At 7 o'clock on Saturday night, Xiao Xiao hurried back to her rented house in the South Village of the Agricultural Exhibition Center. Although her mother finally came to Beijing, Xiao Xiao, who works at an Internet financial start-up company, could only squeeze out half an hour to have dinner together, have a few bites and then leave in a hurry, returning to the office to work overtime on projects.
Xiao Xiao was not the only one who lost Saturday. Recently, it was revealed that 58.com has implemented a 996 (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., 6 days a week) work system for all employees. Many netizens broke the news that 58.com will implement 996 for all employees. However, no official email was issued, and the notice was only communicated verbally without any subsidies. Soon 58 employees in the same city launched a denunciation of "refuse to go to work and boycott the CEO", and CEO Yao Jinbo's Weibo page was also taken over by suspected 58 employees and their families. There were thousands of angry comments and messages asking for explanations under one Weibo post. Later, 58 Party’s response to this matter was: September and October of each year are the peak period of the platform’s business, and there will be regular mobilization, but the company will not force everyone to arrange their work in accordance with the “996” regulations.
The so-called 996 work system means working from 9 to 9, 6 days a week. According to the provisions of the Labor Contract Law and the Labor Law, if an enterprise violates laws and regulations and forces employees to extend their working hours, the employees have the right to refuse. However, although many companies have not formally enforced 996 or issued verbal notices, more companies, especially start-up companies, will try to "kidnap" employees with feelings and use methods to skirt around the law. It can be said that in the Internet industry, overload work has become an unspoken rule by default in the industry, but it is usually listed under the name of "voluntary overtime." Among the "blood-sucking overtime buildings" announced by Didi Chuxing in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in 2015, the office buildings where many well-known Internet companies such as Tencent, Baidu, Sohu, NetEase, 360, Xiaomi, and LeTV are located were among the best.
Take 58 as an example. Some employees revealed that overtime has been the norm before. Overtime hours are usually set internally by the department and communicated verbally. There is no pay for overtime work on weekends, but there are many fines. For example, someone who asks for leave on Saturday will be deducted 50 yuan. Old employees of 58.com also said that in fact, the company’s departments conduct 996 mobilization every year, shouting slogans such as “Sprint for one month” and “Work hard for 60 days.” The main cause of the commotion this time was that the uncompensated overtime regulations affected all 20,000 people, which was too irritating.
JD Cloud has recently been exposed to the implementation of 996. According to recently leaked internal emails from JD.com’s cloud department,, in order to build an entrepreneurial spirit, JD Group Vice President He Gang asked JD Cloud management to set an example and start implementing a work system of at least 70 hours a week.
Speaking of the 996 model, it is said that it first started with Alibaba. However, according to informed employees, Alibaba did not require all departments to be in 996, and more technical teams were closer to 995. Most of the departments that implement 996 do so because they want to launch new services or have established military orders and have relatively high business goals. For example, all the wireless teams that were involved in the original dispute with WeChat, this kind of 996 is only a non-long-term product under wartime conditions. Coupled with the fact that the money was not given less, employees’ resistance was low.
In addition, after a startup company reaches a certain scale, it officially shortens the working day and working hours, which is also a sign that the company is more mature. Xiaomi has also implemented the 996 model. During the fast-growing entrepreneurial period, Lei Jun once called on employees to activate the 996 model. However, the situation has improved now. It is said that it is currently 995 and will change to normal by the end of the year.
Even the most powerful team cannot withstand long-term and high-intensity consumption. According to netizens who oppose 996, not all departments need to be forced to work overtime. Advocating 996 for all will not bring about a great improvement in efficiency, and may even cause negative effects. "996 is an atmosphere. Once it is formed, few people have the courage to get off work on time. Even if they have nothing to do, they have to stay up until after 9 o'clock. Many people just sit at their work stations and browse the Internet out of boredom."
However, not everyone is firmly opposed to 996. For many Internet people, working overtime at night has become a habitual work rhythm. "If it is stipulated that I have to get off work at 9 o'clock, it will make me confused." Wang Ping, who works as a programmer for a large Internet company, told Jiemian reporters that as a single person with no family to worry about, it is better to write some code in the office than to go home and have nothing to do. "Although it seems that working overtime at night is very busy, the efficiency is not necessarily high during the day. Many people just adjust their work rhythm to adapt to the night mode."
“The company is not a place to enjoy life, but we hope to treat work as enjoyment, but there are too few people who can do it.” Jack Ma also admitted that Alibaba’s work is very stressful, and many young people can neither live nor work. The balance between life and work is an ability that needs to be cultivated.
At 10 o'clock in the evening, Xiao Xiao, who had worked overtime for two consecutive weeks, finally finished the work at hand. Although she was a little tired, her tone was still brisk, "It is not so busy all the time. When you hear about overtime, you should not think about whether you should work overtime, but think about what it means to you. When working on a project, rush It’s understandable, especially since I feel like I can continue to learn new things during this process, which gives me a sense of fulfillment. Of course, getting a return in the end is also very important for my happiness.” After finishing a project overtime, Xiao Xiao will choose to go back by herself and enjoy a rare free time that belongs only to herself. The embassy district was very quiet at night. The street lights stretched her figure very long, and the tall buildings in the distance were still lit with lights.
