![]() ![]() View 3: Internet Companies Pay High Salaries to Attract Top Talent But if they are ambitious and good at networking, they will gradually get opportunities, and advance their careers more rapidly. Employees who are not managers have fewer opportunities to participate in after-hours events. But in recent years, following Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption, these events have generally become less extravagant. In the past, these after-hour activities took place at lavish venues. Managers at these organizations will dedicate their evenings and weekends to activities that build relationships, such as working dinners, seminars, and conferences. The purpose of working overtime is different from the “996” internet companies, however. Outside of the tech industry, it is common for managers in more traditional Chinese organizations, such as government, state-owned companies, and hospitals to also work long hours and weekends. Otherwise, there is no reason to keep them at the office late. If there is a backlog of active projects or a deadline that is approaching fast, consultants will work very long hours. ![]() Service companies, such as system integrators and IT consulting companies, tend to have more variability in their working schedules because their work is project-based. Other companies that work closely with these firms, such as server vendors, also have adopted similar work schedules so they can respond rapidly to the needs of “996” customers. These companies have the longest hours and most regular schedules. The leaders in the “996” movement are large internet companies and tech startups. However, there are many variants of the broader “996” working culture, including 995 (9 am to 9 pm five days a week), “8106” (8 am to 10 pm six days a week), and even “997” (9 am to 9 pm seven days a week). Strictly speaking, “996” means working from 9 am to 9 pm Monday through Saturday. View 2: There Are Many Different Flavors of “996” ![]() Therefore, to combat the declining cost advantage, companies started asking employees to work longer hours. But with the rapid growth of China’s economy, wages have also increased significantly. Historically, China has had the competitive advantage of low labor costs. In this way, they were able to support the growth using their existing staff while hiring new staff as fast as they could.Īnother reason for adopting the “996” work week was to keep labor costs down. Therefore, they started to add overtime hours gradually, first one day a week, then increasing to every day. In the early 2000s, Chinese tech companies started to grow rapidly, but they couldn’t hire new employees fast enough to keep up with the growth. This is an important reason China’s economy has grown twice as fast as the US economy over the same period of time. Since China’s opening up, ambitious entrepreneurs have worked tirelessly to raise the country out of poverty. While the “996” working-hour system is something that has developed gradually over the last ten to fifteen years, the culture of working overtime has been around since China’s economic reform in the late 1970s. Although these views are not based on quantitative research, each analyst is an expert in the Chinese tech industry, and collectively their views provide a noteworthy perspective on “996” in China. This content does not necessarily reflect the views of China BizConnect or any analyst organization. The following content includes personal observations and impressions of industry analysts covering the China tech industry. Each of these analysts shared their experiences and opinions on the subject. To get a better understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of “996,” and whether it makes sense for foreign firms to become more like their Chinese competitors, I conducted inquiry calls with six of my favorite China-based IT analysts working at two leading analyst firms. And prominent industry leaders, such as Alibaba’s Jack Ma ( see endnote 1) and JD’s Richard Liu, ( see endnote 2) have publicly expressed why Chinese firms need “996” to survive and grow in China’s brutally competitive tech market. Some vocal Chinese developers have started a low-key protest against these long working hours. Recently the topic of “996” (the 72-hour work week common at Chinese tech companies) has gained a lot of attention in the news. Being a Westerner, I couldn’t put up with the long work week, so I quickly jumped at the opportunity to work at a foreign firm that provided a better work-life balance. ![]() Not only did we frequently work in the evenings, but we also participated in work-related events on the weekends. I learned this first-hand many years ago when I took a job at Yonyou, a large Chinese ERP vendor. One of the most striking differences between the IT industry in China and the West is the amount of time that professionals put into their work. ![]()
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