Truly dystopian work culture: “ On her first day at Pinduoduo, Emma had been asked to sign a "confidentiality, noncompete and intellectual ownership agreement," and upon resignation was asked to sign a "notice letter" that would restrict her from working for rival companies, or any affiliates in which those companies have a stake of more than 20%, for the next nine months. During that time, Pinduoduo would pay her 2,400 yuan ($330), or 30% of her previous basic salary, each month. If she broke the agreement, Emma would have to pay the company 24 months' worth of salary and return the compensation she had received.”
In October 2023, Emma received a labor arbitration claim from Pinduoduo, requesting her to pay 280,000 yuan as compensation. The evidence Pinduoduo presented to the arbitrator was a series of secretly filmed videos of Emma leaving her residence and entering her new workplace.
It was only when she saw the videos that Emma realized she had been followed to and from her new job for weeks by a portly, middle-aged man, discretely recording her from a distance, whose reflection was clearly visible in some footage. In the following days, Emma said, she had nightmares of being stalked. "I am so scared," she wrote on the social media site Weibo. "I don't know if I am being stalked again. I keep looking behind me whenever I walk down the street now."
