Homo Sapiens

July 8th, 2021.

Huaguo.

Mingzhou Port, Samsung Heavy Industries’ Mingzhou Shipyard.

Having received no orders from headquarters in recent years, the shipyard’s business and profits were extremely low. Samsung Heavy Industries was already preparing to shut it down.

For the shipyard’s workers, this news was a bolt from the blue.

Soon, many employees began to protest.

However, many others were on outsourced contracts (similar to labor dispatch), so they had no way to protest. These workers made up more than half of the workforce.

The special branch office of the Homo Sapiens Company in Modu quickly received intelligence on the matter.

Carmen Lopez, who was in charge of all of Homo Sapiens Company’s operations in the Greater China Region, was in Modu at that moment, handling procurement contracts for a batch of crane equipment.

Upon hearing the news, he immediately instructed the HR department to send people to Mingzhou Port to recruit skilled shipbuilding workers. He specifically targeted the outsourced employees—they did the hardest, most grueling work for much lower pay than the official staff, making them the easiest to poach.

In fact, over the past year or two, the Homo Sapiens Company’s HR department had already poached a significant number of skilled workers from the Greater China Region.

Although the East Asia Region accounted for over 90% of global shipbuilding, the wages were not particularly high.

Especially in recent years, many shipyards saw their orders increase, yet they still reported losses year after year.

The average median monthly income at major shipyards was around 5,000 to 7,000 Huaguo Yuan.

For example, due to poor profits at Samsung Heavy Industries’ Mingzhou Shipyard, the average median monthly income for employees was just over 4,000.

A special task force from the Homo Sapiens Company’s HR department quickly arrived at Mingzhou Port. Led by team leader Lu Yinsen, they secretly made contact with the shipyard’s skilled workers.

The few electricians and welders who were invited out were a bit flattered. Jobs were indeed hard to find these days, and even with skills in hand, they faced immense competitive pressure.

These welders could earn around 300 Huaguo Yuan a day doing side jobs, but such gigs weren’t available every day. Furthermore, side jobs often meant no strict safety guarantees, let alone social insurance and housing funds.

The entire shipbuilding industry was currently in a slump. Vicious competition among the three major shipbuilding nations of East Asia had created severe internal competition.

Just because many shipyards produce millions of tons of ships a year, don’t assume they make a 5% profit on every vessel.

In reality, only high-end vessels—LNG carriers—managed to eke out a meager 5% profit.

This alone showed just how poor the financial situation of these shipyards was. Many of their shipbuilding orders were essentially loss leaders, taken on just to stay in business.

Take Huaguo’s shipbuilding industry, for example. Completed orders this year generated about 180 billion US Dollars in revenue, yet the total profit was only 1.9 billion US Dollars, a profit margin of just 1.1%.

Meanwhile, the price of steel had risen from 3,000–4,000 Huaguo Yuan per ton at the beginning of the year to 5,000–6,000 Huaguo Yuan per ton.

The prices were fixed when the contracts were signed. The client wasn’t going to compensate the shipyard just because the cost of ship-grade steel went up; the shipyard had to absorb that cost itself.

It was becoming increasingly difficult for shipyards to turn a profit. The industry as a whole was in a state of long-term loss, with expenses exceeding income. Could anyone really expect companies to maintain good benefits? They should be thankful they weren’t being laid off.

So, what about the New Luzon Shipyard’s net profit?

The answer was: very good. Its overall profit margin reached about 15%.

Of course, only the Homo Sapiens Company knew this profit margin internally. In the New Luzon Shipyard’s quarterly revenue report, the published profit margin was a mere 1.3%, on par with other major shipyards in East Asia.

But in reality, the New Luzon Shipyard’s profits were transferred to the Sea Snail Company and the Luzon Electric Company, as well as used to build warships for the Luzon Navy at cost. This was why its profitability appeared so poor.

Currently, the New Luzon Shipyard was secretly testing a brand-new shipbuilding technology. If the tests were successful, shipbuilding costs would drop by 40% to 50%.

...

Lu Yinsen smiled as he poured tea for the dozen or so skilled technicians.

"Please, everyone, don’t be formal. Let’s eat and talk."

As the leader among the welders, Wei Lei took a sip of oolong tea before speaking. "President Lu, we’ve all looked at your company’s offer. I’ve also read up on your shipyard. The other benefits are impeccable, but about this ’family immigration’ requirement... is that negotiable?"

The technicians present had all been working in the shipbuilding industry for a long time; the youngest among them had at least three years of experience.

They had all heard of the New Luzon Shipyard, which had risen to prominence in recent years. After Lu Yinsen sent them the recruitment ad, Wei Lei and the others had carefully researched the New Luzon Shipbuilding Company.

According to the recruitment ad from Lu Yinsen, if they joined as technical personnel, their base monthly salary would be around 5,000 Huaguo Yuan.

If they were willing to immigrate with their entire families, they would receive an internal employment contract, and their starting salary would increase to around 8,000 Huaguo Yuan per month.

In addition, the other various benefits were excellent.

Furthermore, for those who immigrated with their families, the company would also arrange jobs, education, and retirement care for their family members. This made the offer even more attractive to those with dependents.

Adding to that, many people from within the country had already gone to work in Luzon or immigrated there with their families, and they had posted numerous threads and videos online.

This left Wei Lei and the others with no reason to doubt the Homo Sapiens Company’s offer.

"Gentlemen, the requirement for internal employees to immigrate with their entire families is our company’s bottom line," Lu Yinsen said, shaking his head with a smile. "After all, internal employees will be responsible for classified positions, and we cannot entrust such important roles to foreign nationals."

He was laying his cards on the table. ’If you don’t have the courage to immigrate with your family, then you should just accept the external contract. Don’t think you can reap all the rewards without making a commitment.’

Lu Yinsen, being in charge of recruitment in the Greater China Region, had met all sorts of people and naturally understood what some of them were thinking.

He also understood the traditional Huaguo concepts of finding it hard to leave one’s homeland and of returning to one’s roots in old age. These ideas made many hesitant to immigrate with their entire families. If it were just them immigrating alone, many would likely accept.

’Their thinking is very pragmatic. If things don’t work out abroad someday, they can still go back home and rely on their parents or relatives.’

’If the whole family immigrates, after a while, it means their network of connections and any assets back home will be neglected. They’ll lose their safety net.’

Moreover, the Homo Sapiens Company was ruthless in its methods. Once an employee’s entire family immigrated, the company would not only publish the list of immigrants on its official website but also require the employee to make a clean break with their homeland—by renouncing their original citizenship.

For those who wanted to have it both ways, this was obviously unacceptable.

Among Wei Lei’s group, there were some who had precisely this intention.

But where in the world could you find such a perfect deal? To gain something, you always have to give something up.

By the end of the meal, both sides understood each other’s bottom line. All that remained was for the individuals to make their choice.

Lu Yinsen had no intention of pestering them. He would only give them one chance. Whether they were willing to go work in Luzon was a choice they had to make for themselves.

In truth, the Homo Sapiens Company wasn’t interested in that many of the technical workers from the Samsung Mingzhou Shipyard. General laborers and management staff were not even considered, as Luzon had plenty of those.

Only the skilled workers were the focus of this poaching effort.

In less than three days, a dozen or so skilled workers made their decision, resolving to go work in Luzon.

A few skilled workers even came from privately-owned shipyards in neighboring cities to apply. Apparently, life at the private shipyards was even tougher, and for the sake of survival, these workers didn’t mind going abroad to work.