As one of the biggest e-commerce platforms in Southeast Asia, Shopee can be a very in-demand place to work at.
However, it looks like things may not exactly be going so smoothly over at the company, which is based in Singapore.
News of looming mass layoffs has made headlines in recent months, and it appears that multiple tech roles have been affected as well.
Recently, an engineer from China claimed that he had received a job offer from Shopee. However, he found out that they had rescinded it after he had already landed at Changi Airport.
The company is now reportedly offering compensation to those affected by the last-minute employment offer cancellations.
Taking to WeChat to share his plight, the man, who goes by the username ‘Lin Ge goes to Nanyang’, wrote that he was already at Changi Airport when he learned that Shopee had pulled his job offer.
He had even taken his wife and pet dog along with him.
Source: Weibo
Speaking to Jiemian News, Lin Ge said that this happened on 25 Aug.
He had just landed in Singapore and was lining up at immigration and customs when he received the unfortunate notice.
In his WeChat post, Lin Ge said that he had intended to document his new life in Singapore and share about algorithm technology.
However, his first entry on the social media site ended up being about unemployment, job-hunting, and how to negotiate compensation.
Lin Ge’s post soon went viral and inspired others to post their own experiences.
One user on the LinkedIn-like professional networking site Maimai said that Shopee also cancelled their offer three days before officially joining the company, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports.
Image courtesy of Shopee
Another person told Jiemian News that he was supposed to fly to Singapore on 28 Aug to begin his new job.
That changed when he got a call from Shopee HR on the afternoon of 25 Aug informing him that they had withdrawn the offer.
Responding to enquiries by The Straits Times (ST), a Shopee spokesperson confirmed that a number of roles are no longer available “due to adjustments to hiring plans on some tech teams”.
The rep added that they are working closely with the affected parties to offer support.
While Shopee did not provide any compensation details, a source revealed to SCMP that the company will be offering one month’s salary to those affected.
They will also cover other expenses such as flight tickets and hotel stays for those who came from overseas, ST adds.
According to Jiemian News, some people have apparently tried to get Shopee to pay them three months’ salary as compensation. Shopee HR said that they would “try [their] best”.
Learning that your job offer is no longer valid is already stressful and upsetting enough. However, it’s much worse when you’ve uprooted your entire life in preparation to start a new one in a completely different country.
Hopefully, Shopee does its best to provide adequate compensation for those who went through all the trouble to travel here.
We also wish those affected all the best in their upcoming job hunt — may they have better luck next time.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image courtesy of Shopee.
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