Asia Tech Wire (June 19) -- A research and development employee at Shopee, the cross-border e-commerce arm of Southeast Asian Internet giant Sea Ltd., died suddenly, according to news and pictures circulating on the Internet Monday afternoon.
An employee at Shopee's Shenzhen research and development center told a Chinese media outlet that they received an important notice from the human resources department at 10 p.m. Monday on Seatalk, the company's internal office software.
The notice said, "This afternoon (June 17), a Shopee R & D center colleague suffered a sudden physical discomfort. The team colleagues and the company in the first time to call 120 first aid to send the colleague to the hospital. But very sad, the colleague left us forever after the rescue failed."
"At present, the company has set up a special team to cooperate with the family to make every effort to do the relevant aftermath work," the notice reads.
The notice also reads, "Colleagues should contact your HRBP if they need any assistance."
Regarding this, the employee said that Shopee employees have also started to fall into the rat race this year, and that employees usually have to work overtime until 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, with no overtime pay.
This person said that they will not have a transfer even if they work overtime, unless they work overtime until two or three o'clock in the morning, and the next day they can rest for half a day.
"Still, overall it's better than other internet companies," the employee added.
Shopee is the No. 1 downloaded e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia in 2023, covering more than a dozen markets, including Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Brazil, as well as setting up cross-border business offices in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
In 2023 Shopee reported a total order volume of up to 8.2 billion, with a 46% growth rate in the fourth quarter.
While the news sparked concern on the Chinese internet, iFlytek, a Chinese artificial intelligence company, on Tuesday internally briefed on the death of one of its employees.
According to a statement, an employee of iFlytek's Smart City business group (BG) suffered a sudden illness at home at 7 a.m. on Monday, and died after family members called 120 for medical attention.
The company said it has set up a working group to apply for support money from its labor union, liaise to deal with commercial insurance, and so on, to assist the late employee's family in dealing with related follow-up matters.
The statement also mentioned that on Tuesday morning, the late employee's family members came to the campus to express their grief, which affected the normal operation of the campus.
According to an online chat record, the employee who died suddenly was a 38-year-old senior test engineer, and his family went to iFlytek's headquarters in the hope of recognizing the employee's sudden death as a work-related injury.
Pictures showed a female family member of the late employee lying flat on her back in front of the glass door of the first-floor hall of iFlytek's Hefei headquarters, causing many employees to gather outside the door, unable to enter the company.
However, according to another source, iFlytek has now called the police on the matter and put it in their hands.
