Feng Yehua, Wu Wenlong, Qiu Bing, Jin Gong Xuanwen, photographed by Hu Ping

Jiangsu Housheng New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. recently completed a new round of equity financing, cementing its status as another unicorn in our city’s lithium-ion battery materials sector. Gao Yu, the company’s Party branch secretary and vice chairman of the trade union, told reporters: “Over the more than five years since our establishment, achieving today’s success is the result of the concerted efforts of all our 400-plus employees. After all, innovation is the hallmark of a unicorn enterprise, and industrial workers are the direct creators of that innovation.”

In November 2017, Jiangsu Housheng New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. was established in Jintan. The company is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the R&D and production of wet-process base films and functional coated separators in various specifications, with its products primarily used in power batteries for new-energy vehicles, 3C consumer batteries, and energy-storage batteries. Jiangsu Housheng has proactively seized the opportunities presented by the times and set its sights on investing in and developing a new-energy industry base; however, at the end of the day, all of this ultimately depends on people to make it happen.

Yan Songhai, production supervisor at Jiangsu Housheng’s base film workshop, rose through the ranks from a frontline operator. In 2019, he joined Jiangsu Housheng with only a secondary vocational education; at the time, neither his technical knowledge nor his practical skills gave him an edge over his peers. Yet as a hands-on operator, Yan is quick to think critically and eager to refine every step of the process. Before long, he not only mastered the entire production line’s operating procedures but also gained an intimate understanding of the key technologies underlying each stage. Last year, driven by his thirst for learning and ambition, Yan was promoted to production supervisor. “Our company’s promotion pathways are highly open,” he says. “As long as you’re willing to work hard and put in the effort, you can advance, realize your potential—and the more you work, the more you earn.” Yan also expresses gratitude, noting that allowing young employees to experiment and learn from their mistakes provides the best platform for on-the-job development and growth.

“Ensure that those who deliver results are given due recognition, and that those who get things done can focus without worry.” This is the human resources management principle at Jiangsu Housheng. Li Dazhe, Senior Chief Engineer in the company’s R&D Department, has experienced this principle most profoundly. Joining Jiangsu Housheng in January 2022, Li has, with the support of the company’s patent specialists, already filed for and secured three patents, with two more currently under application. These patented innovations have been successfully implemented in production, yielding tangible benefits. As a result, he has received the company’s patent award and seen a corresponding increase in his annual salary. “The R&D and innovation environment here is truly outstanding,” Li says. “When tackling challenging and complex projects, cross-departmental collaboration is highly efficient—something that is inseparable from the company’s institutional mechanisms.” To date, Jiangsu Housheng has had more than 500 patent applications accepted, with invention patents accounting for 70% of the total; over 250 patents have been granted, placing the company among the leaders in the industry. As a result, employees have collectively received rewards totaling RMB 910,000.

To stimulate the innovative and creative vitality of all employees, Jiangsu Housheng has established a patent reward system and introduced policies to encourage continuing education. The company implements a coordinated approach that combines training programs with skills competitions, ensuring that every employee can benchmark against best practices and achieve continuous improvement. According to Gao Yu, the company has seized development opportunities by increasing R&D investment, accelerating breakthroughs in critical core technologies, and developing more technologies and products that carry significant industry influence, thereby maintaining its leading position in niche markets. At the same time, the company has comprehensively implemented industrial reform, setting up a dedicated task force to formulate relevant policies aimed at enhancing employees’ status, respect, and tangible benefits. It has also promoted the signing of special collective agreements on employee technological innovation, effectively stimulating the creativity of industrial workers and strengthening their sense of honor, responsibility, and mission. Since the implementation of the industrial reform, the company’s employee turnover rate has declined year by year, falling below 3% last year; employee satisfaction has steadily increased, with more than 100 reasonable suggestions submitted by employees being adopted and fully addressed, resulting in an employee satisfaction rate exceeding 90%.

According to reports, Jiangsu Housheng has established three distinct career-development tracks—technical, skills-based, and managerial—allowing employees to freely choose the track that best aligns with their aspirations and development goals, thereby ensuring comprehensive coverage of every employee’s career planning. Building on its ongoing efforts to refine a “four-in-one” talent-development pipeline that integrates training, skill-building exercises, competitive assessments, and promotion opportunities, the company has implemented a multi-track talent-development framework that enables employees to transition from single-job roles to multi-skilled positions, thus empowering frontline staff to become the driving force behind the organization’s innovation and growth. At the same time, Jiangsu Housheng has adopted a “careful attention” approach as part of its employee-retention strategy: annual salary adjustments are tiered upward based on individual performance contributions; living and housing allowances are awarded according to length of service and job-level; and benefits for events such as marriage, childbirth, and illness range from RMB 300 to RMB 1,200 per occurrence. In this way, the longer an employee serves the company, the more generous the associated benefits become, while also receiving increasingly robust opportunities for professional growth and development.

Jiangsu Housheng operates three major production bases in Jiangsu, Shanxi, and Chongqing. Its Jiangsu base is fully operational, with four base-film production lines and associated coating lines now in full-scale production. In recent years, the company has been recognized as a National High-Tech Enterprise, a Potential Unicorn Enterprise of Jiangsu Province, a “Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise” of Jiangsu Province, a Provincial Private Science and Technology Enterprise, and a Municipal Enterprise Technology Center, among other honors.