Chinese robotics company Unitree is firing back at a wave of workplace rumors.
On September 1, topics including "Unitree employees say the reward-and-punishment mechanism is almost all punishment, with little reward" and "Reimbursements over 100 yuan require Wang Xingxing's approval" trended online. The company responded: "Much of the content is untrue, don't take it seriously."
Multiple people close to Unitree said pay at the company is not particularly high by industry standards. According to the report, salaries have improved compared with traditional industrial robot companies, but they still trail the embodied AI startups that have emerged since 2023. One employee said regular raises are smaller than the industry norm, and work intensity is high. Other employees said that in the early days, people had to put in extra hours on top of the 996 work culture (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week) and alternating five- and six-day workweeks. Some veteran employees said 2025 and 2026 are the two years with the highest attrition among Unitree's core talent.