Rebirth 2010: I taught Mr. Lei how to make a mobile phone

Chapter 842 The First Obedience Test on the Other Shore

"To my delight, many of our peers have already taken action."

We firmly believe that true corporate responsibility is not about making employees "hold on" in the face of adversity, nor is it about glorifying "suffering," but rather about showing the most basic respect for life.

Here, I appeal to my industry colleagues: Heaven may be ruthless, but people are compassionate. I earnestly request all entrepreneurs to prioritize the safety of their employees.

If business permits, we urge you to proactively implement remote work – this is by no means a slackening of efforts, but rather using technology and management to break down geographical limitations and allow work to proceed as usual;
If commuting to work is absolutely necessary, ensure commuting safety and provide comprehensive safeguards.

A company's value lies not only in its profitability, but also in its sense of responsibility to its employees and society.

The torrential rain will eventually stop, but the humanistic management philosophy should endure.

Let us work together to protect the safety of every worker.

Finally, I wish all my entrepreneur friends good health, and please be sure to stay away from heights and pay attention to safety.

Thanks!"

After the video was released, the comment section was harmonious, filled with positive feedback.

#ChenMo posts video in response to the call# made headlines and trending topics on his own media platform.

Fifteen minutes later, companies from across the Taiwan Strait, including Xiaomi, JD.com, ride-hailing services, Ele.me, and ByteDance, responded by officially announcing work-from-home notices.

Due to the special nature of its industry, Pang Donglai needs to safeguard people's livelihoods. Although it has mobilized all its employees to be on high alert, it has also launched comprehensive commuting support and additional subsidies.

Thirty minutes later, Baidu and Tencent followed suit, announcing that their employees in Beijing would start working from home.

One hour later, all of the dozens of companies invested in by Beyond followed suit.

This has drawn applause and praise from many netizens.

The video on Chen Mo's account has received over a million likes and tens of millions of views.

While the content of the work-from-home notices varied among companies, one phrase was remarkably consistent: "...All employees in Beijing are not allowed to come to work tomorrow!"

There was no "in principle" or "unnecessary," just a straightforward "not allowed."

This is a continuation of the content of the notice from the other side of the river, and it also indirectly demonstrates its own attitude.

They're both companies, but the difference lies in how they treat their employees.

"It is not scarcity that is a concern, but inequality." Fairness is always the goal that people pursue.

Chen Mo's video went viral online after being shared by netizens, because everyone knew that this was not the time to "mind one's own business".

The weather is unpredictable and full of uncertainty. This time, the torrential rain fell on the capital; who knows where it will strike next...

However, the majority of companies remain silent or have not issued any notices. "Should we go to work tomorrow?" has become a hot topic of discussion among Beijing's working class.

"Whatever, I've already sent the notification from the other side to our company group chat, so whatever!"

"Our boss is playing dead and not replying, assuming everyone will be wading through water to get to work tomorrow morning."

"If the company won't give us a holiday, I'll give myself one. I'm taking personal leave tomorrow, even if it means forfeiting tomorrow's salary!"

"I'm using the same energy I use to stare at my stock trading software to check the company group chat. Urgent! Why hasn't the notification been sent yet?"

"Our boss is really nice; he told us to be careful on our way to and from get off work tomorrow!"

"We won't take a holiday unless the Earth explodes!"

"What exactly is Chen Mo, this big Shabo Yi, trying to do?"

"You guys at Cross-Strait Home Care don't care about losing hundreds of millions a day, but I'm losing tens of thousands!"

"Pass down the notice: everyone in the company will work from home tomorrow!"

"Working from home is allowed? Everyone's being forced to take annual leave, except for new employees. And they won't deduct it from next year's pay in advance."

"This is moral blackmail! Who does Chen Mo think he is? There's no way he'd make me stop working for a day!"

That night, many business owners in Beijing cursed Chen Mo after seeing his video.

However, seeing that many companies have expressed their willingness to follow suit, those who were originally unwilling to stay at home had no choice but to comply with the situation and temporarily give up their insistence.

At midnight, a meticulous netizen compiled a list of internet companies employees working from home:

Working from home: B&B, Tencent, Baidu, Xiaomi, JD.com, SF Express, Ele.me, ride-hailing services, ByteDance, Microsoft.
Normal work hours: Meituan, Didi, iQiyi, Lenovo, 58.com, Guazi.
Unnotified: NetEase, Sohu, Huawei, TAL Education Group
Other: Alibaba. Alibaba is listed separately because of an internal employee's revelation: Alibaba did issue a notice, but the closing sentence, "In principle, attendance is not required unless absolutely necessary," immediately caused those Alibaba employees from prestigious universities in Beijing to have their "CPUs" overheat.

After reading it, they still don't know whether going to work tomorrow is 'necessary or not', or 'in principle or not'.

Only Alibaba's HR understands the subtext: employees who show up at the company after work tomorrow will have their year-end performance bonus increased at the discretion of the company; those who don't will most likely end up with a 325 (poor) score.

The rain kept falling.
All night long.

Early in the morning, Chen Mo turned on the TV, but turned it off in less than a minute, because he was a kind-hearted person and couldn't bear to see the suffering abroad.

