Losing Money to Be a Tycoon - Chapter 320
Chapter 320: Are all HR Staff so Unprofessional These Days?
Wu Bin knew a thing or two about poaching people.
Most importantly, he had to heighten the other party’s expectations and try to fulfill them in a certain manner.
Sometimes, he had to utter empty words; sometimes, he had to use ‘gain’ as a lure; and sometimes, he had to use an iron hand in a velvet glove.
Wu Bin had done his preliminary research. Hao Qiong was an administrative planner in Shang Yang Games, and he was in charge of the miscellaneous tasks.
Administrative planners in Jingzhou earned an average of two to three thousand yuan per month.
Of course, having done his homework, Wu Bin knew that Tengda treated its employees exceedingly well.
However, he was not sure exactly what ‘exceedingly well’ looked like.
That was because, until now, he only knew of people running towards Tengda… and not of anyone running from the company. Even if he tried to ask Tengda’s current employees for examples and illustrations, they would not tell him.
The only vague standard he could refer to was what had been mentioned in the official platform’s interview: when Huang Sibo went to interview at Tengda, they offered him twice what he had expected.
Yet, after trying various ways and means to ask around, Wu Bin discovered that Huang Sibo’s original salary had only been two thousand yuan per month. Doubling that was no big deal. What’s more, one had to consider what kind of person Huang Sibo was as well. Tengda had poached him to be their chief planner. Naturally, they had to pay him a higher salary.
On the other hand, an ordinary employee like Hao Qiong could only earn as much as Huang Sibo did at Shang Yang Games, right?
Through gritted teeth, the most Wu Bin could offer was five thousand yuan. Offering even a dollar more than that would be an insult to Wu Bin’s intelligence.
Of course, the basic salary was probably not Hao Qiong’s only source of income. Wu Bin had to consider the bonuses he earned as well.
Thus, Wu Bin calculated in his head. The mobile version of Bloody Battle Song probably earned about four to five million yuan each month. This was Wu Bin’s estimate based on the game’s rank on various charts, the purchase options, the number of players, the game’s popularity, and the like.
That was not considered a lot. After all, the good-hearted game did not have many paywalls.
Wu Bin continued thinking hard. Ordinary games companies would distribute ten percent of each game’s revenue as project bonuses. That meant the employees probably got three to four hundred thousand yuan in total.
Five hundred thousand yuan was probably a generous estimate.
However, there were at least thirty to forty people in this project team. The core members probably got bigger shares while the insignificant fellows like Hao Qiong—who merely played supporting roles—probably got five thousand yuan at best.
Based on these calculations, Wu Bin guessed that Hao Qiong received a maximum of ten thousand yuan per month in the form of basic salary and bonus.
As for other welfare benefits, Wu Bin was not sure.
However, he could probably make up for those benefits by offering two to four thousand yuan more each month, right?
Wu Bin planned on offering Hao Qiong a monthly salary from twelve to fourteen thousand yuan.
To him, this was already a ridiculous amount. Ordinary chief planners in Jingzhou were only paid seven to eight thousand yuan a month. Now, he was going to try poaching a mere administrative planner with an average of thirteen thousand yuan a month?
That was indeed ridiculous.
Thus, Wu Bin’s strategy in poaching other employees was to heighten the other party’s expectations.
This was the script that he had planned out:
Wu Bin: “You must earn a high salary, right? I’m guessing you earn a basic salary of six thousand yuan?”
Hao Qiong: “How’s that possible? It’s not so much—just about five thousand yuan.”
Wu Bin: “Eh, then you must get a huge bonus each month, right? I’m guessing upwards of seven or eight thousand yuan?”
Hao Qiong: “Not even close. I only get five-thousand-odd yuan.”
Wu Bin: “That means you only get ten thousand yuan a month? That’s lower than I expected.”
Hao Qiong: “It’s not bad. The company benefits are good.”
Wu Bin: “But company benefits can’t fill your tummy. Given your experience and skills, you would probably be paid at least twelve thousand yuan in our company!”
Hao Qiong: “Really?”
Wu Bin: “Of course! You’re worth at least that much!”
If Hao Qiong still looked reluctant, Wu Bin would continue increasing the offer, capping it at fifteen thousand yuan.
Ordinary people would not be able to resist the temptation of earning an additional five thousand yuan each month.
At that point, the poaching mission would be considered a success. It was a high price to pay, but in order to complete the mission assigned to him by his boss, Wu Bin had no other choice.
In any case, he had to try to poach Wu Bin over first.
Wu Bin began to act according to his planned script.
“I heard that the benefits at Tengda are not bad. You must earn a high salary, right? I’m guessing you earn a basic salary of six thousand yuan?”
Hao Qiong nodded. “Yes, that’s about right.”
Wu Bin, “?”
He felt slightly light-headed.
Hao Qiong’s guess had already been a thousand yuan higher than the maximum basic salary he expected Wu Bin to earn. Yet, Hao Qiong acknowledged it so calmly!
Fortunately, Wu Bin reacted quickly and acted like he had expected this response. “You must get upwards of seven or eight thousand yuan as bonus each month as well, right?”
Hao Qiong sniggered. “That’s right.”
Wu Bin, “?”
He immediately felt pained.
What did he mean by ‘that’s right’?!
Did he get more than seven or eight thousand yuan?!
One had to understand that ordinary games companies only distributed ten percent of their games’ revenue as bonuses—and those were the better companies. Many other companies made money off their games but did not distribute bonuses to their employees.
Yet, an administrative planner in Shang Yang Games was getting bonuses of more than seven or eight thousand yuan?!
It sounded like it was at least eight thousand yuan!
Wu Bin felt like he had made some grave errors in his calculations.
In total, Hao Qiong was earning close to fifteen thousand yuan each month.
That meant Wu Bin would need to offer him about eighteen to nineteen thousand yuan in order to poach him.
That was too hard to accept!
However, at that point, Wu Bin had no other option.
Wu Bin could not back out now. He forced himself to say, “That means you earn about fifteen thousand yuan a month? That’s a bit lower than I expected, but not that much lower.”
Hao Qiong smiled foolishly. “It’s not bad. The company benefits are good.”
At last, things were going according to his planned script. He quickly said, “But company benefits can’t fill your tummy!”
Before he could finish speaking, Hao Qiong interrupted. “They can fill my tummy. Here, all three meals are provided by Fish-Catching Take-Out. The menu changes every day, and we can be certain that the food’s healthy and hygienic.”
Wu Bin was speechless.
Based on his calculations, Tengda was spending close to a thousand yuan per month on Hao Qiong’s food expenses alone.
Once again, the price had risen!
Hao Qiong added, “We also go to the nameless restaurant for meals regularly.”
Wu Bin was speechless.
He was finished.
Wasn’t Hao Qiong messing with Wu Bin’s mind?
Of course, Wu Bin knew about the nameless restaurant. The food there was extremely expensive. Even if one tried to hold back, having a meal there would cost two to three hundred yuan per person on average.
Most companies were not able to afford having a meal there once a month, much less more often than that!
Wu Bin was beginning to feel like there was no point in carrying on this conversation. He had to switch tactics.
He had to talk to this naive young man in front of him about dreams.
Wu Bin cleared his throat and said, “Ai, I think man should not just think about filling our tummies. Shouldn’t we try to pursue spirituality as well?”
Hao Qiong nodded profusely. “That’s right; I was just about to say that! We can play games anytime we want in our office. All the computers are high-quality and come with dual-monitors.
“We also get an expense limit each month that we can use to top-up our games.
“In addition…”
Wu Bin quickly raised his hand, stopping Hao Qiong.
“Alright, alright, alright. I understand company benefits now. However, you also need to think about career advancement.
“Tengda Corporation has so many employees. Many people are waiting to become the next chief planner. It’ll be so difficult for you to advance in that company!”
Puzzled, Hao Qiong replied, “It’s alright. From time to time, the company will arrange for outstanding employees to develop new businesses and venture into new territories.
