Toxic Work Culture in China: The 996 Lifestyle

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China's rapid technology development throughout the 21st century has not come without a hefty cost. When we think of our favourite apps, like TikTok, we generally don't think about the overworked employees behind our entertainment. Unfortunately, this taxing “996 lifestyle” has become the norm at many Chinese tech companies, where employees work from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week. It also often requires staff to be on standby at all times, forcing workers to wake up from their sleep at 2 am in order to respond to emergencies.

The tech industry is notoriously competitive in China, and companies stay ahead by implementing such gruelling work hours. There is great societal pressure to work hard and make money since China's young generation is expected to completely support their parents as they age. With the huge population of the country, a worker slacking off can be easily replaced with another, and people need to keep their jobs in order to afford rent in big cities. Well-known corporations almost always have their headquarters in either Beijing or Shanghai. Therefore, citizens migrate to the big cities to find employment. However, the cost of living is exceedingly high, forcing people to spend a significant portion of their income on housing.

Longer working hours have been proven to achieve the exact opposite of what these tech companies want: they reduce productivity and can — in some cases — even lead to death. In 2020, a 22-year-old woman collapsed on the sidewalk while walking home from work at 1:30 am. She was transported to the hospital, where physicians could not revive her, resulting in yet another untimely death due to overwork. The woman worked for Pinduoduo, an e-commerce firm notorious for demanding their employees' compliance with the 996 workload or more.

Employees who refuse to work in accordance with the 996 lifestyle at companies that expect it are fired at best and publicly humiliated at worst. In one instance, workers were forced to carry signs indicating that they had received the "freeloader award" and were photographed and shamed for it on social media. These toxic work demands and environments disproportionately impact lower-middle-class tech workers, who are sometimes paid absolutely nothing for working extra.

According to Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba and China's richest man, the busy 996 schedule is a "huge blessing" for young professionals. He emphasizes that 996 will not be an issue as long as you enjoy your job. Richard Liu, the CEO of the Chinese e-commerce website JD.com, agreed with Ma, posting on WeChat that "Slackers are not my brothers!". However, it isn't only Chinese CEOs who are saying this; Elon Musk has stated that those who want to make a difference in the world should work 80-100 hours per week, stating that "nobody ever changed the world on 40 hours a week". The trend is clear: the only people who support the 996 work lifestyle are extraordinarily wealthy and benefit from exploiting their employees every day.

People who work 996 have pushed for more equitable working hours through memes, stickers, and T-shirts. There have been no strikes or protests because employees are scared that the Chinese government will retaliate, therefore leading to the definite end of their movement. Chinese workers have created a blacklist of tech companies on GitHub to raise awareness on which companies have the longest working hours. The guilty consist of Alibaba, JD.com, Huawei, and Bytedance, the company behind TikTok. In a half-joking manner, there have even been calls to implement a holiday in honor of exhausted software engineers.

Believe it or not, Chinese labor laws have always required employees to work a maximum of 44 hours per week, with overtime pay for anything above that limit. Unfortunately, this law was not enforced or followed until recently. Thankfully, the Chinese government has begun to make reforms that will benefit employees who are struggling under the 996 system. In August, the Supreme People's Court, in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, unanimously determined that forcing workers to comply with 996 is illegal. China has also started to crack down on tech companies to enforce the law. In July of this year, Bytedance announced that it would be cutting off its "big/small week" policy. For context, A "big week" is when employees get the entire weekend off, whereas a "small week" is when they only have one day off. It is hoped that these enforcement efforts will continue, although many believe that they may fade with time. In addition, employment within the tech industry is expected to increase by more than 30% as companies strive to make up for lost hours. At last, young employees in China are hopeful about the future as they move towards a life in which they have more time to do recreational activities, instead of being overworked, poorly paid slaves to multimillionaire corporations.

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Published December 12, 2021

Written by Layla Wu ~ Edited by Sasha Thomas ~ Graphics created by Prabneet Kaur