Liu Guoliang, who bid farewell to table tennis, started a business, but what about the middle-aged employees of Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile?

January 10, 2018 was Liu Guoliang's birthday. On this important day, he made a major decision. He said goodbye to us and said what he had never said: he retired as a coach. From then on, there was no "fat guy who didn't understand the game" on the national table tennis court.

After retiring, Liu Guoliang started a business, and his first deal was worth 50 billion yuan. Maybe he couldn't fly higher in the table tennis world, but he could fly more freely, which was also a relief. But in another circle, how can the employees of Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile who were asked by the company to leave their hometown to work in other places get relief?

On the day when Liu Guoliang announced his retirement, a major event also occurred in the automotive industry. Dongfeng Peugeot decided that starting from the 15th of this month, the two brand departments of Dongfeng Citroen and Dongfeng Peugeot would be relocated to the Wuhan headquarters for centralized office, with the main functions of the marketing departments of the two brands concentrated in Shanghai. At the same time, the "Employee Notice on the Relocation of Dongfeng Peugeot Brand Department" leaked from Dongfeng Peugeot clearly stated that employees must make a written reply before 18:00 on January 26. If they refuse to move to the new office with the company, the company will terminate their labor contracts.

For Dongfeng Peugeot employees working in Beijing, the "Rising Blue and Upward" brand plan has given them hope for Dongfeng Peugeot. The establishment of the Peugeot Avenue Experience Center on Beijing Qianmen Street, witnessed by former French Prime Minister Raffarin, is also something they should be proud of.

But who could have thought that, just before the Spring Festival, we would suddenly receive such an announcement without any warning. For some young people, this may not be a big deal, but what about those middle-aged people who have already settled down in Beijing and have elderly parents and young children? They thought that their family could live in Beijing like this, but now they may not be able to sleep well every night. How can they celebrate the New Year? For this reason, they jointly wrote a letter to the company's top management, begging them to show mercy.

The mid-life crisis of Dongfeng Peugeot and Peugeot employees

Now, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile is about to celebrate its 26th birthday, which can be regarded as middle-aged. Looking at the sales of Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile in 2017, it is really in the mid-life crisis. In the first nine months of this year, the cumulative sales of Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile were 235,200 vehicles, a year-on-year decline of 42.22%, and only 33.6% of the previous annual sales target of 700,000 vehicles was achieved. This also forced Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile to lower its annual sales target to 402,000 vehicles.

If the company's profits are not good, the employees will inevitably suffer as well. If Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile wants to "get back on track", it must first reduce the company's overhead costs. Among them, the integrated production and sales office is a way to improve decision-making efficiency and reduce overhead costs. In the era of negative growth in the auto market, the integration of production and sales may become a trend. The departments sent to Beijing by Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile Co., Ltd. lack income, and employees facing the mid-life crisis find it difficult to create enough value for the company. It is only a matter of time before they are recalled from Beijing to the headquarters.

In fact, in the automotive industry, the relocation of functional departments is a very normal thing. It took Audi almost a year to relocate its marketing department from Changchun to Beijing, which gave employees enough time to relocate or find other livelihoods. However, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile asked its employees to make a decision in such a short time, which seemed to be leaving them no room for survival.

Is it too hasty or just a disguised form of layoffs?

In the view of Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen, the purpose of relocation is to improve work efficiency, but in the view of 91che, this is just a fig leaf for Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen, because if the problems currently faced by Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen can be solved by improving efficiency, the sales volume this year will not be so bad. First of all, within the company, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen and Dongfeng Peugeot's dual brand system lack strategic coordination. In each level of car models, there are models with similar prices and sizes. For example, Dongfeng Peugeot 2008 and Dongfeng Citroen's C3-XR, although they are both from Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen, have formed an invisible competitive relationship, resulting in a waste of resources.

In addition, frequent personnel changes have accelerated the decline of Dongfeng Peugeot and Dongfeng Citroen in the Chinese market. In September 2017, Dongfeng Peugeot General Manager Li Haigang announced his resignation, followed by its Brand Management and Public Relations Director Li Nanhong, and Dongfeng Citroen Deputy General Manager Che Yanhua and General Manager Rao Jie left one after another. Currently, the position of general manager of both brands is still vacant. In a team without a leader, the daily operation of work will be chaotic, which has planted a powder keg inside Dongfeng Peugeot. Now the decision of the company to relocate is the spark that ignites the powder keg.

It is so difficult to settle down in Beijing, but now Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile wants them to give up their years of hard work and open up a desolate land. If it is just because of inefficiency, this statement is obviously unacceptable. Before making this decision, did the top management of Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile not know what the consequences would be? If they are really angry about the decline in Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile's sales, they should quickly regain their senses, slow down the pace of relocation, and give employees more buffer time. If they still insist on doing so, it will be a disguised layoff. Can Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile, with its morale so low, "get back on track"?

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.