Upon discovering that he is among those slated to go, he devises a plan to feign expertise in artificial intelligence in order to remain employed for an extra 100 days and secure company stock options valued at 8 million yuan ($1.1 million).

The supporting roles are illustrations of different forms of workplace discrimination, ranging from the unfair treatment of a pregnant PR staffer, to disregard for a genius programmer's creativity and the complexities of relationships within the workplace.

During the film's Beijing premiere on Wednesday, Liu, a 38-year-old Beijing native, revealed that he had done research at several internet companies, and added that he hoped the film's nuanced portrayal of workplace stress would resonate with a broad audience.