The Extreme 996 Work Culture in China

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.

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

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.

What surprises me is that they're happy to have people to work these hours or even encourage them to do so. I live in Asia and you see the people here working for long hours but they are extremely unproductive, which actually costs the business more in the long run. It's better to have motivated hard working people in for 4 days a week than tired people who hate their job for 6

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!

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

I was working like a 996 in the UK as a programmer but it was with some overtime pay or an extra day off in lieu as a reward. I did that for 6 months I think and that made me terrified of mental stress. I didn't know what is burnout until it hit me and the anxiety of bugs before I went to sleep made it very hard to sleep. You dream of work. Even though I was getting extra pay or an extra day off in lieu, it didn't make me any happier. Especially if you work from home. You wake up, wash your face, have breakfast and sit down for work, and work until it's time to sleep, repeat. Then on your day off, since you are so used to working from home, you don't even get to relax at home because now that is your office. So, you force yourself to go out but then all your friends are busy so you go out alone and try to see the good in life. It's not a healthy way of living at all.

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❤❤❤😢

Just left mine. 90k a year. They started “forced overtime”. I’m out. I’d rather make less but watch my daughter grow up and be present to love on my wife.

“I’m losing my soul and becoming very numb.” If that doesn’t sound alarming then I don’t know what does

In Europe your employer would never let you stay 12h at work. It means 4h of overtime so he has to pay you +50% for these 4h. Not even mentioning +100% for 12h on Saturday. It is just more economical for him to hire additional employee.

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.

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

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.

Definitely understand ming. Tried working at couple popular call centers in my country and I just could not do it, i cried everyday, id loose my incentives if I was even 1 min over my pee break and the calls were none stop. Felt so weak that I couldn't handle it when some people were there for over 10 years. Still not over it, feel defeated.

Occasionally I’d travel to Korea for work. My colleagues in Korea would take us out to a nice dinner, we’d all have drinks, get buzzed, and when i was ready to call it a night and get some sleep back at the hotel…they all went back to the office to work some more 😮 Crazy work culture.

the craziest part to me is that even though she is working for over 12 hours a day, she's still living in what appears to be a small one bedroom apartment eating microwave noodles. this is so depressing

My stomach turned at the end when she's describing how numb she feels. She sounded like someone willing to take their own life just to escape her life. I hope she can find happiness.

I work at ubisoft, as a level designer. We get a 15 minutes break every 45 mins and a 1h:15 lunch break on a 8h work day.

I feel for them man. I was feeling anxious in my current company due to work presure but after seeing this I feel like I am privileged. Hope this changes very soon.😓