Tiktok Senior Executive Says He Does Not Believe In Maternity Leave

Tiktok Senior Executive named Joshua Ma is under fire for saying that as a "capitalist" he doesn't believe in companies providing maternity leave to their employees. The senior e-commerce executive's statement has led to employees quitting in large numbers stating a difficult work environment.

The London office of Tiktok witnessed resignations offered in huge numbers by its employees. The reason stated was difficult work conditions, and was reportedly due to a senior executive Joshua Ma's controversial remarks about maternity leave. The senior executive claimed that he believed that companies shouldn't be offering maternity leave to their employees, as it affects capitalism. This has led to Tiktok head officials now reviewing work conditions in its London branch.

TikTok Executive Joshua Ma Under Fire

Joshua Ma, the senior executive at Tiktok London reportedly made this claim during a staff dinner. Enraged by his controversial claims, the employees handed in resignations in large numbers citing difficult work conditions. However, a spokesperson has revealed that the company sent an email to staff stating "We are investigating alleged statements and actions to determine whether there has been a breach of company policies."

Reports have also revealed that Tiktok has now benched this senior executive. It has been claimed that Ma will take some time off as the investigation of his conduct is in full swing. Amidst this controversy, Tiktok has clarified its maternity leave policy in the UK, which includes; ’30 weeks of paid leave (at an average of 90% of earnings), 9 weeks with Statutory Maternity Pay, and 13 weeks of unpaid leave.

Joshua Ma has been with Tiktok's parent company ByteDance since 2018 and was promoted to the Senior e-commerce executive position in August 2021.  He has contributed to ByteDance’s Chinese version of TikTok, and in developing features like Short Video and Living Streaming. Reports also suggest that Tiktok's parent company Bytedance has lost its credibility for its toxic work culture, with employees quitting the company in large numbers.

‘Work-life balance, mental well-being, and respect for personal time are non-existent concepts. You will be expected to work long hours, get pinged after dinner, on weekends, holidays,’ a former senior manager on TikTok’s eCommerce team in London has stated, reviewing the work culture.

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