The Extreme 996 Work Culture in China

"996" is a common term used by employees at China’s tech companies to describe their working life- starting work at 9am and leaving at 9pm, working six days a week. VICE World News looks at China’s hyper-competitive work culture and the costs to their personal and social lives.

*VICE Motion Graphics Artist - Kushagrah Kalia

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[Steph-yztn]

I had a boss tell me once, "Your job is to pay for the type of lifestyle you want to live. It should never consume your life. Your family, friends, and well-being are what's important in life." I still live by those words.

[Auroron]

"The dark side of 996", Bro all the sides of this are dark

[feliciacote-floyd]

I've worked in China for almost 5 years and the working hours (mainly for Chinese citizens) is completely insane. People are not efficient nor productive due to exhaustion and mental fatigue. Meetings always last multiple hours and rarely anything gets resolved. The lack of productivity is actually astonishing. For example, people were shocked when I finished a simple task within 1 hour, rather than taking 2-4 hours to complete it. These are results of 996 working mentality, people are just stretching out their tasks as much as possible. I've seen some companies in China slowly adopting 4 days work week or 4.5 days work week, really hoping it continues in that direction, because the younger generation at the moment will never accept 996.

[pifficus]

For four years in my twenties I worked away from home, sleeping in one or two star motels working 5-6 days a week, +10 hour days. There was a period of time were I worked 20 days straight. I refuse to live my life like this. These years of my life are gone and I will never get them back.

[hantor]

This level of work ethic makes sense for an entrepreneur serving to grow a business. Not for employees getting paid hourly.

[admiralackbar]

Imagine being a slave for more than a decade to get a degree just to be a slave again for the rest of your existence. What a life!

[Naomi-ycfp]

This type of life style doesn’t just affect the worker, it affects their family too. As a daughter of a single family, I got sent to boarding school because my mom just doesn’t have the time to take care of me, but even when I’m back home during weekends, I only get to see her for a few hours from Saturday night till Sunday afternoon where she would send me to the school bus and I go back to school.

Now that I’m an adult, I have realized I was completely neglected and traumatized as a child, but I don’t even really blame her cause could she have done. Because of the lack of family support in my childhood, I grew up being clinically depressed too. It’s honestly such an unsustainable way of working, because even now my mom is still constantly working, even when she is suppose to be resting or on a holiday, she is always answering work calls, replying to work messages

[misterlove]

In my country, the trucking industry was just like that. If you didn't accept the illegal wages and bad work practices, bosses would say "if I trow the keys in the air, there are 100 other drivers waiting to catch them".

15-20 years later, compnay owners look at how pretty their trucks are sitting in the garages because they have no drivers. But instead of creating decent working conditions, they blame the drivers for not wanting to work.

[watchdealer]

996 isn't even effective. Productivity dramatically decreases once fatigue overtakes the body. A better balance would actually result in more work being done.

[vishnuvs]

The worst thing is that there are many who glorify this practice. Somehow we've gotten to a point where not having sleep, food or any semblance of a social life equates to hard work.

[somerandomguy]

14:29 “As human beings, our dignity and liberty is more important”

[TonyK.]

It’s sad that I’m watching this video while here in Germany people discussing about four days working week (32h/week) with the same payment. We are living in the same world but the treatment can be so differently, knowing this makes me feel sad.

[famousamos]

South Korea used to be like this but they recently implemented many rules to prevent overworking. As a result, they're seeing happier employees, better fertility rates, etc.

[jenniferlopez]

“I’m losing my soul and becoming very numb.”

If that doesn’t sound alarming then I don’t know what does

[aae]

as a chinese we can never see this type video in mainstream social media and it will be banned.

[chuckdontjudge]

I had a job in the government that nearly killed me. Til this day, I feel like taking that job was the worst decision I have ever made, and trust me that's saying A LOT. I was working with my aunt and so I could NEVER escape work, she would follow me around the office bugging me about whatever bs, then she would call me once I got home continuing to pester me. I wanted to quit working after HUST ONE WEEK!!!! I would cry everyday day omw to work and home, I would go 5 and 6 days without sleeping, I would hallucinate, I blacked out while driving Because I hadn't slept and nearly caused a car accident and when I came to I had no fucking idea where I even was. I couldn't eat I couldn't think, I was the dumbest person in the office and I was certainly always made to feel that way. I had no one to talk to, not friends not family, no one. My family didn't take me serious because they didn't think a job could destroy you the way it did me. it was "JUST A JOB" after all.I had 3, THREE NERVOUS BREAKDOWNS!!!! I absolutely understand what she meant when she said it was invisible torture. I was eventually fired, that job took everything from me. This job ended in 2013 and I'm still suffering with PTSD. A job can absolutely kill you, if the stress doesn't kill you, you'll just end up killing yourself. My heart goes out to ANYONE and EVERYONE who has or is stuck in situations like this. Please know your pain and suffering is valid. You matter, your mental health matters, Please if you can, start trying to find a way to get out. It's not worth it, the money isn't worth it, I know it's easy to say "just quit" but You can't work a job if you're dead, you can't keep a job if you can't think. It's not worth it. My love and prayers go out to anyone who is or was stuck in this situation❤❤❤😢

[jonathanking]

Working like this does not increase productivity. It actually decreases it. Better to have happy workers with good work/life balance. It increases loyalty and productivity. It never ceases to amaze me when companies don’t realize, that if you treat your employees well and with respect you will go much further.

[CMFL]

As an office worker, I realized that my peak productivity is 6 hours a day - 7 on a good day. We're able to achieve more in 30 to 35 hours a week than in 40+. When I worked 50+ hours, my work was poor quality and had to be redone. Upper management thinks you can have 9 women make a baby in 1 month. 996 is a reflection of poor upper management.

[QianSky]

I am Chinese, I want to say that most companies are not even willing to implement 996, my latest day to leave work is 11 o'clock in the evening, I have a colleague who even works until 2 o'clock in the morning the next day, although Chinese law stipulates a maximum of 8 hours of work, but most companies will not abide by this rule, resulting in many people now think that getting a 996 job is already a good benefit, because most companies will not even give you 996, but there are too many Chinese, which means that labor is very cheap, if I am not willing to do such work, there will be more people who are very happy to replace me, the boss's ambition is too bigI became a tool for my boss to make money.

[pctLowBattery]

I’ve never heard a resume read at a funeral. It’s unlikely your boss will be at your bedside at the end of your life thanking you for working so hard and not taking vacations and not spending time with your family. At the risk of sounding dramatic; when we put the needs of a company before our personal lives, we put our personal lives at risk.