TikTok employees quit after senior executive said he doesn’t believe in maternity leave
India Today
Joshua Ma, who heads e-commerce at TikTok Europe for ByteDance told London-based staffers this year that, as a “capitalist,” he “didn’t believe” companies should offer their employees maternity leave.
TikTok’s London office witnessed an onslaught of resignations over difficult work conditions. The mass resignations were reportedly triggered by a senior executive’s controversial remark about maternity leave. The senior executive reportedly said that he didn’t think firms should offer maternity leave to their employees. TikTok is now investigating the work conditions in its London office.
As per Financial Times, Joshua Ma, who heads e-commerce at TikTok Europe for ByteDance told London-based staffers this year that, as a “capitalist,” he “didn’t believe” companies should offer their employees maternity leave. Ma has now stepped back and will take some time off. He has also been replaced for the time being.
Joshua Ma had reportedly made the comment during a supper with staff earlier that he didn’t believe that the companies should offer maternity leave. The company sent an email to staff about Ma’s temporary exit. "We are investigating alleged statements and actions to determine whether there has been a breach of company policies,” a TikTok spokesperson told the newspaper. Notably, the Bytedance-owned short video platform has a clear maternity leave policy in the UK, which offers 30 weeks of paid leave.
The FT report also highlighted that TikTok’s new livestream shopping venture in the UK pushed employees towards the exit gate. Over 20 out of a 40-member team had left the job in the span of eight months since the service was announced.
The employees had complained about an aggressive culture against typical working practices in Britain. Some employees cited long working hours as the reason behind their resignation. They stated that they were expected to regularly work more than 12 hours a day.
The company did not entirely refute long working hour claims but said that the employees "may at times need to work hours that match customer use patterns.
"We aim to make this the exception rather than the norm, and support our team with flexible working hours, regular no-meeting times, and robust health and wellbeing offerings. TikTok Shop has only been operating in the UK for a few months, and we're investing rapidly in expanding the resources, structures and process to support a positive employee experience,” the spokesperson added.
