Mainland Chinese vote Tencent, Alibaba as best tech employers

Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group were voted as the best technology companies to work for in China this year, winning their employees’ hearts with company cultures that value new ideas and dreams, a survey shows.

Chinese internet giant Tencent took No 1 spot while e-commerce giant Alibaba ranked No 4 in the annual survey on the best mainland China employers, jointly conducted by recruitment platform Zhaopin and Peking University.

Among the top 10 best employers were China Merchants Bank in second place and German carmaker BMW’s China unit in third spot.

The survey, conducted between August and December, drew participation from 4.08 million members of the general public who were asked to nominate and vote for the best employers based on company image, culture, salaries and benefits, and management, among others.

In the same study last year Tencent didn’t make the top 10 list but won an honorary outstanding achievement award, while Alibaba was not included in the study.

Baidu, which along with Alibaba and Tencent are collectively known as BAT, dropped to the 12th place this year from last year’s No 2 position.

Zhaopin chief executive Evan Guo said Tencent, which runs China’s largest instant messenger WeChat, is well-known for its attention to the user experience. “Tencent cares about its employees’ personal experience at the company. This is built upon its long-term strategy of attaching great importance to the user experience,” he said.