“The current chief planner only took seven months to get promoted from an odd-job-worker to his current position.
“If I do my work well, it should be my turn soon.”
Wu Bin was speechless.
There was nothing else to say. There was really nothing else to say!
Wu Bin could not talk about company benefits because if they spent time listing them all out, he might have to offer Hao Qiong a salary of more than twenty thousand yuan a month.
Even if Wu Bin did that—given the treatment that Hao Qiong was receiving at Tengda, he might not even want to switch companies!
After much consideration, Wu Bin forced himself to make a huge offer.
“I’m going straight to the point! If you join our company, we can pay you 22 thousand yuan a month. How does that sound?!”
Wu Bin stared at Hao Qiong.
Hao Qiong stared back at Wu Bin.
Both of them were speechless.
After a long time, Hao Qiong scratched his head. “Do you always offer a lower salary when you try to poach other people?”
Wu Bin, “?”
Wu Bin was completely dumbfounded.
A lower salary?!
He was extremely puzzled. “This is already higher than the sum of your basic salary and bonus. It even makes up for the company benefits that you currently enjoy.”
Hao Qiong did not know what to say. “It isn’t higher than the sum of my basic salary and bonus.”
Wu Bin felt light-headed. “Didn’t you say that you get a bonus of at least eight thousand yuan per month?”
Hao Qiong replied, “I meant that I get a bonus of more than eight thousand yuan. I didn’t say how much because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
Wu Bin was speechless.
What the f*ck do you mean by you didn’t want to hurt my feelings?!
Wu Bin sighed inwardly and looked at Hao Qiong once again. “Brother, if you really don’t want to hurt my feelings, tell me the truth. How much do you get as your bonus?”
Hao Qiong answered, “Above ten thousand yuan.”
Wu Bin, “…Brother, can you be more specific? Make me give up once and for all. What do you mean by above ten thousand yuan?”
Hao Qiong, “…Double of ten thousand yuan?”
Wu Bin’s expression darkened. He felt like his intelligence had just been gravely insulted. “…Brother, do you take me for a fool?
“Your game probably only makes four to five million yuan each month. If you get twenty thousand yuan as bonus, it would mean that one million yuan out of the revenue earned from this project would be distributed as bonuses, right?”
Hao Qiong nodded, “That’s right.”
This sounded ridiculous to Wu Bin. “You’re saying that a fifth of the game’s revenue goes to distributing bonuses?”
Hao Qiong shook his head. “That’s not how you calculate it. Bonuses aren’t distributed based on profits but on reputation.
“Our game has an A-grade reputation now. That means that every month for six months, a tenth of the total sum invested in the game would be distributed as bonuses. Research, development, and marketing of this game cost a total of ten million yuan. That’s why a tenth of that sum is distributed as bonuses each month.”
Wu Bin thought that he had misheard Hao Qiong. “What if your game incurs losses?”
Hao Qiong was bewildered. “Why are you even dafter than I am? I already said that our bonuses are distributed based on reputation. We get bonuses even if the game incurs losses.”
Wu Bin remained silent for a long time. Finally, he said sorrowfully, “Ai, all of you who work on games earn a lot of money. I really envy you.”
Hao Qiong shook his head. “No, that’s not true. In my company, whether you work in human resources, administration, or finance… you would earn a lot. My salary is considered… average in my company.”
Wu Bin was speechless.
“Brother, is your company hiring? If I want to apply for a job, where should I submit my resume?”
Hao Qiong shrugged. “I’m not too sure. It’s said that future applicants will have to take a written exam in the future. As for what the exam will be about, I don’t really know. It’s not easy for us to refer our friends for roles now either.
“Eh? This isn’t right. Aren’t you supposed to poach me?”
Hao Qiong suddenly realized that their roles seemed to have reversed.
Wu Bin cupped his fists and said, “Farewell!”
Then, he got up and left.
Hao Qiong watched as Wu Bin left the coffee shop. He sipped his coffee, feeling puzzled.
Are all HR staff so unprofessional these days?
