On May 19, a senior graduate in Guangzhou said that he got the offer of Xiaopeng automobile through school recruitment last year and signed an employment agreement. However, in May this year, the company's HR informed that because of business adjustment, it could not provide jobs and would compensate 5000 yuan as liquidated damages in accordance with the employment agreement.
The graduate said that there were more than 20 students who were dismissed like him. HR gave a variety of reasons, such as the school is not good, or it is not suitable, and so on.
Compared with these more than 20 people, Mao Liang is one of the fresh graduates who were terminated by Xiaopeng automobile earlier, and should have been one of the earlier batch of fresh graduates. He graduated from overseas institutions at the end of 2021. According to the bilateral agreement with Xiaopeng automobile, he should have joined the post after the Spring Festival this year.
But shortly after the Spring Festival, Xiaopeng auto HR told Mao Liang that the entry would be postponed.
From February to March, Mao Liang was immersed in the illusion of "delayed entry" of HR until the end of March. "Due to the adjustment of organizational structure, we have no suitable position for you, so we can only terminate the contract with you." HR said to him.
Coincidentally, the ideal car (NASDAQ: Li), also a new force in car making, was also released from the contract with fresh students in early May this year. Some media reported that on May 11, ideal automobile began to cancel the employment contracts of some 2022 graduates or transfer them, mainly involving three departments: product and enterprise system and sensor development in intelligent driving.
The reason for the public response to the termination of the contract with fresh students, whether Xiaopeng automobile or ideal automobile, is "business adjustment".
In this regard, Xiaopeng automobile responded that recently, due to the post adjustment and performance optimization of some departments, involving the adjustment of a small number of fresh graduates and relevant employees, it will continue to communicate and handle it properly.
Xiaopeng automobile said that with the rapid growth of intelligent automobile business, Xiaopeng automobile and ecological enterprises continue to increase talent and R & D investment. Since the beginning of 2021, more than 10000 new employees have been added, including about 1600 fresh graduates who have been employed and about 900 fresh graduates to be employed. They are expected to arrive in July this year.
Every graduation season seems to be the "most difficult employment season". According to the survey report on the employability of college students in 2022, the number of college graduates in 2022 is expected to be 10.76 million, an increase of 1.67 million year-on-year, and the scale exceeded 10 million for the first time. This does not include those returning graduates studying abroad.
Close to graduation, the employer terminated the contract, the epidemic has blocked the distance, and the anxiety has been infinitely amplified.
When the avalanche came, no snowflake was innocent. When did things go wrong? For Mao Liangs, it is the day when they are informed to postpone their entry or be dismissed; For auto companies, it is the epidemic in April, halved sales, the continuous rise in raw material prices and the shortage of chips.
"Entry is very slow and termination is very fast", and car companies are also tangled in recruiting
Just after the Spring Festival, Mao Liang looked for suitable houses in Guangzhou. Finally, he settled in Chengzhong Village near Xiaopeng automobile's Guangzhou headquarters, with a lease term of six months and a monthly rent of 2800 yuan.
When he received the notice of delayed entry, Mao Lianggang cleaned up his new home. "Unified wait until July." Xiao Peng's car HR finished on the other end of the phone. Mao Liang stared at the newly installed projection screen on the opposite wall and thought.
He doesn't understand. When he got the offer a few months ago, HR was still urging him to start in December 2021. Why not worry now?
Although puzzled and haunting, Mao Liang still had the worst plan to enter the job in July at the latest (however, he didn't realize that the worst thing was to be terminated at that time) and made the most positive efforts to communicate with HR whether he could enter the job as early as possible.
In fact, Mao Liang is also struggling to give up his current offer and look for a new job. At that time, he had no income, but the rent had to be paid on a monthly basis. If he continued to wait, he could only sit idle and eat nothing; But on second thought, Xiao Peng's salary is pretty good. Maybe he can do odd jobs first or ask his family to support him until July, "bitter before sweet".
However, the date of postponing his entry into the post was not determined for one day, and Mao Liang had no bottom in his heart for one day. In those long days, Mao Liang persisted with his savings, the support of his family and the belief that he would always be employed. Usually, he will find some part-time jobs to reduce the fixed cost of living such as rent.
In the repeated communication with Xiaopeng auto HR, Mao Liang realized that auto enterprises may be more tangled than him. "They didn't understand what they wanted me to do."
It's not as anxious as when issuing an offer. After HR received Mao Liang's early entry request, the progress depends on Mao Liang's initiative to urge. "Can you make it ahead of time and don't give me a happy word how long ahead of time? I asked from February to March. At the beginning, I said there would be a reply at the end of February. I delayed to March and said that I was going through the process and waiting for approval. In late March, I still said that I was in the process of approval, and I was sure I could start in April. The process is so slow. I don't think there is a shortage of people in their department." Mao Liang said to caijingqiche (ID: caijingqiche) .
