Leadership Talk: The HR Department Is Looking For You

"Zhang, the team leader wants to see you."

Zhang Anzai had just arrived at his workstation right on the dot, only to hear a junior who had just walked into the office say this.

Lin Zhao, sitting nearby, hadn't expected Zhang Anzai to be so precise with his timing, nor had she expected him to be summoned immediately, even though he had arrived just seconds before the start of his shift.

"What's the situation?" Lin Zhao asked.

Zhang Anzai shook his head helplessly: "Nothing much."

He walked straight from the open-plan office area into the enclosed office to the side.

The team leader had always stayed right beside them; when the door was open or the rolling shutter behind the glass partition was pulled up, the two offices were at least visually connected.

This made it convenient for him to keep an eye on the work of those below him at all times.

"You're here, 01." Inside the office, the Dog-Head Team Leader sat behind his computer, looking every bit the part. Upon seeing Zhang Anzai enter, he quickened his typing speed, as if rushing to wrap up some work.

Afterward, he slid his office chair to the other end of the long desk so that after Zhang Anzai sat down, there wouldn't be a computer monitor separating them.

"01, come, come, sit, sit." The team leader gestured with his hand.

Zhang Anzai watched this smooth little sequence of moves with zero ripples in his heart.

Having spent a fair amount of time at a black-hearted company, if he couldn't see through such an obvious performance, those years would have been wasted.

He's not acting natural enough... the keyboard is basically being mashed; the screen probably isn't even off the homepage.

Zhang Anzai knew clearly that this was a performance put on by the team leader specifically to make the employee being spoken to feel that their superior valued them.

"Your work performance has been quite outstanding lately... you just submitted a report with an above-average rating, right? Very good."

The Dog-Head Team Leader unscrewed a straight-walled thermos cup that felt very familiar and spoke thusly.

Zhang Anzai wasn't surprised by his words; what else could he have been called in for?

The performance of these team leaders was tied to the newcomers beneath them; the newcomers competed with each other, and the leaders competed with other leaders.

Therefore, high-performing employees needed praise, and those who slacked off needed criticism. It was nothing out of the ordinary.

He was just thankful the leader wasn't hitting him with a bunch of circular, nonsensical drivel like:

"Although your recent performance has been quite good, you must pay attention to the key issues of our work, and the key to the key issues is the key of the issue."

"I've been in this team leader position for quite a long time, and I believe my leadership has been quite significant; every batch produces a few excellent employees.

Take this current batch, for example—01, your performance is quite good. And 02, your performance was a bit sluggish a while back, but recently, it has been getting better and better."

The Dog-Head Team Leader said this while taking small sips of water that, for some reason, he insisted on pouring so scalding hot.

In his mind, Zhang Anzai automatically translated the words into blah, blah, blah.

Since entering the Ancient Shadow Records company, the longer he stayed, the more he felt this guy wasn't much different from certain leaders in reality; they all had the same varied array of flaws.

If nothing else, this inexplicable obsession with company titles and even employee ID numbers was truly exasperating.

Once upon a time, not long after Zhang Anzai had entered that black-hearted company, he had seen leaders who refused to call employees by their real names. It wasn't like foreign companies where you were specifically asked to pick an English name; here, everyone was assigned a code or a nickname.

It always felt like they were using the employees as pieces in a management simulation game.

Fortunately, he didn't have to endure this team leader for too long, and even if their relationship soured, it wouldn't significantly affect his chances of becoming a permanent employee. As long as he shed his newcomer status and moved to the top five teams, his relationship with this Dog-Head Team Leader wouldn't matter much anymore.

Moreover, compared to the few big bosses Zhang Anzai hated most at his previous company, this team leader's level was still lacking; at the very least, he didn't demand sycophancy, nor did he have much interest in digging pits for them.

"Work isn't too busy lately, is it?" the team leader asked.

If this question were asked by those disgusting types of leaders, it would likely be a setup or a way to pressure the employee, but coming from him, it might actually be devoid of hidden meaning.

It was just that watching someone with a dog's head say such things still felt a bit hard to get used to.

"Not busy, not busy. Besides, work is all about self-improvement, isn't it?" Zhang Anzai wore a professional fake smile.

"I like hearing that. Excellent employees have high ideological awareness and a very upright attitude." The team leader said, then indicated:

"Since work isn't busy, I have an opportunity here for you to improve yourself. It's... a matter from the Personnel Department that requires you to go over and handle a handover. If you don't have anything else, you can go now."

The Dog-Head Team Leader very calmly framed a work request from another department as a favor he was doing for his employee.

"Is that so?" Upon hearing "Personnel Department," Zhang Anzai felt a flicker of excitement, but he immediately suppressed his emotions.

It wasn't that he needed to appear calm; it was just that the Personnel Department didn't just handle promotions—being called over there could very well be about something else entirely.

"Thank you for the notification, Leader. I'll go right away." Zhang Anzai responded calmly.

The Dog-Head Team Leader raised his thermos and nodded: "Go, go. Keep up your recent momentum."

Zhang Anzai walked out of the office silently, muttering: "So soon?"

He returned to his seat and organized his computer files, transferring them to his phone.

Lin Zhao turned around and asked: "Anzai, what did he call you over for?"

Zhang Anzai typed on his keyboard while replying: "Just some performative praise. Actually, it's mostly because the Personnel Department needs me for something."

"The Personnel Department?" Lin Zhao's expression was quite startled.

Zhang Anzai sighed helplessly: "I hope it's a promotion, but I suspect it's about that player."

"Oh..." Lin Zhao nodded.

The Human Resources Department manages both employee files and player files.

If the Archives Department records information on instances and instance monsters, then this department records the various data of employees and players.

These two departments are categorized together, and they seem to share the same superior, known as the Chief Information Officer.

Zhang Anzai packed up his things, took his phone and some paper documents, and headed over to the Human Resources Department.

There aren't many employees here; like the Logistics Department, it is organized by sections.

This is understandable; after all, even with a massive amount of information to process, the aid of electronic equipment means it isn't a department that requires a huge number of hands.

"Administrator 01 from Group 7? Turn right, Player Archives Section. Deputy Section Chief Cheng is waiting for you."

Under the receptionist's guidance, Zhang Anzai turned and walked toward the independent office of the Player Archives Section Chief.

Upon entering, his first reaction was that he felt he had nowhere to step.

It wasn't exactly messy or haphazard; there wasn't a single player file thrown randomly on the floor, as they were all stuffed into box-shaped folders, but there were simply too many of them, and quite a few were stacked vertically on the ground.

"Knock, knock, knock." Zhang Anzai tapped on the open door, then looked at the so-called Deputy Section Chief busy at the desk, unable to help but sigh: "Comparisons are odious... just look at someone else's leadership."