For example, news such as forest fires breaking out, sustained high temperatures reaching nearly 50 degrees Celsius affecting hundreds of millions of people, and shooting incidents in some places causing casualties, etc.
Unexpectedly, before noon, the clouds cleared, the rain stopped, and the sun shone brightly, with only occasional showers in some localized areas.

Embarrassingly, he had just received a red alert that morning; it was as if fate was playing a cruel joke on him.

What's even more awkward is that since we had already notified employees to work from home, now that things have calmed down, should we recall them to work again?

Since he stepped forward to call for action, a large number of internet companies have responded. In Chen Mo's view, this has evolved into a large-scale industry compliance test initiated by the other side.

He believes that the other side will never change its policies overnight, and he also believes that the other side-affiliated companies will not.

What about the other companies? He's looking forward to seeing how things develop.

In fact, besides the above purpose and the trial run of normalized working from home, he also had another ulterior motive in making this appeal: to promote his own software, such as WeChat Work, which is suitable for working from home.

However, instead of openly advertising in the videos, he subtly incorporated elements from previous videos while simultaneously strengthening the promotion of WeChat for businesses.

When these bosses felt the many inconveniences brought about by their employees working from home, and with WeChat Work promoting itself with great fanfare, Chen Mo believed that these people, as long as they weren't blind or deaf, would make the right choice. Moreover, WeChat Work was currently offering free services in order to compete for market share.

The only downside was that "Rain Master" didn't want to work overtime and quit after just one night shift.

Anyway, there are still two or three years to go, and every year there will be several rainstorms in Beijing, so it will slowly build up.

After all, the next three years are what Chen Mo considers to be the period of explosive growth for WeChat Work, with scenarios such as online classes and remote meetings.
That afternoon, employees of several Beijing companies received temporary notices to return to work. This "giving hope only to shatter it" approach drew criticism and condemnation from netizens: the notices for working from home arrived late, but the notices for returning to work came faster than anyone else.

Ultimately, on this day, nearly one-third of the internet companies in Beijing, represented by Beyond, regardless of size, still adhered to the work-from-home policy.

Chen Mo received a list of investigation results. Looking at the statistics, he saw that some companies had used underhanded tricks to circumvent the policies.

He sighed, lamenting that there was still a long way to go.

After a night of torrential rain, the amount of rainfall was described by the media as "once in a century".

Chen Mo was somewhat surprised: he had rarely heard of "once in X years" before, but in recent years, it had become common to hear of "once in a century," giving him a fleeting illusion that "hundreds of years have passed in his life"...

Although Beijing is an ancient capital with a history of thousands of years, the core urban area was not greatly affected, but the surrounding villages still faced difficulties due to their relatively weak infrastructure.

Although it wasn't very serious, the company's sense of corporate responsibility wasn't just empty words. Together with Xiaomi, JD.com, Pangdonglai, and other companies, they donated a batch of supplies worth 100 million yuan.

Most of these supplies came from JD.com and Pangdonglai, and were purchased at cost price by companies such as Bi'an and Xiaomi, and then transported by SF Express.

The reason they didn't choose to spend money is because they all know perfectly well that if they did, less than a tenth of those funds would eventually turn into houses, handbags, and jewelry, contributing to GDP.
The torrential rain in mid-June became a special dividing line.

As early as the beginning of June, Alipay's advertisements were already ubiquitous in shopping malls, bus stops, subway stations, and residential elevators across the country...

Subsequently, some media outlets began to promote it:

Some financial media outlets have stated that Alipay's Huabei service lowers the threshold for credit consumption, allowing more young people and low-income groups to enjoy the convenience of short-term cash flow, which aligns with the concept of "financial inclusion."
Some media analysts believe that Alipay's micro-credit service boosts online consumption, especially during e-commerce festivals (such as Double 11), and has a positive effect on boosting sales for small and medium-sized businesses.

Some media outlets also emphasized its features such as "instant approval" and "no collateral required," praising its simplification of traditional credit processes by relying on the Alipay ecosystem and big data risk control.

Netizens overwhelmingly praised the service, with some sharing their experiences: when facing temporary financial difficulties (such as buying a gift for their girlfriend or going on a trip), Alipay provided emergency assistance, avoiding the embarrassment of borrowing money from relatives and friends.

Amidst the wave of public opinion surrounding "Youth is all about spending money," which focused on "dreams" and "free consumption," many netizens gradually accepted this "enjoy now, pay later" modern consumption concept that resonates with the lifestyles of young people.

After the torrential rains in Beijing, life is returning to normal.

A week later, in late June, people noticed a new batch of advertisements appearing on the streets and alleys:

"The construction foreman was surrounded by workers demanding their wages and kept explaining—Microloan reminds you: 'Consumption is fine, but don't let love turn into debt!'"

The herdsman hung up a video call with his sister via computer, looked at the three hundred sheep missing from the grassland outside, and sighed—Microloan reminds you: "You feel sorry for your sister, but no one cares about you!"

"In the early hours of the morning, a female employee still working overtime at the company looked at the bouquet of flowers she had bought on the corner of her desk and smiled bitterly—a microloan reminder: 'The flowers are beautiful, but they wither even faster!'"

The landlord had left the double bed outside, surrounded by luggage. The young couple sat on the bed, somewhat bewildered; their daydream had finally ended—a reminder from the microloan platform: "We're giving you a choice, but we urge you to wake up!"

(End of this chapter)