Residents in Shanghai shop at an outlet Hema Fresh, a grocery chain store backed by Alibaba. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
Cheng Li, a 47-year-old Shenzhen waitress, had never thought she could be out of work during the just-ended Spring Festival holiday — a traditional peak season for the catering business.
Her employer, Tanyu — a grilled fish chain restaurant — was forced to suspend operations on Jan 27, the third day in the Year of the Rat, as the novel coronavirus epidemic continued to bite.
This (shared staff model) could become a trend even after the epidemic is over because it’s an efficient solution for an unbalanced labor demand during seasonal variations.
Liu Chang,
a consultant at Compensation and Benefits and Human Resource Shared Service
Fortunately, Cheng’s spirits got a lift when the restaurant manager informed her about a job opportunity at a supermarket run by Walmart — the US retail giant that has more than 400 retail and wholesale stores in some 170 cities across the Chinese mainland.
“I’m very glad to hear that because I can have some work again to help support my family,” she said.
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Cheng and three of her restaurant colleagues started working at Walmart China on Feb 11. They’re paid on an hourly basis and provided with personal protective equipment. Asked when she expects to return to her restaurant, Cheng said she hopes it would be soon.
To thwart the spread of the disease, many employees across the nation have been advised to work from home, leading to plummeting businesses for eateries, brick-and-mortar stores, as well as car-hailing service providers, but booming orders for e-commerce platforms, delivery firms and supermarkets.
Against such a trend, a new “shared staff” employment model is gaining traction on the heels of the popularity of shared cars, apartments and power banks.
The “shared staff” concept is designed to strike a balance in the workforce by recruiting idle employees on a temporary basis for companies hit by the current acute labor shortage. The model has won applause from retailers and caters, but industry experts are split over its sustainability.
So far, more than a dozen enterprises, including Walmart, Alibaba, JD Logistics, delivery firm Dada Group and fresh food provider Meicai, have jumped on the trend, while thousands of workers from the catering, movie, taxi and retail sectors have applied for these temporary jobs.
More than 3,000 of employees affected by the virus outbreak had started working at Walmart China stores across the country as of Thursday, but the retail chain is still short of manpower.
Hema Fresh, a produce chain backed by Alibaba, has taken in about 2,700 employees from 30 some companies to man its supermarket stores and delivery system.
The firm says online orders have gone up sharply during the epidemic, but it’s still short of more than 10,000 workers nationwide.
Hu Qiugen, general manager of operations at Hema Fresh, believes it spells an opportunity to team up with various industry players and explore novel services for mutual benefit.
“Many new customers enjoy the convenience of online supermarket shopping amid the epidemic, and we’ll strongly push for the integration of online and offline operations,” he said.
Hema Fresh has said it plans to recruit 30,000 new employees and open up 100 new stores this year.
Jia Guolong, head of Xibei, a top chain restaurant, said, however, their current cash flow is just enough for three months of operations, and more than 20,000 employees are waiting to resume work.
Liu Chang, a consultant at Compensation and Benefits and Human Resource Shared Service, explained that under the “shared staff” model, an employer offering a principal contract to such a category of workers should pay for their social security, and “shared work” can be regarded as extra remuneration.
He said this could become a trend even after the epidemic is over because it’s an efficient solution for an unbalanced labor demand during seasonal variations.
In comparison, part-time work is an assignment offered to an employee when he or she is out of work, he explained. But, the innovative value of “shared staff” is an employer changing from passive to proactive, and the relationship is not simply between employers and employees, but also among different employers.
Liu urged government departments to introduce regulations on how to handle contract disputes, work injuries and other problems under this new type of employment.
However, the model has failed to curry favor with all restaurant owners.
Gao Defu, founder of Xijiade, a dumpling chain in China, is against the idea. “In such a crucial time, we need to try our best to keep all employees and avoid talent outflow.”
His group has been severely hit by the outbreak, with only three of its 580 stores now in operation. According to Gao, Xijiade’s projected compound annual growth, previously set at 20 percent for this year, has been revised downward by 5 to 8 percent.
Gao also warned that while shifting payroll pressure could bring immediate benefits, it could lead to massive talent outflows in the entire industry.
Based on experience from the 2003 SARS epidemic, he said the key to survival is to conquer the virus together with employees and gradually resume business.
He’s confident the catering sector would boom again after the epidemic.
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Yang Daqing, a researcher at the China Society of Logistics, said there’s a similar employment model in the logistics industry — crowd-sourcing, a mainstream employment model among the country’s delivery firms.
Under the management of a professional human research firm, a deliveryman could work for online take-out platforms during lunch and dinner time, and perform other distribution services at other times, he explained.
But he pointed out that such a model could be compromising the professionalism and stability of delivery services. Moreover, China’s delivery industry needs to expand investment to develop intelligent services and reform the labor intensive model, he said.
