Pros
The occasional free t-shirt with slogans like ''always day one'', ''be candid and clear'' or ''be grounded and courageous'' and the regular company culture events where HR would ask us what these slogans actually mean and then have us collectively make a drawing to visualize the company slogans. The management likes to order sushi and their are free bananas so you don't starve during night shifts.
Cons
Contra The sort of feudal system where each manager has a manager all the way to the HQ in Beijing. The way managers just seem to care about their own power base and building their little empires. The favoritism of the management rewards the wrong people (the so-called ''top performers'') for the wrong reasons. They don't keep their word / make empty promises (about career perspectives and improvements that never happen). Arbeitsatmosphäre It's your worst nightmare. Nobody talks to anyone. Since only individual performance counts for the Chinese management and every minute, every mouse-click is tracked, the pressure is too high to join in casual conversation with your coworkers, but you can watch a never ending show of short videos instead. Vorgesetztenverhalten Disturbing and disgraceful. Absolute lack of leadership and even basic management skills, but good at delegating tasks to others and basically let them do most of the work. Mostly absent during hard times or when painful decisions to what remained of the team had been or had to be taken. People the supervision didn't like or didn't know how to deal with, were sidelined or fired. The higher management and HR just stood by, watched and did nothing as the initially highly motivated team died a slow, but certain death. Kollegenzusammenhalt I have never witnessed such a hostile and toxic working environment. The petty Machiavellian plots and schemes just never stop, the backstabbing goes on and on. People who are strong at self-promotion while ruthlessly downgrading their opponents thrive at this company. Because supervisors actively involve in this kind of behavior themselves, lend their ear to all the gossip and use it against people, they make this workplace a living hell. Interessante Aufgaben The development of the app has been stunning, yet the tasks carried out in the Berlin office are mundane and extremely monotonous. Watching over a 1000 short videos everyday in a dark office building slowly but certainly turns your brain into a mush and give you nightmares you cannot imagine. Kommunikation The higher management has still to acknowledge there actually exist cultural differences between Europe and China, especially when it comes to human relations, communication styles and dealing with conflicts. Any major decisions will basically be passed along the chain of command all the way to the bottom where you are left to deal with it. No protective shield, no constructive discussions: just do it or get lost. Umgang mit älteren Kollegen Most employees Bytedance hires are relatively young (23-35). Karriere / Weiterbildung The company doesn't care about your career interests, they only care about their own business needs. So far, I have never participated in any serious training or had a conversation with HR about my career perspectives. When you do your job and you do it well, they just want to keep you there, right where you are. Competent and qualified people know better and move on. Gehalt / Sozialleistungen The salary used to be above average, but it seems somewhere along the way they changed their mind about that and now new employees make much less. This has led to a ridiculous pay gap between people who actually perform the same job. Arbeitsbedingungen The office is situated at the Potsdamer Platz WeWork area. The building (not the office) offers quite a magnificent view on the Tiergarten. The IT equipment, tables and chairs are OK. The air quality in the office is bad, especially during the night and on weekends. Umwelt- / Sozialbewusstsein Bytedance doesn't mind to have flashy neon signs with the company's motto and flat screens with company propaganda wasting energy 24/7 and importing tons of cheap plastic marketing merchandise from China. Or fly in a tech guy from the USA to fix the internet. Work-Life-Balance When you work from 16 PM till 1 AM, there is no such thing as a Work-Life-Balance, doesn't matter which promises were made by the company's recruiters. Normal office hours are only to be enjoyed by the management and supervisors. If you do have two weeks of normal office hours, this will be presented to you as ''divine mercy'', although it will only help to further ruin your sleeping pattern and what is left of your health. (Don't mention home office. There is no such thing in China.) Image The company obviously pumps a lot of Renminbi in glistening marketing campaigns to promote their apps, there have been some scandals concerning their apps, but the reality underneath the surface and the truth about the company remain mostly hidden for the moment. If the CPC-loyal company wants te become a global success, it really has to broaden its (eastern) horizon and be cool (instead of another big data monopolist-wannabe).
