Dawn of Life

For Qu Liang, although Lin Yue always acted with utmost respect, having such a capable and ambitious subordinate always made him wary. However, after the departmental restructuring, he gave her a recruitment manager position, preventing her from handling core business, and she couldn't really do anything special. Moreover, her salary would be cut in half. Because of family pressure, she wouldn't quit without notice, but precisely because of this family pressure, she couldn't stay for long with such an income.

Just as Lin Yue found a job and was preparing to leave, the layoff project was completed. He didn't care how the project ultimately turned out; as long as she was in charge, the blame was hers while she was employed, and it would be hers even more so after she left. Qu Liang became increasingly excited, feeling he had truly played a winning hand in a game.

Shengxing's attitude was something he considered second in line, since the final battle would be between Shengxing and headquarters, and it wouldn't fall on his shoulders anyway.

Lin Yue sat in Qu Liang's office once again, and the sight of the old man's fleshy face gave her a headache.

She sat opposite Qu Liang, staring at his face, waiting for his performance. After a long while, Qu Liang slowly began to speak: "Lin Yue, the market environment is not good right now, and the headquarters and President Sheng have decided to carry out strategic layoffs. In order to ensure the smooth progress of this project, President Sheng and I discussed starting with our department to set an example..." Then, he repeated the arrangements of the human resources department and the layoffs in an unquestionable tone.

Lin Yue's hands, hidden under the table, were clenched into tight fists, and the veins on her forehead bulged with anger. After listening to Qu Liang's account, she quickly reached the same conclusion as Sheng Xing. However, she was even more furious than Sheng Xing, not only because it involved her own interests, but also because this man, in order to please headquarters and get rid of her, completely disregarded the company's survival and the lives of its employees.

Such a person, who lacks professional ethics and only knows how to climb up by stepping on the corpses of others, is despicable.

But despite her anger, she couldn't lash out on the spot, much less stand up and punch him in the face. She calmed herself and said, "Minister Qu, you just said that headquarters and President Sheng have already approved your strategic layoff plan, right? Since I'm the project manager in charge of this project, shouldn't I refine the implementation plan, outlining all the action plans and risks involved, and report them to you in advance before I implement it? After all, I'm just a recruitment manager, and I can't afford to take on the company's risks."

Lin Yue was too lazy to argue with him logically. He wanted to shift all the blame onto her, but she wouldn't let him. She'd listed the risks beforehand, and since he'd approved them, he had to take management responsibility. Sure enough, Qu Liang's face darkened. He straightened up from his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Lin Yue knew the importance of striking where it hurt most; her attack was precise. He couldn't possibly absolve himself of responsibility.

Qu Liang coughed twice, cleared his throat, and said, "Lin Yue, anything is possible with human effort. We certainly know this won't be easy. That's why we wanted someone like you, who is familiar with the team and has the ability, to take charge. The execution plan isn't important; the most important thing is execution. You should start by talking to the HRBP team; we'll discuss the other business departments in the second phase."

Lin Yue inwardly groaned. Qu Liang was indeed a master at shifting blame; with a simple "it's all up to human effort," he easily passed the buck back to her. Since it would ultimately be her fault if things didn't go well, she decided she'd better prepare properly and then got up to say goodbye to Qu Liang. As she reached the door, Qu Liang added in an uncompromising tone, "The Human Resources department will start this week, and we'll finish the discussions next week."

Lin Yue paused, but didn't turn around. This was the first time she had ignored him. Since her attempts to appease him by suppressing her emotions had failed, her silence today was her formal declaration of war against him.

She sat down at her desk and began analyzing the situation. One thing was certain: she still needed to contact Shengxing. She believed the current situation was definitely not what he wanted, and the fact that headquarters hadn't directly appointed a new CEO to replace him meant he still held leverage against them. Therefore, what she needed to do was provide him with tools to negotiate with headquarters.

