A resignation letter from a veteran Alibaba employee recently posted on the Chinese tech giant’s internal forum has attracted thousands of responses, including from its founder Jack Ma.

The staffer was part of the team behind Alibaba’s enterprise collaboration tool DingTalk. He no longer works with the company, and now lives in New Zealand.

Under the alias Yuan An, he raised concerns about the company’s unclear strategies, failed acquisitions, and hiring practices.

The letter also criticized its performance assessments and promotion mechanisms.

Ma replied to the letter.

“Just as people have to go through many inevitable roads and processes in their growth, so does Alibaba’s development. Alibaba is in the midst of change. I wish you well, and also hope you’ll come back to visit often,” Ma wrote.

Read Yuan An’s letter in full below, which was translated from the company’s discussion board.

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Alibaba’s mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. Alibaba’s vision is to be a good company that lasts for 102 years.

I came here inspired by this mission, hoping to accompany the company through its long journey, because Alibaba is a great company.

When I first joined the company, we were in the Chuangye Building (Entrepreneurship Building). When we went to nearby restaurants for lunch, everyone wore their employee badges. Beyond the employee discounts offered by surrounding shops, what we enjoyed more was that wonderful feeling of being respected and thanked.

At that time, we were respected not because of our high salaries, but more because Alibaba people were kind and our products helped many people. People around us, to one degree or another, felt that Alibaba was solving various problems. The respect society gave us came from the recognition of our character and value.

Back then, there was a popular joke: Hangzhou mothers-in-law liked to find Alibaba sons-in-law, because Alibaba had screened them for good character, and Alibaba people were considered reliable.

I can’t remember when it started, but wearing the employee badge became less comfortable. The various terrible incidents and setbacks of these past few years have caused a huge change in both external public opinion and the internal mindset of employees. Perhaps mothers-in-law still like to find Alibaba sons-in-law, but now it’s because of the high income.

Looking back on these fifteen years, speaking objectively, it’s not that the barometer of external evaluation has changed; it’s that we ourselves have truly changed.

We have lost the dream we once had of bringing positive change to society. We talk about KPIs, salaries, stocks, and houses. We treat customers and users as traffic and data, focusing on how we operate on that data, how to “harvest” customers.

I. Past glory

II. External decline and decay

III. Numerous internal vices

IV. The root cause

V. Scraping the bone to heal the wound

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