So you’ve moved to China, and you’ve managed to get yourself a job – but you might be worried. For a Western professional, moving to a wholly new workplace and environment is understandably very intimidating. Office culture in Mainland China can be a source of confusion, stress and embarrassment, so we have compiled a few pieces of advice for anyone joining a Chinese company.
In order to increase profits and gain a global edge, many Chinese companies are now hiring people from the West. The most popular type of work for Westerners is usually in the finance, sales, and marketing fields, but Chinese companies are increasingly looking to the West for employees in all fields.
1) Do not make anyone in your company lose face – Lose face?? The whole concept of losing face is strange and hard to understand to someone who wasn’t brought up with the concept. It basically means losing the image you present to people, so if you, for whatever reason, make your co-worker lose face, you are in serious trouble. The whole idea of face is incredibly, incredibly important in Chinese culture, so in order not to cause anyone loss of face, don’t correct your co-workers or boss in front of others, don’t point out mistakes in a rude or blunt way, and think carefully about how you will offer a different opinion.
2) Understand Guānxì – Guānxì is the relationships you share with your coworkers, usually based on favours you owe each other. To work smoothly in China, it is vital you have good guānxì with your colleagues. You can build it through social dinners, gifts, or helping your partner complete his or her assignment on time.
3) Learn to love karaoke – Karaoke is unbelievable popular throughout Asia, but especially so in China. Everywhere you look there are large karaoke halls, and after work, people head to karaoke to let their hair down and relax. If you are invited, be aware that the invitation may not be optional, as refusing may cause your boss to think you don’t have respect for the company– plus if you don’t go, you miss out on bonding with your colleagues and building guānxì! So even if you sing like a strangled cat, swallow your pride, take a swig of baijiu and belt out a classic like “Uptown Girl” at the top of your lungs. Your co-workers will like you all the more for it, trust me.
4) Do not question orders – Hierarchy is much more firmly established in China than it is in the West. That means the gap between the highest-level employee and lowest level one is very wide, so it is not common for lower-level employees to mingle with executives. This applies to orders – in China, the boss gives the orders and they are expected to be carried out dutifully, without any questioning.
source: jingjobs.com