410 Best Employee Selection

"The department to win the Zero Overtime Competition for the first time ever is Zhongdian Chinese Network!"

The moment Assistant Xin finished speaking, everyone turned to look at Ma Yiqun who had been munching on a watermelon.

Ma Yiqun was stunned. He only regained his composure two seconds later. Then, he snatched a tissue, wiped his mouth, and walked onto the stage.

Everyone immediately applauded warmly.

Pei Qian was already standing on stage, holding the trophy and waiting to give it away.

In fact, Pei Qian had already expected this outcome.

This was how the winner of the Zero Overtime Competition had been selected: the department that had worked overtime the least won.

Four selections would be held each month. If more than one department managed to work overtime zero times each week, the prizes would be given out in descending order of the number of employees in each department. Those that had already won before would be given lower priority.

Pei Qian did a brief mental assessment of Tengda's current businesses.

Tengda Games, Fei Huang Workspace, Shang Yang Games, and Otto Technologies were considered the core businesses. They were all filled with hard workers who always thought about different ways to work overtime.

In fact, Pei Qian suspected that the leaders of Otto Technologies and Fei Huang Workspace had implemented a culture of working overtime. Of course, they would be disqualified from the competition.

Upwind Logistics and Fish-Catching Internet Cafe were working hard to keep to the 'no overtime' policy, but due to unforeseen circumstances, they could hardly avoid working overtime.

If they were really keen on not working overtime, they had to step up their management skills.

There was no need for employees at Dream Realization Ventures to work overtime either, but their team was smaller. Thus, they were lower in priority compared to Zhongdian Chinese Network.

Thus, Zhongdian Chinese Network, which had more than thirty employees and no record of anyone working overtime, had the privilege of becoming the first-ever department to win the Zero Overtime Competition.

Ma Yiqun received the trophy from Boss Pei, feeling overwhelmed by the latter's favor. After waving to everyone and expressing his gratitude, he stepped off-stage.

However, that segment was still not over. Boss Pei was still supposed to give a speech. Pei Qian took the microphone from Assistant Xin and cleared his throat.

"Once again, I congratulate Ma Dubiao.

"The prize has been won, but most people here obviously still don't understand why I established this competition in the first place.

"Why am I rewarding those who didn't work overtime but not those who did?

"I'm speaking to the people in charge when I say this: there are two possible reasons why people in your department are working overtime.

"First, you're not allocating the work in your department well. Some have too much work and have no choice but to work overtime to complete it all. The people in charge would have to bear the blame for that!

"Second, a few employees in your department are not working efficiently enough to finish their work within the allocated working hours. That means that as people in charge, you should offer more care and support to your employees!

"Thus, all of you must remember: At Tengda, working overtime is a disgrace!

"The people in charge of the various departments should learn from Ma Dubiao and work hard to achieve zero overtime!"

Once Pei Qian finished speaking, everyone off-stage applauded warmly. The people in charge of various other departments looked extremely guilty.

Obviously, Boss Pei's words had struck a chord in their soul. They had to work hard to reduce the number of employees working overtime in Tengda in the future!

Extremely satisfied, Pei Qian gestured for Assistant Xin to move onto the next segment.

It was time for the Best Employee Selection, which was held twice a year and which most found exciting.

Li Yada noticed Bao Xu, who was seated beside her, nervously munching on snacks. His face drained of all color, and beads of cold sweat dripped from his forehead.

"Brother Bao, what's the matter? Are you not feeling well?"

Bao Xu shook his head. "I'm alright."

He had been severely traumatized by the past few Best Employee Selections. No matter what, he did not want to be forced to go overseas again.

This was an instinctive and immediate reaction that he was displaying subconsciously.

Although his heart automatically started racing and he was at a loss as to what to do, Bao Xu still thought that this Best Employee Selection would have nothing to do with him anymore… right?

Furthermore, those who had been selected as Best Employees before had been promoted and put in charge of other businesses.

Even if the best employee was to be selected from among those who had never won, Bao Xu would not be considered the most outstanding!

During this period, Bao Xu had been faithfully concealing his strengths and trying to bide his time. Not only had he been careful not to leave any record of himself working overtime, but he had also created the illusion that he was only focused on playing games.

Even if he stealthily edited documents, he would hand them to Li Yada.

No matter how he looked at it, it didn't seem like anyone had been paying attention to him!

As for the others…

Ma Yiqun had singlehandedly turned Zhongdian Chinese Network's situation around and converted its losses to profits. Even the online literature class looked quite promising.

Zhang Yuan's Fish-Catching Internet Cafe had expanded to Lincheng, and ROF was developing rapidly. One could say that the business was both reputable and profitable.

Over at Shang Yang Games, the mobile version of Bloody Battle Song that Lin Wan, Ye Zhizhou, and Wang Xiaobin had dominated the mobile game industry. They had also been diligently researching and developing Be Quiet.

Ma Yang and He Desheng of Dream Realization Ventures had already invested in three projects. Among those, IOI had already reaped huge profits, the shared phone booths had become Jingzhou's cultural landmarks, and 'Top Student, Come Quick' had become extremely popular.

Otto Technologies had not produced a cell phone yet, but Chang You and his team had been taking the project very seriously. People had even been referring to them as the model team of hard workers.

All of those people had not been selected as the best employee before!

