Representatives of several hundred employees of Baidu Inc ended meetings here on Monday at company headquarters, giving Baidu several days to come up with a 'fair response' to their grievances, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Hundreds of employees stopped working on May 4 over salary cuts and new commission policies which they said were designed to force people out of their jobs, the journal said in a report carried by Dow Jones Newswires.

Representatives of striking employees met with the head of human resources and an assistant to Robin Li, the company's chief executive, and agreed to postpone the strike action, it said.

Baidu, which has about triple the share of Chinese Internet search advertising of Google Inc, set new sales targets at the start of this month and said it would withhold commission from employees who do not meet them, it said. Base salaries were also reduced by about 30 percent, the journal cited workers as saying.

Staff are demanding that the policies be cancelled and that the company's regional manager be fired.

In a statement Baidu said the new policies are nationwide policies designed to 'incentivize our sales force and promote healthy growth in the long-term,' the report said.

'While there are some issues with certain employees in parts of our operation, we are currently addressing the issues and expect a prompt resolution,' the company said.

Baidu, which reported revenue of 469 million dollars last year, had about 6,200 employees as of March, the report said. Calls to Baidu headquarters were not immediately answered late Monday. -- AFP