Recruiting in China

Dozens of employees from Baidu's (Nasdaq:BIDU) South China subsidiary stopped work and began protesting changes to their salaries in front of Guangzhou's Tianhe District Labor Bureau after negotiations with a Baidu manager failed, reports 163.com. Unnamed employees said they were made to sign a new salary agreement in late April without fully understanding it, and the subsidiary's sales department was required to sign off on new KPI metrics in March, the report said. The salary revision was carried out nationwide and accepted in Beijing and Shanghai, said a Baidu insider. Baidu did not comment on the news, the report said. Baidu Chief Operating Officer Ye Peng said the company had not experienced a strike and seemed unaware of the protest, according to the report.

The new salary system and KPI requirements, which employees described as "impossible to fulfill," became effective May 1 and may halve the salaries of most lower-level sales staff, said employees attending the protest. Management will also accept a large pay cut, they said. According to an unnamed mid-level manager, the changes will affect about 200 employees in Guangzhou and more than 1,000 in the entire South China region, including Shenzhen and Dongguan, said the report.

Ye Peng announced the dismissal of three mid-level managers in charge of sales and operation during his visit to the company's Guangzhou subsidiary on March 27.