Chapter 359 - The Annual Meeting’s Theme
Soon, the young man from the administrative department finished helping Wu Bin deal with various internal matters, including granting access to the intranet, creating an employee’s account for Wu Bin to access TPDb’s internal forum, and the like.
Wu Bin received his mouse from the young man.
Hmm…
The mouse, keyboard, and screen…
They were so comfortable!
Wu Bin had already been used to scrimping and saving and being thrifty in the office. Now that he had a computer like that, he could feel hot tears well up in his eyes. The thought of being able to use such a comfortable keyboard to type in the future excited him!
He turned to face Hao Yun and then hesitated for a while as he thought about whether he should go over and greet her.
Hao Yun was now in charge of the HR department. In better terms, she could be referred to as the ‘department head’. If that sounded too formal and stifling, he could also refer to her as ‘Big Sister Hao’ or ‘Big Sister Yun’.
At the very least, he had to refer to her as ‘Senior’, right?
However, Wu Bin was older than Hao Yun. He also had much more working experience than she did.
That was awkward.
Thus, Wu Bin was conflicted. He intended to wait and observe how other colleagues addressed her.
At last, he realized that everyone referred to one another by name.
Feeling confused, Wu Bin turned to the male colleague beside him to secretly ask about this.
“Do we refer to everyone by name in this department?”
The man had just returned from the snack area; he was holding a bag of chips and stuffing them in his mouth. After taking a sip of his coffee, he nodded and said, “That’s right.
“More accurately put, it’s not just our department. Every other department is the same.
“Those who are slightly closer would refer to one another as brother or sister.
“The most appropriate way to address everyone is by their names. Nobody would find it weird. In fact, they would find it weird if you address them by their rank.”
This piqued Wu Bin’s curiosity. “Is that true? Why is that?”
The man continued munching on his potato chips and shook his head. “I’m not sure either. I was not among Tengda’s first batch of employees. I only joined the company three or four months ago. The office environment at the time was already like that.
“Oh, that’s right. If you want snacks, just help yourself. There’s no limit.”
The man waved his potato chips in front of Wu Bin’s face, telling him that the latter was free to eat whatever snacks he wanted.
Wu Bin caught a whiff of the potato chips-it smelled good. However, since this was only his first day of work and he had not yet been offered tenure, he decided that getting snacks now would be inappropriate. Thus, he shook his head and said, “It’s alright; I’m not hungry.”
The man beside him suddenly thought of something else. “Oh, that’s right. The only exception is Boss Pei.
“Out of respect, nobody calls him by his
name.
“Of course, Boss Pei is quite an easygoing person. I don’t think he’ll get angry even if you refer to him by his name.
“It’s just that everyone respects him from the bottom of our hearts. That’s why we address him as ‘Boss Pei’. He’s the only one in the entire company.
“All in all, apart from Boss Pei, you can refer to anyone by their names without a problem.”
Wu Bin nodded in silence. It looked like he needed to learn about those internal practices from the old employees. Both of them engaged in casual conversation and introduced themselves.
Then, Wu Bin asked more about daily work matters, such as… whether the contents in the Employee’s Handbook were true or not.
The man pondered for a moment and replied, “Not entirely.”
Wu Bin nodded, understanding.
Indeed, most companies would hide their flaws and boast about their merits in their introductions. Of course, he could not say that was wrong. He could only say it was understandable.
The man beside him continued speaking. “Many things are not written in the handbook.
“There’s this best employee selection, which occurs twice a year? The winner gets a Dream Fund of a million yuan, and the second-best gets a month of paid leave.
“Then, the regular physical examinations and claimable medical expenses…
“In addition…”
The man began to explain all the other benefits of working in Tengda. Feeling like he had left some things out, he checked his resources and filled in the gaps. He had no choice; there were too many benefits to memorize.
Wu Bin was speechless.
He had thought that the man was going to reveal internal scoop left unwritten in the Employee’s Handbook, such as how much work they had to do in this company, how their salaries would be docked occasionally, and the like.
However, Wu Bin had completely misunderstood!
The Employee’s Handbook did not contain all the employee benefits available. There were still many more benefits that could not be written down because of the limited space.
Wu Bin was at a complete loss for words now. He began to wonder if he had been scammed and if this company was out to cheat him.
How could there be such good benefits?!
Yet, Tengda had a good reputation, and reality was staring him in the face. He had no other choice but to believe it!
After calming himself down, Wu Bin asked, “Brother, do you know what would be tested in the Tengda Spirit compatibility test?”
The man beside him finished the last of his chips and threw the empty bag into the trash can. Shaking his head, he said, “I’m not sure. Your batch of employees will be the first batch taking the test. I have never taken it before. The contents of the test have been a well-kept secret. I’ve only heard a bit of news about it.
“Boss Pei was the one who set all the questions. Apart from him, nobody has the authority to edit the test.
“Don’t worry. I don’t think it’ll be that difficult. I think it’ll be like the psychological tests that some schools organize-a mere formality. “As long as no huge problems are detected, it should be easy to pass it.”
At that point, Wu Bin heaved a sigh of relief. It was good that the test would be easy!
Alright, I’ll work with my heart filled with hope!
Wu Bin stood up, walked towards Li Yada, and asked for her to assign him some work.
Li Yada looked up and asked, “Work? Er… I can’t assign you work while you’re interning.
