Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!

Chapter 967 - 755: Tactics (Part 2)

Sure, here is the translated text:These two disciples, still under Bai Qinghua’s protection, how are they more ruthless to the sect than me, a half-outsider?

Chonghui chuckled lightly—he no longer needed to force his expression, now he could make expressions freely in front of Shi Chuxin.

He said, "We are actually making it convenient for you. After all, we have a lot to discuss, and it will take a lot of time. But you’re different from us—we are an external project team with no attendance requirements, while you are a full-time employee in the HR department."

"What if we spend too long on private matters, extending beyond lunch break and disrupting your proper work—wouldn’t that be bad?"

This reason is quite flimsy. Chonghui said it merely to gain the upper hand in conversation over Shi Chuxin.

It has no real significance in terms of content.

But unexpectedly, Chonghui saw an unnatural look on Shi Chuxin’s face.

"Why, does your HR department... have some special situation recently?"

Nan Zhubin also raised his eyebrows thoughtfully: "Speaking of which, you seem to have been running around a lot lately, even visiting our EAP Project Team many times..."

...

At the entrance of the HR office area.

A man with an ID badge stained with irregular ink—Old Mo, was currently staring blankly at the recognition lock with his companion.

They had been standing at the HR office entrance for half a day, but no one had come out.

Old Mo repeatedly rubbed the badge chip with his fingertips, swiping once more at the recognition lock.

The machine still emitted repeated error beeps, the cold light reflecting in his unfocused eyes.

In the entire company, except for the core technical R&D department, only the HR department has this recognition lock, and only those within the department and a few executives have swipe access.

But—for the R&D department, it’s understandable, preventing idle outsiders due to core confidential information.

For an administrative department like HR to install this lock, it’s unclear who they are trying to prevent?

The more Old Mo thought, the more agitated he became, yet he restrained his temper and swiped his badge again, unsurprisingly receiving the same error beep.

But perhaps they were too persistent, this time there were some rustling sounds from behind the door, and eventually, a head with long hair peeked out.

The badge on the other’s chest showed—unsurprisingly—an intern.

"Brother Mo, Brother Zhou, it’s you again." The female intern was not dealing with them for the first time, "I’m sorry, but our director has made a rule that non-HR personnel cannot enter without prior appointment."

"I made an appointment, did you approve it?" Old Mo suppressed his voice, "I don’t understand, does your HR department have something to hide? Even the Sales Department full of big contracts doesn’t have such stringent security!"

Compared to communicating with Chen Lizhou, Old Mo seemed like a different person now.

"I’m not meeting you for the first time either, go find someone in charge for me!"

His companion quietly nudged Old Mo with his elbow, signaling him to calm down. Old Mo didn’t turn around, he just stared straight at the young woman.

The female intern said in a raw voice, "Brother Mo, Brother Zhou, I’m sorry... Our supervisor and manager already went out early, they haven’t said when they’ll be back. Right now, it’s just us interns and specialists on duty."

"If you’re asking about the layoffs... we don’t even know how to modify the entries, let alone the contract details."

This response made Old Mo grit his teeth, and it was the same refrain again.

However, what the female intern said might actually not be an excuse; when layoff tensions are concentrated, HR decision-makers are usually well-prepared.

This recognition lock that only acknowledges HR badges is the most direct physical separation measure.

In terms of process, forcing appointment interviews, intentionally prolonging cycles to wear down employee temper is a common tactic; in communication, arranging interns and lower-level specialists without decision-making authority as buffers, pre-training unified scripts to avoid intensifying conflicts and provide no clear answers, minimizing conflict risks.

As for the supervisor and manager-level decision-makers, they’re conveniently absent, like dragons showing only their heads, never appearing fully.

Seeing Old Mo’s face darken, the female intern seemed to think of something and quickly ran back to her workplace, pulling out two unknown items, then swiftly returned.

Old Zhou, seeing this, nudged Old Mo aside to make space, the intern unlocked the recognition lock and handed out those two items.

They looked down and saw they were forms.

"This is about... opinion feedback for employee optimization. If there are any questions, fill this out first; we’ll distribute it to everyone to fill out, and any issues will be reported uniformly, with a response as soon as possible..."

The female intern spoke this part in a stiff tone, like she had just been told this script.

It was true.

This opinion feedback form was one of the HR department’s measures to stabilize employee emotions after a meeting led by the HR director.

This is quite a low-cost emotion buffering technique. Through filling out the feedback form, the anger, grievances, and that feeling of "no outlet for demands" felt by laid-off employees find an outlet, preventing negative emotions from exploding on the spot.

Simultaneously, the "fill-report-wait for reply" process intentionally lengthens communication cycles, so once the employees’ excitement wanes, many will slowly choose to resign simply because they can’t afford the time and energy for this.

It’s effective, whether described as cutting flesh with a blunt knife or boiling frogs in warm water.

Old Zhou was about to reach for the forms but was stopped by Old Mo, who pressed his wrist down. He didn’t feel relieved at all as he had gotten an answer and instead looked even darker.

Old Mo didn’t understand the deeper psychological principles involved, but he was well acquainted with this evasive style.

He instinctively clenched his fist.

The glass door at the entrance to the HR department hadn’t closed yet, and the female intern was very close to them, almost within arm’s reach.

The young woman’s face turned pale.

But Old Zhou again held Old Mo back.

"Brother Mo... we really can’t make decisions; the supervisor’s phone isn’t reachable, we can only follow the process. If you want to find the person in charge, you’ll have to take your chances later." The female intern spoke with genuine sincerity, "Brother Mo, it’s hard for us too; during our training, we were strictly told we can only respond this way... there’s nothing else I can say even if you ask..."

The female intern suddenly seemed to have a thought: "Our supervisor also said... if Brother Mo, you really have any opinions, you could try finding the EAP people—the ’Employee Assistance Program’ project team, they might have a solution!"

She hurriedly retreated after saying this. As the door closed, she quickly vanished from their sight.

"Old Mo? Old Mo!" A hand waved in front of him, snapping Old Mo back from his scattered thoughts, "So what now, should we go find that... EAP?"

"No need, going there would most likely be a waste of time." Old Mo’s tone revealed his tiredness, "Hasn’t that project team given a few lectures before? Do you think they can help with our current situation?"

The companion remained indifferent.

"Probably just more pass-the-buck and evasive tactics. They’ll make us run around, exhaust us until we don’t have the energy to find anyone."

"Moreover, isn’t their project team... dealing with psychological stuff? They might use some bizarre method, like hypnosis, on us or something..."

"Where does this mystical stuff come from?" The companion couldn’t help but laugh at this, asking, "Then what do we do next?"

"Now that it’s come to this, let’s eat first..."

Old Mo only said half a sentence before he abruptly stared straight at a fleeting figure inside the HR office area.

"Old Zhou, look, isn’t that the intern we met before in the cafeteria, the one with Chen Lizhou?!"