The Internal Transfer Program at Tencent: Keeping the Water Fresh

Founded in 1998, Tencent Holdings Ltd. (Tencent) is a pioneer in value-added internet services in China and was listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in June 2004. Tencent's messaging and social networking platforms, WeChat and QQ, are leaders in internet instant messaging. Its business also includes the cloud, industrial internet, and interactive entertainment. The number of employees increased from a few dozen to over 40,000 in 2019, more than half of whom are technicians. They have an average age of 31 years, and 39% of them have a master's degree or above. To facilitate the reasonable and efficient internal talent flow, Tencent established an internal talent flow mechanism called the Huoshui Program (HSP) in 2011. Over the years, many employees and departments have benefited from this program. However, some employees still worry that they will receive an unfair performance rating from their current department before they transfer despite Tencent's continual efforts to improve the job transfer rules. Therefore, many employees choose to apply for the HSP after the annual or semi-annual performance review period. The key questions of this case are: Will this challenge somewhat suppress the vitality of the HSP? What other challenges does Tencent face in implementing the HSP? What efforts are needed in the future to make the HSP more effective?

• Human resource management
• Internet
• Hiring and recruitment
• Technology and analytics