Samsung’s Note 7 explosion problems have led to rumors of a wide series of staff layoffs in China.
The Note 7 incident is not to be settled and ended with simply a product callback and customer compensation. The affair has set off a series of domino effects, with consequences felt far and wide.
One of these consequences is for Samsung’s staff in China, who are expected to witness a 20% layoff, Chinese online media The Paper reported on Sunday.
Although an official announcement from Samsung about laying off staff in China is absent, anxiety has already spread among the staff, as if the layoff has been confirmed.
The Paper quoted a few employee internal conversations, with employees saying that they were starting to look for jobs, while others talked about waiting for compensation.
Samsung staff said that recently they were swamped with work, having to deal with numerous Note 7 recall requests every single day. Now, they are worried about the layoff rumors.
A bigger question to be asked is, does this mean that Samsung is quitting the market in mainland China?
Early this September, Samsung announced that it would recall 2.5 million units of the Note 7 shipped globally, yet mainland China was not among the initial callback list.
It was not until 40 days later, when China’s quality management institute, the General Administration of Quality Supervision (AQSIQ), published the notice that Samsung was calling back the 190,000 units of Note 7 sold in mainland China.
Samsung currently has seven branches in China, covering 32 provinces, with tens of thousands of staff, according to public record.
The company’s Q3 2016 financial report shows a quarterly net profit decrease of 16.8% – a figure that does not portend well for employment stability.
(Top photo from Pixabay.com)