This was a common affliction for large corporations—they had too many people.
Take a company like Futong Commerce, with over 2,000 frontline employees. Even a 300 yuan monthly raise to each person's base salary would cost 600,000 yuan. Add in the increased insurance base, which would raise the company's required contributions, and the total additional annual expense would be nearly 10 million yuan. What boss wouldn't feel the pinch? And for all that—a mere 300 yuan raise—the employees would still think the boss was being stingy.
That's why they say a large ship is difficult to turn. The foundational systems had been in place for years. To change them, you'd have to tear everything down and start from scratch. But a total rebuild carried the risk of complete failure. Who would be willing to take such a risk? The owner certainly wouldn't, let alone a professional manager like President Zhao, who was even more powerless to push for such a change.
