TikTok executive fired after saying he ‘doesn’t believe’ in maternity leave

The TikTok executive who is at the center of a cultural clash with the company’s UK employees has been replaced after claiming he “didn’t believe” in maternity leave.

Joshua Ma, a senior executive at Chinese company ByteDance – which owns the viral video app – will “take a break” and “step back” from his role as UK e-commerce team leader, according to an email seen by the Financial Times and sent. on Wednesday (8).

The move follows an investigation by the FT, which revealed Ma’s comments at a dinner with employees of TikTok’s e-commerce team in London.

In the email to staff, the company said it was conducting an investigation into the allegations.
“As you may know, the Financial Times today ran a story with some disheartening statements about our UK TikTok Shop operations,” the email to staff read, under the headline “Maintaining a Positive Work Culture.”

“We hope this painful experience makes us a stronger, more united and better team in the long run,” the email read.

The Financial Times report, based on the testimony of ten current and former employees, revealed that the launch of the live shopping feature on TikTok in the UK sparked an exodus of employees from the e-commerce team in London. Some employees have complained of an aggressive corporate culture, with unrealistic goals and expectations that run counter to British work practices.

Employees said they had to work more than 12 hours a day, starting early to take calls with China and ending late as live broadcasts were most successful at night, with overtime celebrated on internal communications. Some ecommerce team members were removed from customer accounts after going on annual vacation.

“The well-being of our team is our top priority… [e] leadership 100% supports using annual vacation to fully recharge and spend time with friends and family,” the email reads to staff. TikTok said it is investing heavily in expanding resources, structures, and processes to deliver a positive employee experience. .

The email also urged staff to report any violations of ByteDance’s code of conduct through an anonymous hotline.

Patrick Nommensen has been announced as Ma’s interim successor. According to the email, Nommensen led the launch of e-commerce in the UK and was responsible for creator operations as well as beauty and other categories.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Nommensen has worked for ByteDance since 2016, when TikTok was launched, and also for Musical.ly, the viral music app that ByteDance acquired in 2017. “He knows the business very well and will be strong interim leadership,” the email read.

TikTok declined to comment on the email.

On Wednesday, a document shared internally by one of TikTok’s employees suggested that keywords related to the FT investigation be censored from comments on TikTok Shop live streams. The list included the words: “Financial Times,” “reporting,” “culture,” “toxic,” “Joshua Ma,” “capitalist,” and “motherhood.”

Referring to the internal document, TikTok said, “While we welcome and encourage independent ideas from team members, not all ideas are implemented, and this one was never considered.”

Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves