28-Year-Old ByteDance Employee Dies Suddenly

On Tuesday, a post titled “the sudden death of a 28-year-old employee at ByteDance” was widely spread on Maimai, a job information sharing platform in China. ByteDance previously issued an announcement, pointing out that the employee behaved abnormally while exercising in the firm’s gym and was still being treated in hospital. A second notice was issued later, saying that the employee unfortunately passed away at 13:43 on February 23.

According to ByteDance, the employee developed dizziness after exercising in the gym for about one hour and went to the pantry to rest. A gym coach noticed his abnormal conditions and asked about them. The employee answered that it might be hypoglycemia, and the coach then poured him a glass of sugar water. A security manager measured the blood pressure of the employee. The employee vomited while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Then the security manager and another security guard gave CPR first aid to the employee. It took about half an hour from the time the employee became dizzy to the time he was carried onto the ambulance.

ByteDance stated, “We’re extremely saddened by the passing of our colleague and extend our deepest condolences to our colleague’s family and friends. We will do our utmost to support our colleague’s family.” During the employee’s treatment, ByteDance had borne all the medical expenses and gave full support.

According to a report by LT on Wednesday, the employee’s wife posted on social media, revealing that her husband is an image algorithm engineer in the video architecture department at ByteDance. He joined the firm almost four years ago, and has a lot of overtime work.

According to the wife, the employee first felt uncomfortable in the gym. After communicating with the staff, they didn’t help immediately. Instead, they asked him to find a doctor himself. An hour later, the employee called his wife from the ByteDance building. The wife pointed out that ByteDance had delayed the best rescue time. She also claimed that she has been pregnant for two months now, currently has no job and income, and must meet a monthly mortgage of 21,000 yuan ($3,317).

The news has caused heated discussion among Chinese web users. One netizen commented, “It seems true that bytes and hearts can only ‘dance’ one.”

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