“What’s more, we have enough manpower for now. Your job would be to watch and learn. Try your best to pass the Tengda Spirit compatibility test on the first try so that you can be offered tenure soon.”
Beads of perspiration formed on his forehead as he returned to his seat.
This was the first time he had been given no work to do despite having taken the initiative to ask for some.
In the office…
“Boss Pei, the administrative department has come up with this plan for the company’s annual meeting. Please take a look.”
Pei Qian took the file from Assistant Xin and flipped through its contents. It was quite detailed. Right on top was a list of expenses for the annual meeting, as well as the proposed prizes.
A thousand gifts meant for everyone: a red packet containing a thousand yuan.
Three hundred 799-yuan earphones. Three hundred 899-yuan mechanical keyboards.
Two hundred random red packets containing five hundred to a thousand yuan.
Two hundred 1,299-yuan air purifiers.
Seventy 2,199-yuan sweeping robots. Eighty 3,599-yuan game machines.
Eighty 4,599-yuan tablet computers.
Forty each of Pineapple and Shenhua’s flagship cell phones, costing 5,699 yuan.
Seventy 5,999-yuan television sets.
Twenty 11,999-yuan digital cameras.
Ten 18,888-yuan cash gifts.
Three pairs of tickets to any city in the world (inclusive of the airplane tickets, accommodation in five-star hotels, and a spending allowance of thirty thousand yuan). All of those prizes added up to about four million yuan.
This was the most that the System would allow.
There were close to a thousand employees attending the annual meeting. Of course, most of these were Upwind Logistics’ delivery men.
Although those delivery men were manual laborers, Pei Qian did not look down upon them. That was because all of them were still considered Tengda’s employees. They did their jobs well by delivering parcels each day. Of course, they had to be invited to a special occasion like the company’s annual meeting.
At first, Pei Qian wanted to distribute more generous gifts to everyone, such as a flagship cell phone or something. However, considering the budget for all the gifts to be distributed at the annual meeting, that would mean the other gifts would have to be of less value.
That would make the lucky draw less exciting.
Thus, he could only distribute red packets containing a thousand yuan to everyone.
Still, there were about two to three hundred pieces of most gifts. The red packets aside, there were a total of 1,483 gifts to be distributed
Furthermore, a limit had been placed on the event’s lucky draw. Each person would not be allowed to win the same price twice, and they could only win a total of two different prizes at most.
Those who did not win any prizes in the beginning would have greater chances of winning later on.
In other words, even the unluckiest people would stand a chance to win something. People would neither return with a sudden windfall nor empty-handed.
Pei Qian was quite satisfied with these prizes. He continued reading further.
Next was the annual meeting’s program sheet, which included the live performances, food, and the like.
Chefs from Ming Yun Private Kitchen and Fish-Catching Take-Out would be invited to the hotel where the meeting would be held. They would cook for everyone. Ingredients would be prepared beforehand, and Lin Canrong would plan the menu.
All in all, there was no need to worry about the food.
Pei Qian cared most about the programs. Most annual meetings held by other companies could only be described using one word: awkward!
Some forced their male employees to put on leotards and dance to Swan Lake, some forced employees to awkwardly dance to online hits, and some forced their employees to play degrading games that continually pushed the bottom line.
All in all, it had already become quite common for employees to perform on stage. However, it was still extremely awkward. Pei Qian could not be sure if this was the warping of humanity or the downfall of morality.
The programs that Assistant Xin had planned contained no such mistake. They looked pretty good on the whole. There were no ridiculous requests for all the department heads to dress up as ladies and perform on stage either.
Pei Qian was very happy with this. As the saying went, letting others off was letting oneself off. He did not want to dress up in strange costumes and act like a monkey on stage.
This plan for the annual meeting involved inviting professionals to perform on stage by singing, dancing, doing acrobatics, and the like. Apart from that, fun-looking games had also been planned.
Of course, an additional budget had been set aside for inviting professionals to perform and inviting employees to play games. After all, employees had to be rewarded for being a good sport, no matter how minor the game was.
After some time, Pei Qian still could not find anything interesting. Singing, dancing, and performing were not bad; however, they were not that interesting either.
Even if these performances took place at a dinner and not an annual meeting, how many people would really enjoy them?
Inviting employees to play mini-games on stage would be much better than making them play degrading games, but it would still be quite awkward.
After all, nobody was there to play games. They were there to win prizes.
Since employees were there to win as much as possible and Boss Pei wanted to distribute as much as possible, shouldn’t they do away with all the awkward programs?
After some thought, Pei Qian said, “We can get rid of all the programs and games. Bring capsule machines and claw machines into the event location. Set up some stations for ring toss, boomerangs, or toy guns as well.
“Then, the entire place will be filled with recreational facilities, capsules, plush toys, and various figures.
“Each person will be given some tokens, which they can use to play the games.
“That’s right-adjust the tricky games, like the claw machines, to maximize people’s chances of winning something. “There will only be two things for people to do at the annual meeting: eat and play!
“We will have lucky draws all the way. Once everyone has eaten their fill, they can take their tokens to the capsule machines and claw machines. When all the prizes have been won, everyone has eaten their fill, and all the tokens have been spent; the annual meeting would officially come to an end.
“Tengda would not engage in formalism or motivation. We also would not force anyone to make a fool out of themselves on stage.
“Eat, drink, and be merry—that will be our annual meeting’s theme!”