The Extreme 996 Work Culture in China 

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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❤❤❤😢

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.😓

Fantastic journalism. Thank you!

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.

"Sacrifice your childhood. Focus on school". They said "It'll be great for your career" They said "It will be fun" they said

Thanks for the vid.

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.

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.

No one ever said on their deathbed…’I wish I worked longer hours’

This video failed to mention the darker side of the 996 routine. Most interviewees in the video may have a very decent income. As you can see, some of them are managers and live in gorgeous apartments. That is why they complain 996. Nevertheless, they accounted for only a tiny part of the overall workforce in China. There are some workers like the workers in Foxconn. To these Foxconn workers, the 996 workload is sometimes used as a reward because these Foxconn workers' income is miserable. Some reports mentioned that not everybody can get a 996 workload when there is not so much work. Supervisors in Foxconn sometimes discipline unsubmissive workers not allowing them to do 996. Workers who get a 996 workload can earn a monthly salary as high as $800, who do not get a 996 workload can earn only circa $300. Just a couple of minutes ago I found news saying that workers in BYD are protesting, not against the 996 routine, exactly the opposite, these BYD workers are protesting as the factory allows them to work only 8 hours a day and five days a week.

what a well produced documentary

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

It really annoys me when the new gen being labeled as ungrateful lazy people. Little do they know that the new gen is embracing life more than wealth.I ask couple of youngsters about it and they told me “what’s the point accumalate so much wealth and relying too much on it to enjoy life.” While I do agree money have their significant role in bettering life but if you choose wealth over life then there’s a possibility you will discard life without you know it.

I am a Chinese,I have many years 996 experience,and I hate this culture.This will make veryone in the wrong way,veryone need work harder than before.not only bad for personal’s healthy,but also will damage our future.

It is crazy, so many countries allow this. In my 20’s I also worked simultaneously 2 jobs + university and I ended up in a hospital for a month with diagnosis exhaustion and burnout. Quit my jobs, left bf and took a break from my studies. After getting treated I started all over with a different mentality. I only do my own taskes, no more others work, working only from 9-5. Nothing less, nothing more. No extra hrs, unless those are paid etc. I realised, I do all the hard part and at the end my boss/ management collects bonuses/ dividends. I decided to work differently and my mental health is so much better thanks to that decision. Money isn’t worth ruining your mental health and overall wellbeing.

Yet they ask why people don’t want to have kids. They barely have time for themselves 😕 this is sad to see

this is heart-breaking, we only live once, all the money in the world means nothing if we're not happy, healthy, and have meaningful relationship with other people

No one ever remembers work successes on deathbed.

I'm working in IT but I have a 9-18 Monday to Friday schedule and sometime I feel so Burnout from work and home events. I really feel for these people. The people of the world really need more PAUSES in their lives. It really got me how she was saying that she feels tired and doesn't have time for anything. There are days like this when I know that I should just sleep but I'm procrastinating and taking hours from the resting time just because I feel like I need to spend time with myself, or just because I don't want tomorrow to come yet. So many days already past, in which I haven't had a proper sleep schedule. For different reasons. I don't know if I'm going to ever had a stable sleeping schedule without waking up every morning feeling tired.

I teach chinese children online and was surprised at how many of my students basically never see their parents. :(

Meh, the lady defending the pratice is a joke. I used to be one of those guys took, working 80 hours a week. Then boss decided to take the business in a different direction and laid off my entire department at the drop of a hat. Lol working hard for the company. What a joke.

Id love to know how Nicole is doing now. Its been two years since this doc was uploaded. I think about her alot, I hope shes ok

That cat at 6:15 is so beautiful.

"I'm always tired after work, I just swipe through social media. I don't even know what I'm looking at" This hit me hard

You notice how the woman at the end said "lazy, incapable staff" like those exact words had been said to her multiple times in the past as a derogatory way to motivate harder work?

In indonesia we did it but 776. 7am - 7pm for 6 days.

