Chapter 29 The Farm's Welfare Benefits
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Translator: JayM
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: The Farm's Welfare Benefits
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Besides those with connections, there were also those departments that weren’t that important but overlapped.
Su Yi made cuts according to their work records from the original farm period.
He only kept one department of the same type. All similar departments from the other farms were laid off without exception.
Among the redundant departments being eliminated, people who actually did proper work could stay and be arranged into the kept department of the same type.
Under the circumstance of only keeping one department of the same type from the original farms, facing the suddenly expanded farm, the manpower of the original department was clearly insufficient. Doing this not only increased manpower, but it also reduced the workload for existing employees.
Of course, all of the above layoffs were only aimed at office-based departments like marketing and management.
As for the much larger number of farm laborers, Su Yi's intention wasn’t to lay them off, but to keep them all.
These were the true frontline workers of the farm. To put it bluntly, they were basically all honest and simple farmers from nearby villages.
Their average age was over forty.
Most of them came here to work just to support their families, and they all came from farming backgrounds. They usually wouldn't slack off when doing their jobs.
Although calculating it now, the farm's laborers were somewhat redundant, but after thinking it over again and again, Su Yi still didn't plan to lay them off.
Firstly, unlike those office workers, for many farm employees, if they lost this job, they truly wouldn't know what to do. Although Su Yi didn't plan to help the whole world, he hadn't reached the point of snatching the few meager pieces of coins from these poor people who scraped a living from the dirt.
Moreover, these redundant farmers wouldn't necessarily just stay around while eating free meals.
If the farm really introduced and planted those magical plants later, due to a lack of experience, intensive and meticulous farming would definitely be required in the early stages.
It was impossible for Yue Ling to have that much time.
Su Yi also wouldn't let her brave the scorching sun every day just to deal with the magical plants in the fields.
Having these experienced farmers take care of these crops was actually a good idea.
When the time came, these redundant farmers on the farm might not even be enough.
Secondly, it was out of stability considerations. He didn't want to make things too troublesome and stir up a hornet's nest.
Su Yi's current situation was that he wasn't afraid of the crossing river dragon, but he was afraid of the local snake*.
With Yue Ling around, even if he really produced some shocking and world-shaking good stuff, he wasn't afraid of being targeted by some big shot with immense power and connections.
He didn't care about the rich and powerful. Whoever dared to make things difficult for him, he would make them disappear from this world.
At any time, physically annihilating someone was the most powerful deterrent.
There was no one in this world who wasn't afraid of death.
And Yue Ling just happened to have the strength to make anyone on Blue Star die.
So Su Yi wasn't afraid of big shots, but if he encountered local snakes, it would truly be like a toad crawling onto your instep— even if it doesn't bite, it’ll disgust you!**
He himself came from a rural background, so he naturally understood the simplicity and diligence of rural people.
But he also understood the unreasonableness and rudeness in rural areas.
The laborers on the farm were all people from nearby villages. He didn't even need to think deeply to know that if he laid off a large batch of laborers today, no matter how justified his reasons were or how generous the severance pay was…
He wouldn’t have any good days on this farm in the future.
If he really encountered this kind of situation, he couldn't possibly have Yue Ling kill everyone.
This was his personal bodyguard and delicate little wife, not a homicidal maniac.
So to prevent these unnecessary troubles, plus the fact that he indeed had things on hand that required these proper farm laborers who understood farm work…
It was better to temporarily keep these extra people.
Of course, since they were being kept, their treatment naturally had to change as well.
Previously, the farm's salary for these laborers was only four to five thousand a month.
It sounded like a lot, but compared to their workload and work intensity, this bit of salary was completely inadequate.
So Su Yi planned to increase the remuneration for the remaining laborers.
He didn't add much, he just about doubled their original salary.
Eight thousand a month.
Furthermore, those messy contracts they originally signed also needed to be changed into proper ones that complied with laws and regulations.
Strictly implementing an eight-hour workday, working for five days and resting for two, and paying the five social insurances and one housing fund***.
The company provided food and accommodation, but since proper dormitories hadn't been built yet, employees could go out and temporarily rent houses on their own, and then they could take the rental contract to the company's finance department to get their rent reimbursed. Rent within 1,000 per month could be fully reimbursed. Any part exceeding that had to be covered by the employees themselves.
According to Su Yi's understanding, in this suburban area of Jiangcheng, this price could already rent a very decent house.
