“They don’t care about burnout because it is such a big company, they can just replace you. Relationships there are built on fear, not co-operation,” a former London-based team leader said. Several employees went off sick with stress while some staff were removed from client accounts or demoted after taking leave. TikTok said employees sometimes have to work flexible hours that “match customer use patterns” and that it aims to make this the “exception, rather than the norm”. Images of employees working into the early hours of the morning were celebrated in internal communications as examples of “commitment”, while a handover in which an employee said they would work during their holiday was shared as an example of good practice. Rivals YouTube and Instagram are developing similar features in Europe, while TikTok’s rapid growth and popularity with younger users was recently cited by Facebook parent Meta as a threat to its business.Įcommerce team members in London said they were expected to frequently work more than 12 hours a day, starting early to accommodate calls with China and ending late as livestreams were more successful in the evening, with “feedback reports” to be filed immediately after. It is seeking to justify that valuation by expanding its ecommerce offering, using a model which has proved lucrative for Douyin, TikTok’s sister app in China. The company said it had a clear maternity leave policy in the UK, including 30 weeks of paid leave.īyteDance raised $5bn in December 2020 at a $180bn valuation, and revenues increased 111 per cent last year to $34bn, according to people familiar with the matter. The FT spoke to 10 former and current members of the London ecommerce department, talking on condition of anonymity. On Wednesday, TikTok sent an email to staff saying Ma had “stepped back” from his role while it conducted a formal investigation into the comment and other claims brought to the company by the Financial Times. Brands and influencers broadcast live on the social media app, selling products through a clickable orange basket on the screen. The feature is an effort to bring QVC-style shopping to British users. The visit by Ma was to check in on the launch of TikTok Shop in its first market outside Asia. “There are people leaving every week, it is like a game - every Monday we ask who has been fired, who has quit,” one current employee said. Two employees have been paid settlements over working conditions. At least 20 members of the London ecommerce team - around half of all its original staff - have left since TikTok Shop’s launch, while others say they are on the brink of quitting. The episode is emblematic of a broader clash within the ecommerce division.

Joshua Ma, a senior executive at China’s ByteDance - owner of the viral video app - and the head of ecommerce at TikTok Europe, outraged London-based staff at a dinner this year when he said that, as a “capitalist”, he “didn’t believe” companies should offer maternity leave.

Wednesday tik tok times