TikTok rumored to lay off British employees during global restructuring

TikTok’s growth has been lightning fast, but now jobs in the UK are reportedly at risk (Credit: Getty)

TikTok employees may soon be kicked out as the viral app embarks on a massive global restructuring effort.

Have five people with knowledge of the impending changes talked to wired to confirm that some people will be fired.

Thanks to lightning-fast popularity around the world, TikTok has hired thousands of employees.

But now jobs are at stake.

Wired reports that European employees have been told by the short video platform that they can expect meetings with HR about the future of their jobs. This includes UK staff in a number of different departments.

After speaking to sources, Wired journalist Chris Stokel-Walker explained: “The restructuring announced internally today will include layoffs and the closure of some vacant positions, an employee said, and will impact TikTok’s US businesses. the EU and the UK. Plans to expand some teams within the company have been shelved.’

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has recently come under fire for its toxic work culture, with employees leaving the TikTok office in London every week due to overwork.

Workers in Europe and the UK woke up this morning to learn their jobs were on the line. When the US woke up hours later, they learned of the impact of the reorganization, according to five knowledgeable people https://t.co/bzrNCcMCRG

— Chris Stokel-Walker (@stokel) July 18, 2022

The company opened its headquarters in London last October, but since then its workforce has halved and employees are leaving.

‘Work-life balance, mental well-being and respect for personal time are non-existent concepts. You’re expected to work long hours, get pinged after dinner, on weekends, on vacation,” a former senior manager of TikTok’s eCommerce team in London wrote on its job posting website, Glassdoor.

Bytedance is the Chinese company that owns the short video app TikTok. (Credit: Reuters)

Another former employee of the company’s Community Content team complained about the “unethical” HR department.

“They did not investigate a claim for harassment for three months and when I finally decided to leave because it was becoming unbearable, they contacted me to ask for more details about my complaint. A complete joke, frankly,” they wrote on Glassdoor.

ByteDance has reportedly paid settlements over unfavorable working conditions to two former TikTok employees in London.

The company is known for its ‘996’ culture where employees work from 9am to 9pm six days a week, a standard among ByteDance employees around the world.

“As with many service companies, employees in some positions sometimes have to work hours that match the customer’s usage pattern. We aim to make this the exception rather than the norm and support our team with flexible working hours, regular non-meeting times and robust health and wellness offerings,” a TikTok spokesperson told Metro.co.uk.

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