Wow this was very interesting

As an employer i can't see how this would be beneficial outside of "appearances". I've found by being more lax about time off and reducing hours i get much better quality work out of my employees. When we gear up at certain times of the year everyone comes in often staying late without being asked or expected to. Take genuine care of your employees and they'll take care of you

Man surprised me most about humanity. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived. -Dalai Lama

I thought this was gonna be a Porsche 996 video

Really looking forward to the sequel, 12127.

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.

“If you dont do it someone else will.” God i’d hate to be under this manager Edit: wow I didn’t expect there will be so many comments and likes. Guys trust me, i’ve been with these kind of managers and the only impact he had on me was anxiousness, feeling not good enough, burn-out and unmotivated. My current manager understood if i said something is out of my capacity. When my jobdesc suddenly enlarged and i couldnt handle it, she gave me two interns. I still have to do it anyway, i didn’t have to do it alone. Better managers exist, and please be one.

Wow, I’m doing this for 5 years and it never gave it a name! 996 sounds amazing

Wow this really reminds me of my type of work as a caregiver, it's stressful work, dealing with Alzheimer's and dementia. I often time work double shifts 4 or 5 days out of the week so that my check can be something I can work with. The work is grueling and the turnover rate is high. 16 hr shifts are no joke after a while. Then sometimes after that I still can't sleep for reasons I don't understand sometimes my body is just on go mode. All though we are countries apart we share many similarities.

this is not just China, its a normalized thing in Asia in general. The burnout and slave-driving of young professionals is so damn depressing, it almost drove me to suicide. You have a population of driven and smart professionals who are pushed to their limit. Eventually I got hired to work for a European-owned tech company and was in shock when I saw my many benefits and all the leaves I could take. My boss and co-workers encouraged me to take many holidays (something I could never do in my old job), I could explore hobbies, and have time to sleep soundly. I can never bring myself to work for a locally-owned company ever again.

I had a friend in Japan who was sleeping 4 hours, had 2 hours free in a day, and basically the rest of his day was work-related activity which included a 4 hour daily commute. He was leaving depressed messages, it wasn't okay. Then I suggested to his that he work freelance like me. He was living in an expensive part of Japan, so he couldn't do that. However, he did find contract based work that paid for overtime and his mood got much better. He stopped posting depressed messages after that.

I worked 665 in a warehouse in Texas for two years. Hours were 6am-6pm Monday-Friday. These working conditions are also very common in US. Wall Street guys usually work 7am-7pm Monday-Saturday, sometimes even on Sunday.

I worked in traffic control in Canada and during "The Big Lift" project at one point I worked 34 days in a row of 18 up to 20 hour days in my 30s. This isnt just a China problem now.

"I don't know what I'm looking at, Just swiping aimlessly" We're all really just living the same life huh?

My prayers go out to all the young people who were never allowed to enjoy their youth for a mentally sick society😭

Does anyone know of more channels that post documentaries like these? Looking to improve my Chinese by listening… Thanks!

Thank you for making the documentary. I am 996 worker in China and felt tired, always not doing enough. You shaded the light 💡 on my struggle and maybes I am not the problem. But still on my way to find a job after being laid off my last 996 work. Maybe I should work harder to keep my job.

My uncle passed away, he was SR software engineer at a company. He was young and unmarried, he took his work way seriously and his health very lightly. One day he died in cab due to heart attack while he was going to office.

Studies say that after a 52 hours work week the productivity falls off a cliff, even people working 70 hour weeks still only produce as if they would have worked 52 hours a week. People just starts working slower when the work week is long.

You should do an episode on investment banking or financial analysts

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

I know a Chinese girl who moved to Norway for a new job. She often stays in the office 3-4 hours after everyone has left. She is accustomed to it. Her boss always has to force her to go home 😂

There are numerous studies showing overtime makes you less productive after a couple of weeks. Better to do a sustainable 40 hour week and also have a life outside of work.

It’s interesting to see them start to do things how we used to do it, and we’re starting to go the 996 route.

