A team leader at Chinese tech giant Tencent who boasted on social media about receiving a year-end bonus of about 684 million won lost his job overnight, after being found to have leaked confidential company information.
According to Chinese IT news outlet IT Home (IT之家) on the 24th, Tencent recently fired a project team leader surnamed Ye from its WeChat Business Group (WXG) on charges of leaking confidential company information. Ye was subsequently placed on a blacklist and permanently barred from the company.
The incident began when Ye posted his year-end income statement on social media. The statement contained detailed records of his year-end bonus and stock grants.
The disclosed figures added up to about 3.17 million yuan (about 684 million won). This included a cash bonus of 820,000 yuan (about 177 million won) and stock incentives worth more than 2.35 million yuan (about 507.6 million won).
Ye was able to receive such a large bonus thanks to high performance ratings. He received the top grade twice in last year's performance evaluations. Tencent's performance evaluations are divided into three levels—outstanding, good, and insufficient—and the top grade of "outstanding" is reportedly awarded only to employees who rank in the top 10 to 20 percent within their team.
The year-end cash bonus Ye received reportedly amounted to about six months of his salary.
However, what drew the attention of local internet users more than the large bonus was the "watermark" stamped on the statement. When it became known that the disclosed photo contained a Tencent internal-use watermark, the matter escalated into a controversy over the leaking of company secrets.
Tencent determined that Ye had violated regulations on information security and the leaking of confidential information, and decided to fire him. The company also plans to announce specific disciplinary measures in a separate document regarding Ye's violation of regulations related to "management disciplinary action."
Tencent has recently been stepping up its crackdown on internal misconduct and information leaks. Tencent's internal investigation team detected more than 70 cases of rule violations last year and fired more than 90 people. Of these, more than 20 were confirmed to have committed crimes, and 30 were handed over to public security authorities for involvement in crimes.
