirit into entrepreneurial culture, disregarding individual achievement, devoting everything he possesses, just like what you said, letting his passion burn, and exerting himself for the dreams of his own and the team. I believe this is a special culture in Chinese startups," Wang said at about 11pm at night in his office in Beijing while surrounded by other employees still hard at work.
Elsewhere in the capital, cloud computing firm BaishanCloud's office has had 12 bunk beds installed in a secluded dark corner, as well as gym equipment and various forms of entertainment.
The company's Chief Marketing Officer Dai Xiang, 40, slept his way to the top. He got his start as a designer pulling 72-hour shifts at a machinery company, catching naps on the floor.
After a switch to the tech industry and roughly 15 years of intermittent late nights with naps on desks and other flat surfaces, Dai co-founded BaishanCloud last year.
"I believe in the future, brain work is surely the mainstream (in labour market). Brain work requires a good environment and personal feelings that can improve one's creativity, which cannot be achieved by working in a fixed place," Dai said.
Office workers sleeping on the job is a common sight in China, where inefficiency and a surplus of cheap labour can lead to downtime at work.
Business is booming in China's technology sector. Some mid-sized banks, including China Merchants Bank are investing into tech ventures, putting pressure on the startups to compete with each other.
Venture capital investments into China's technology startups more than doubled to $32.2 billion in 2015, with $4.7 billion of investments so far this year, according to research firm CB Insights. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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