In fact, he Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xiaopeng automobile, is also aware of the contradictions and entanglements in recruitment.
"Many of the challenges encountered last year were caused by the lack of management. How to maintain efficiency in fast running and avoid falling into chaos is an important problem to be solved by Xiaopeng." On the first day of March, he Xiaopeng told the media.
He Xiaopeng's words about maintaining efficiency are more interpreted as "working at any time and working immediately", but this is not friendly to Xiaobai, a fresh graduate with almost zero work experience. Therefore, job seekers like Mao Liang are the most likely to be abandoned by enterprises.
"Xiao Peng really said that he would terminate the contract if he terminated the contract. He would give compensation and terminate the offer." At the end of March, Mao Liang, who was taking a nap, was awakened by the termination call from HR and hung up. He sent this message to his good friend.
He was not in the mood to be angry, and he was not in the mood to think about how to win more compensation. Under his subconscious mind, "looking for a job is the most important."
"Since being told to terminate the contract, Xiaopeng's work efficiency has improved a lot." Mao Liang said that in the follow-up, his communication with HR was much smoother and faster. "Basically, he can give feedback the next day. Moreover, the other party is also very positive and proactive." In Mao Liang's own words, "entry is very slow and termination is very fast."
Not only fresh students, but also people who have just joined the company.
On the on-the-job social networking platform, some netizens said that they joined Xiaopeng automobile in late January and were laid off for the reason of "reducing cost and increasing efficiency" in less than a month. Another employee certified as Xiaopeng auto posted that he had been employed for less than a year and was interviewed and signed a resignation agreement in late February. "There are also many school recruits in the same department who have been laid off."
"Sequelae" of rapid expansion
How anxious were car companies to recruit last year? Just look at the increasing number of employees. According to the data recently released by pulse talent think tank, among the new economy industries with the largest number of new jobs in 2021, the new energy vehicle industry ranked second, with a year-on-year increase of 365%.
Take Wei Xiaoli, the three brothers of newly built cars, as an example, the number of employees in various car enterprises has doubled or tripled in the past year.
By the end of 2021, Weilai automobile (NYSE: NiO / 09866. HK / NiO) had 15204 employees, double the number at the end of 2020 (7763). Ideal auto employees increased from 4181 at the end of 2020 to 11901 at the end of 2021. You know, in 2018, ideal car had only 1593 employees. It has increased nearly tenfold in three years. By the end of 2021, the number of employees of Xiaopeng automobile had exceeded 13900, and the number was still 5084 by the end of 2020.
With the increase of personnel, the cost will naturally rise.
According to the financial report of ideal automobile, the total salary of employees in 2021 was 3.48 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 237%, and the per capita salary cost exceeded 290000 yuan.
Employee compensation is also reflected in R & D expenses and three expenses (sales, general and administrative expenses). According to the financial report of Xiaopeng automobile, the R & D investment in 2021 was 4.114 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 138.4%. The investment in three fees was 5.305 billion yuan, an increase of 81.7% year-on-year; The annual R & D expenses of Weilai in 2021 were 4.591.9 billion yuan, an increase of 84.6% over the previous year. Three fees invested 6.878 billion yuan, an increase of 74.9%.
For the increase in costs, Weilai automobile explained that it was mainly due to the increase in personnel costs for research and development functions and the increase in the design and development costs of new products and technologies; Increased personnel costs for sales and service functions, and increased costs related to the expansion of sales and service networks.
Science and technology are the primary productive forces and talents are the primary resources. Although the cost continues to rise and the loss gradually narrows, the "three brothers of car making" have not made positive profits so far.
When Mao Liang received the notice of delaying his entry into Xiaopeng automobile, caijingqiche (ID: caijingqiche) found that the Hong Kong stock price of Xiaopeng automobile had fluctuated and fallen for more than two months.
From October to December 2021, the share price of Xiaopeng automobile Hong Kong stock rose all the way, reaching a high of HK $218 / share in early December. However, it has fluctuated all the way since then. As of the closing on May 20, the share price of Xiaopeng automobile fell to HK $97.2 per share, and the market value shrank by more than HK $200 billion in half a year. At the same time, the shares of Xiaopeng automobile also fell 54.5%.
In April, Mao Liang received the termination compensation of Xiaopeng automobile, ending the long wait of 60 days.
On the other hand, Wang, who will be in Xiaopeng's car trial period for six months, also received a layoff notice in April. "When Xiao Peng's probation period was almost over, he was informed that there was a layoff quota in the Department, which fell on me."
Also in April, the ideal car began to be laid off. Some netizens on the job social platform said that the layoff plan of ideal automobile has been written into its CEO Li Xiang's OKR (objectives and key achievements) in the second quarter of this year. In May, the storm spread to fresh students.
