Samsung may cut China staff by 20%

Samsung may lay off 20% of its Chinese employees. Chinese media report that rumours of the job cuts are causing unrest among the company’s staff.Samsung employs thousands of people across China. Aside from job cuts, there is talk of planned branch mergers, which would require staff to relocate.According to Phoneradar, the rumours have led employees to start calculating any potential layoff compensation, as well as speculate about the timeframe.So far, Samsung has not commented on the matter.The job cut rumours come at a time when the Korean electronics giant is struggling with the aftermath of exploding phones, which led to a global recall of the Galaxy Note 7. In the third quarter of 2016, the company’s profit fell a staggering 29.7% compared to the year before.In addition to dwindling profits, last month leaked Samsung documents revealed a destructive working culture at the company. The 115-page document details the best strategy to prevent employees from establishing labour unions, and among other things suggests “countermeasures” to be used to “dominate employees”.Despite delivering a hazardous product and treating its staff like the enemy, a recent Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll indicates the company has not yet lost support from US consumers. Of the respondents aware of the Note 7 recall, 27% said they would consider buying a Samsung smartphone, while 92% of current Samsung users said they were likely to buy another Samsung phone in the future.This article was originally published in Human Resources Online.Photo / Samsung Newsroom, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0