Employees walk past a research and development building with lights on at 22:04 pm in Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province in May. Photo: VCG

 
Huawei doesn't need research staff that act like Eugenie Grandet, who save every penny and are picky about services provided by others, the Chinese tech company's rotating chairman Xu Zhijun said at its online community Xinsheng, in response to complaints from some research personnel that meals provided by the company's dining hall are too expensive. 

"People who behave like Grandet will be stuck in a dead-end job and the right way is to work hard, increase income and then improve one's living quality," Xu said. He also suggested relevant leaders of the research team work in the dining hall for three months, and offer their suggestions to improve food there. 

Lately, some of Huawei's research staff uploaded a post on its online forum, complaining that the company's dining hall is not offering affordable dishes and not providing good service.

The average food cost in the dining hall is about 350 yuan ($50) a month, according to Xu, which is certainly very cheap.

And then, Huawei's founder Ren Zhengfei commented on Xu's letter, with high recognition. Ren said that as adults who are able to look after themselves, Huawei employees should be client-centered, rather than being served by other colleagues. "We should make our clients satisfied so that we can win more contracts and earn more money to survive."

Ren suggested that if some team leaders are not mature enough, they should be relocated to other positions. "If Huawei employees are not very comfortable [with the environment], please consult with a psychological consultancy organization  or complain to Tianya BBS. Don't vent your anger back to the office," Ren noted.