On the evening of May 11, ideal automobile publicly responded that due to business adjustment, some posts were closed, involving the enrollment of some schools that have not joined this year. As for the proportion of school enrollment involved, ideal car said that it is not convenient to inform the specific number for the time being.
The day before the response, ideal automobile just released its first quarter financial report: in the first quarter of 2022, it achieved revenue of 9.56 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 167.5%, operating cash flow of 1.83 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 98.0%, and operating cash flow was positive for eight consecutive quarters; The cash reserve was 51.19 billion yuan.
In an interview with the media, a recruiter who once served the ideal car said that in the past year, under the excellent new energy market, the rapid expansion of the scale of the ideal car has brought problems of internal friction and low efficiency of some employees. He revealed that the main reason for this adjustment is that some employees can not match the requirements of organizational development, which is also the reason for the survival of the fittest according to working hours and performance. "Senior management wants the team and structure to be more efficient, so they sort it out."
At the end of last year and the beginning of this year, the confidence of auto enterprises is still. Just as Xiaopeng automobile HR comforted Mao Liang at the beginning of this year: "you can rest assured that we will not lay off staff because of the adjustment of organizational structure. We are still recruiting the next batch of fresh students."
The sword of Damocles that has not been hung
Like Mao Liang, who is anxious to find a job, car companies are also struggling with the continuous rise in raw material prices and the shortage of key parts such as chips. In addition, superimposed on the impact of the new round of Shanghai epidemic outbreak in March, the head of automobile enterprises is even greater. After all, Shanghai is the "main city" of the automobile industry chain in the Yangtze River Delta and the largest container port in China.
In the face of new injuries and old diseases, car companies should not only treat internal diseases, but also treat external diseases, but it is not easy to treat external diseases.
On April 14, he Xiaopeng publicly shouted that if Shanghai and surrounding supply chain enterprises could not resume work smoothly, all domestic vehicle factories would face the risk of shutdown in May.
Among the battery raw materials, the price of core raw materials rose from last year to this year. Take lithium carbonate as an example. In January 2021, the price of lithium carbonate was about 50000 yuan / ton. In January this year, it has been nearly 400000 yuan / ton, up nearly eight times in a year. Prices of rare metals such as nickel and cobalt also rose sharply. Although the price is no longer rising, it still hovers around 500000 yuan / ton.
As for when the shortage of chips will improve, even Bosch, the global auto parts giant, is not optimistic. Chen Yudong, President of Bosch, said: "the supply of chips in China will improve in the first half of this year, and there will still be a fundamental shortage of chips in the second half of this year."
In fact, many car companies thought they could carry it for a while, but no one thought the compromise would come so quickly.
Affected by the continuous rise in the price of raw materials for power batteries, nearly 20 new energy vehicle enterprises announced price increases in March, involving nearly 40 models.
On the evening of March 18, Xiaopeng automobile official announced that the price would rise from the 21st of the month, and the increase range of the price before the subsidy was 10100-20000 yuan. On the morning of March 23, ideal automobile announced that from April 1, the price of ideal one would be adjusted from the current 338000 yuan to 349800 yuan, an increase of 11800 yuan. Weilai, who previously said that it would not raise the price temporarily, also began to adjust the price in April. Tesla rose three times in a week, with a single increase of up to 20000 yuan.
Subsequently, Li Bin, chairman of Weilai automobile, publicly said that affected by the epidemic, the company's supply chain partners in Jilin, Shanghai, Jiangsu and other places have stopped production since March. Due to the above reasons, the delivery of vehicles of many users will be delayed recently. At the same time, the ideal of the new car originally planned to be released in April was also postponed due to the postponement of the Beijing auto show.
According to the data released by Weilai automobile, in April, it delivered 5074 new vehicles, ranking the fourth in the sales volume of new energy vehicles in the month, nearly doubling the sales volume of zero running vehicles (9087), which is the lowest monthly delivery volume since this year.
Not only Wei Lai, but also the halving of sales volume has become a true portrayal of the auto market in April. According to the data of China Automobile Association, China's automobile production and sales reached 1205000 and 1181000 respectively in April, with a month on month decrease of 46.2% and 47.1%, and a year-on-year decrease of 46.1% and 47.6%.
This result is not only caused by the pressure on the automobile production end, but also poured cold water on the already difficult automobile market.
The sword of Damocles is still hanging high, and the fate of those terminated individuals can only be carried by themselves. "The 22nd fresh student was terminated by Xiaopeng in May. He has missed the spring move. Now where else can he deliver it?" On the social platform of the workplace, a netizen named "the lost starfish is changing his resume" sent this post.
After talking about his experience, Mao Liang took another look at the school recruitment progress of "Wei Xiaoli": Xiaopeng automobile has stopped recruitment, Wei Lai automobile is recruiting 33 posts, and ideal automobile has 333 posts.
(the above respondents are pseudonyms)