Photo taken on July 17, 2020 shows an office of online marketplace Pinduoduo in east China's Shanghai. Photo: Xinhua

 
Psychological health of employees of China’s e-commerce platform Pinduoduo has become a concern after the suicide of an engineer on Saturday, just days after the sudden death of another employee. 

The engineer, surnamed Tan, reportedly jumped to his death from his home in Changsha, Central China’s Hunan Province, on Saturday, according to Red Star News. 

Pinduoduo said Tan had asked for leave from the Shanghai-based company on Friday morning but didn’t give a reason. Tan’s father picked him up at the Changsha Huanghua International Airport and brought him home on Friday afternoon. 

Tan’s family members told Pinduoduo that Tan had bought a return ticket to Shanghai. 

Tan started to work for the company in July and had passed the probation period in December, 2020. 

Pinduoduo said it would immediately open a consultancy to provide psychological services for employees. 

The sudden death of a 23-year-old employee who worked until 1 am on December 29, also raised concern about overwork demands of tech companies. 

Chinese workers in the tech sector have long complained about poor health caused by requirements of the “996” work culture that includes a workday from 9 am to 9 pm and a six-day workweek.

Excessive hours and overwork has been one of the most discussed topics on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo over the past week. 

Global Times