Tengda Games might have been the oldest and most experienced department, and Boss Pei might have been focusing on it the most. However, in terms of real merit, Li Yada was clearly in the first place.

One could read about all of those people's achievements on TPDb's intranet. It was clear as day whose contribution had been the largest.

That meant that Bao Xu would be safe, right?

Bao Xu tried hard to comfort himself, and the trembling in his hands visibly dissipated.

"All the departments can start voting now. Please look at the screen!"

Everyone raised their heads to see a bar chart appear on the screen. The number of votes that each person got slowly increased, and a few even surpassed others.

Everyone whipped their phones out, accessed TPDb's application, and cast their precious votes.

Ordinary employees, who were not present, could also vote on their phones. Those who failed to meet the deadline or did not cast their votes would be considered to have voided their votes.

One by one, a few names rose to the top. Those who had the least number of votes were automatically disqualified.

Bao Xu looked at his own name anxiously. To his shock, he realized that more than twenty people had voted for him!

All of a sudden, he wanted to find out who those twenty-odd people were. He felt eager to have a serious conversation about life with them.

Still, everything was fine. That petty number of votes would not be enough to push him to the top two places.

When he saw his own name being overtaken by many others, Bao Xu heaved a huge sigh of relief. Now, he could eat his snacks in peace.

Toward the end, the bar chart continued to move in an unexpected pattern. Finally, the top few names were confirmed.

Zhang Yuan was the best employee.

Li Yada was in second place.

Ma Yang was in third place.

Although Dream Realization Ventures had achieved outstanding results, voting systems were not exactly the fairest or most objective. To a certain extent, they would be influenced by individual relations.

Since Dream Realization Ventures was an independent department, its employees rarely interacted with those from other departments.

On the other hand, Zhang Yuan was in charge of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe and ROF and had to work closely with the other departments. For instance, ROF had sold computers at cost price to Ma Yiqun for the online authors' class. Upwind Logistics had also been helping ROF to deliver its system units to customers' doorsteps, and so the employees from those two companies were quite familiar with one another.

In addition, Fish-Catching Take-Out, Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, and Upwind Logistics had many employees. Since Lu Mingliang had already won once, he could not be nominated again. It was only natural that Zhang Yuan would be received with the prize this time.

As for Li Yada, her main achievement was that she had taken over Repent and be Saved midway through and that the game had risen to popularity. In addition, GOG was undergoing testing, and Tengda Games had always been influential. Those were the main reasons why she had come in second place.

Zhang Yuan obviously had not expected this outcome. He was stunned for two full seconds before he realized that he had to go on stage and receive his award.

"Thank you, Boss Pei! Thank you to all my colleagues as well!

"I feel guilty about receiving this prize. I will keep working hard in the future, and I won't betray all of your trust in me!"

Zhang Yuan said he was happy, but his expression showed no hint of happiness.

Being named the best employee meant that he would get a Dream Fund to fulfill his ambitions. However, Zhang Yuan did not have any ambitions!

Working at ROF was his favorite past-time, and he liked being the CEO of the Fish-Catching Internet Cafes as well. However, winning this prize would mean that both of these businesses would have no connection to him anymore!

Although he was unwilling, he could only suppress the sorrow in his heart on an occasion like that.

On the other hand, Pei Qian was overjoyed. This is great! Once again, the first-place-elimination system has gotten rid of the person who backstabbed me in the worst way possible!

Zhang Yuan had stirred up a lot of havoc while he had been in charge of the Fish-Catching Internet Cafes and ROF. Now, Pei Qian could deal with the problem once and for all and put Zhang Yuan in charge of other businesses. He could finally be relieved!

Of course, that also meant that someone else had to be put in charge of the Fish-Catching Internet Cafes and ROF.

However, Pei Qian didn't mind. He was filled with hope.

Zhang Yuan walked off the stage disappointedly. It was Li Yada's turn next.

However, the first thing that Li Yada said when she walked onto the stage caused everyone's jaw to drop.

"Boss Pei, can I give this award up…?"

Pei Qian's expression darkened. "You cannot give it up. Haven't I already said this time and time again?"

Li Yada grimaced. "Boss Pei, I'm really not prepared to go overseas and live on my own. I have to get a visa, book a hotel, set my itinerary, and speak to foreigners. I can't handle all of that by myself!

"What's more, I'll have to do that for a month, and I'm a female! It's too dangerous…"

All of that did sound very difficult for a female homebody.

Pei Qian remained silent for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, what you're saying makes sense.

"Safety would be a huge concern for a female going overseas for a holiday on her own.

"How about this? Find someone to be your partner for the holiday. At least there would be someone taking care of you and looking out for your safety. Hmm, it has to be someone with enough experience.

"Bao Xu, that'll be you!"

Bao Xu, who had been sipping his tea nonchalantly, suddenly choked and spat his tea back out. He did not even bother cleaning his mouth before saying, "Boss Pei! I—"

Pei Qian waved his hand, obviously uninterested in listening to his excuses. "You have the most experience, and you're close to Li Yada. You're the best person for the task. This is an order—you cannot refuse!"

Bao Xu opened his mouth as if wanting to say something. However, he had no idea what to say.

No matter how hard he tried, he would not be able to escape from this!

He would never have thought that—despite not placing among the top few, he would still be forced to go overseas! What bad luck he had!