The headquarters' demands were clear: first, to gain control; and second, to improve performance. In the first phase, they replaced all the senior executives in the company's management team with their own people, thus achieving their goal of consolidating power. The fact that the business departments were still managed by Shengxing indicated that they still expected Shengxing to perform well. However, this time, their attempt to integrate their own people into various teams through layoffs suggests that they are beginning to question Shengxing's business capabilities.

Of course, it's not time to completely give up yet. Otherwise, wouldn't it be easier to just bring in a VP to sideline Shengxing?

After clarifying her thoughts, she began writing a plan to improve efficiency. She didn't have much time left and had to complete the plan as soon as possible.

In the evenings, she would sit in her study writing proposals, while Xiaoyu would sit beside her doing his homework. Now, Xiaoyu could complete his homework entirely on his own.

Xiaoyu would occasionally peek over Lin Yue's computer screen, looking at the various pie charts, tree diagrams, tables, and text in the PPT with envy, pouting and saying, "Mom, you're so busy! I've had to rest so many times, why don't you take a break?"

Lin Yue gave him a loving kiss on his chubby little face and said, "Because Mommy wants to set a good example for you."

She and Gao Ming divorced on August 8, 2022, and today is April 8, 2023, a full eight months have passed. There are still four months left until the one-year agreement she made with Gao Ming and Liu Cuiying. Now that such a big change has occurred in the company, she must turn the situation around and stabilize her job.

During this time, Xiaoyu's eyes have become increasingly bright. So she really wants to advise women who are trapped in unhappy marriages because of their children not to drag their children down as scapegoats because they are not strong enough themselves.

Of course, for women to achieve true independence and strength, in addition to their own efforts, they also need a more favorable evaluation system and standards in society.

Considering all this, Lin Yue decisively deleted the entire optimization clause for female employees of marriageable and childbearing age from Qu Liang's plan. Although the country has introduced a series of policies to promote marriage and childbearing, such as extending marriage leave from 7 days to 15 days and maternity leave from 90 days to 150 days, this has put pressure on companies. In order to reduce this expense, companies have begun to exclude women of marriageable and childbearing age from recruitment, and then put them on the first list for layoffs.

Lin Yue understands that businesses are commercial organizations that prioritize costs and risks. However, in addition to commercial value, businesses also need to have their own social value, and as an HR professional and a woman, she must do her best to protect their rights.

At 11 p.m., she finally finished the "Improving Human Resources" plan. Qu Liang focused on "cost reduction," while she focused on "efficiency improvement." Qu Liang laid off all directors, citing the need to reduce reporting levels and lower salary expenses.

Lin Yue pointed out that improving decision-making efficiency doesn't mean reducing the number of decision-makers. Leaving aside the market sensitivity and capabilities of directors, risk management alone cannot be guaranteed. This is because managers are currently at the execution level; they can't be both players and referees. The losses from messing up a project far exceed a director's salary.

Another approach, targeting marriageable women and middle-aged individuals for layoffs to reduce company costs and risks, would, according to Lin Yue, bring even greater risks and costs. Furthermore, the underlying skill sets of men and women differ, and many positions within the company are better suited to women who are naturally more detail-oriented.

While female employees of marriageable age may face the risk of paid leave, this very fact can make them more tolerant and patient with their work. She cited examples of high-achieving individuals in key positions within the company, suggesting that layoffs based on this standard would hurt the feelings of all the female employees.

Finally, regarding HRBPs, it depends on the company's positioning of the HR department. She thought about it for a long time but couldn't find a good breakthrough. In eight months, Shengxing had completely mastered internal management and no longer needed to understand team information through them, nor did headquarters. As for the point that HRBPs could improve efficiency, it was difficult to provide data to support this claim. In the end, she could only suggest that they consider a job transfer.

The next day, she knocked on Shengxing's office door with the proposal in hand. Shengxing greeted her with a smile and said, "You're here." It was as if he had been waiting for her for a long time. Although reporting to someone above your level is a big taboo in the workplace, she couldn't worry about that anymore, thinking that she was about to be demoted and have her salary reduced, and even lose her job.