Chinese employees at a shipping workplace in China. (Photo : Reuters)
In a move that might reflect tradition questioning that reportedly defines the millennial generation, the China Youth Daily publication released the results of its survey on workplace culture on Monday.
An established clique culture stood out prominently in the results, which are largely indicative of governmental bodies, as just over half of the responses were from state-associated employees.
The constitution of the survey participants was broken down into detail by the youth newspaper, which revealed that around 8.3 percent were officials working for the Communist Party of China (CPC) or one of China's governments; 21.5 percent were state-funded-institution employees; and state-owned-enterprise (SOE) workers formed a little under a quarter of the total, at 20.8 percent.
The rest of the survey's respondents were private-enterprise employees, or those who were employed by foreign-funded business entities.
China Youth Daily concluded that the survey results reaffirmed the age-old Western saying of "it's not what you know, but who you know," which is not a universally praised attribute of any type of culture, regardless of the national context.
For the Chinese workers involved in the publication's research initiative, the fallout from clique culture includes unfairness, inefficiency and a loss of integrity through corrupt practices.
In an attempt to go along with the status quo, nearly half of the respondents prioritized closeness with an influential boss over practical work experience when it came to furthering one's career.
In the view of Chinese cultural researcher Ai Jun, clique culture has been a prominent aspect of Chinese officialdom for numerous centuries. But Ai also acknowledged that the situation has been improving through the concerted efforts of the CPC.
China's workplace culture received further recognition on Monday after recruitment analyst, Hays, found that China is the Asian region's diversity leader, with women in 36 percent of management roles.