For these locals who didn't need to rent a house, he didn't even need to think deeply to know that there would definitely be people renting their own houses to themselves to cheat the rental subsidy, but he didn't care. He just treated it all as one of their benefits.
Besides this, there were various other benefits, such as afternoon tea and late-night snack subsidies.
The welfare level of the farm directly approached those of major internet companies.
After all, as the boss, even if he couldn't get those magical crops and just developed the farm normally…
By giving employees benefits like this, he basically wouldn't lose money either.
And under the circumstance where magical plants from another world could allow him to quickly harvest the wealth of those rich people, he naturally didn't mind giving his employees a bit more money.
From beginning to end, he never planned to squeeze oil from these poor people. His target had always been those obscenely wealthy groups.
Su Yi didn't have the idea of helping the whole world, but he still had the awareness of letting those who followed him live better lives.
Of course, he didn't think that just by giving his employees wages and benefits far exceeding their peers, he could make everyone completely obedient to him.
There would always be a small handful of people who, after getting benefits, would think he was kind-hearted and want more, making a fuss if they didn't get it.
But this would only be a very small minority group. If they really started making a fuss, Su Yi wouldn't even need to do anything when the time came. Those loyal employees who worked for him and obtained benefits would spontaneously come out to defend him.
By increasing the number of vested interests, the few overly greedy people naturally wouldn't be able to make any waves.
Looking at the new version of the employee welfare and benefit system personally modified by Su Yi, Zhou Yan couldn't help but suck in a breath of cold air. After holding it in for a long time, he couldn't help but sigh.
"You truly are… the most generous boss I’ve ever seen."
"It's just a little bit of money, and this is only the treatment for the lowest-level employees of the farm. For the welfare and benefits of other departments, just make a corresponding table based on this standard and show it to me. Don't worry about spending money. How much money can paying salaries possibly cost?"
Su Yi said casually.
Naturally, Zhou Yan had no reason to refuse this and hurriedly agreed.
And after giving these instructions, Su Yi looked at him with great interest and said:
"Manager Zhou has outstanding abilities, and the matters these past few days have been handled beautifully. May I know what position you hold in the Shen family?"
Zhou Yan was stunned for a moment, then he immediately reacted and hurriedly said:
"Chairman Su misunderstood. I was only temporarily hired by Mr. Shen to handle these matters. After the employment ends, I won't have much connection with the Shen family anymore."
"I would like to invite you to serve as the General Manager of Tianyu Farm. I wonder if you’re interested?"
Su Yi smiled.
"It is exactly what I wished for, but didn't dare to ask! Chairman Su’s too kind!"
A look of joy flashed in Zhou Yan's eyes, and he hurriedly agreed.
Although making him a farm general manager was somewhat a waste of his abilities…
But he was very clear that under the account of this young man's other company, Tianyu Holdings, there was currently nearly a billion in cash flow.
What kind of concept was this?
Many large companies with market values of tens of billions or even hundreds of billions after going public might not necessarily be able to pull out a billion anytime and anywhere.
But Tianyu Holdings could!
With his foresight, it was naturally not difficult to see that Su Yi wanted to build Tianyu Holdings into a massive group.
If he could succeed, Zhou Yan joining now would make him a founding member in the future.
After witnessing Su Yi's financial resources and ambitions, he would have jumped in for this kind of thing even if he didn't get a salary, alright?
Not to mention, since Su Yi was so generous to those lowest-level employees, how could he possibly skimp on the benefits for him, the General Manager?
......
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*A classic Chinese proverb meaning that a powerful outsider (the dragon) is less of a threat than a well-entrenched, influential local figure or gang (the snake) who knows the area and has deep roots.
**A Chinese idiom used to describe a situation or person that isn't necessarily dangerous, but is extremely annoying, petty, or repulsive to deal with.
***This is the mandatory social security system in China that employers are required by law to provide for their employees. It includes pension, medical, unemployment, work injury, and maternity insurance, plus a housing provident fund.
T/N - So according to Google, 8000 yuan is about $1170 dollars. Plus pension, medical, unemployment, work injury, and maternity insurance as well as housing. There’s even afternoon tea and late-night snacks subsidies. Where the fuck is this farm and how can I apply there?
Also, this really sounds like what I want to do if ever I become rich. Just make a big company, get rich, and then treat my workers well since money’s no longer an issue to me. That’s the fantasy right there.