Blessing live in Malaysia only 6/8 hours work 😊

I'm glad the younger generation in Asia are starting to think and talk about their mental health and wellbeing over career, talking about that stuff has been a stigma in alot of cultures.

What I find so absurd is that people justify 996 with efficiency even though the exact opposite is what happens when you overwork the employees. There are dozens of studies that prove that people with a solid work-life-balance are way more productive than those who basically don't do anything but work. Especially in high-performing jobs this has to be considered.

please do add subtitles for every video

I work from 8:30 to 6. Then after dinner break from 9-12. I don’t eat lunch. I think what people mistake often is that the efficiency is not necessarily going to down. The KPI that suffers the most is the overall quality (assuming that quality is not a factor when you calculate for efficiency). There’s so much work to be done that you are forced to streamline your workflow, optimize SOP’s constantly, that in the end you champion quantitative output but ultimately the quality suffers. As a designer that’s really inconvenient as my portfolio is not enriching itself with quality contents. So on weekends I work on portfolio projects to level up my design output and to fill up my portfolio.

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

When will people learn that productivity has Diminishing returns! Productivity is not a function of time spent at work that linearly grows. Good sleep, decent wages, availability of good food, perception, and more intangible things are a factor of high productivity. The biggest productive gains often times come when you are resting and thinking about the problem passively.

But now more and more Chinese young people begin to realize that working really really hard can not bring them to rich,can not bring the to upper class.

I worked like this for 6 months, for a politician. It was miserable. They wanted to renew my contract after for half of my previous pay-I didn't say no, but I did say "only if I can do it remotely" Now I only make stuff for them once or twice a week. It lets me maintain a salary while working independently. Best bussiness decision I've took

Norway try to prevent overworking by having strict rules on how much you are allowed to work. You HAVE to have 4 weeks off every summer and you have to have 2 days off every week. I'm happy about that, because working too much can be bad for your health long term.

The fact that Nicole doesn't want her real face and voice revealed, probably because she doesn't want to be blacklisted from this industry for revealing how terrible it is 😥

Documentaries like this make me appreciate living in America.

the mining industry in Australia have rosters that range from 3 weeks on 1 week off or 2 weeks on 1 week off. So for the duration of your time at work you do 12 hours a day 7 days a week until your swing is over then you do it all over again, money is really good aswell

My granpa once said "you work to live" not "live to work". There is no point in living your life like that. This is just modern time slavery.

I don't mind being called lazy and having a smaller salary as long as I'm happy 😁

Honestly, Corona did some good because it gifted people stuff like home office, and ever since, companies were pressured to offer a better work-life balance to their employees. People also realized that companies don't need them to be at their workplace all the time. Some types of jobs like the IT sector improved greatly ever since Corona. I got a friend who's now working from home all the time, making some nice money. He turned into a nomad and is constantly traveling around the world now cuz he only needs the Internet and a laptop for his work - some airline stuff.

I worked on zoom in collab with this Chinese company. It’s not even 9am - 9pm. It’s like 9am - 3am. Dude got 5 hours of sleep and got 1-2 days break. It’s insane. There was mobile work during the breaks too

This isn't different from dying in a factory floor, it is just slower and more cruel. The manager says the efficiency is lower for people working less. In fact, it's the opposite. People working too many hours lose themselves into low efficiency habits and are generally too aloof and tired to be able to see and correct those. People can work efficiently for about 30 hours per week. The other 42 are worked shitly. I've done 16h work. It is like 8h, but takes longer.

“If you dont do it someone else will.” Pretty much sum up the fate of every worker in the world !!!!!!

The day I have to work 12 hours in a day is the day I quit lmao

I do this all the time, 6 x 12h. Usually 7pm to 7am though

Really makes you appreciate trade unions and fight for flexible working arrangements.

I've worked a 995 for an extended period of time. I found the schedule technically manageable; you don't have a life outside of work and you're exhausted both mentally and physically, so you tend to make more mistakes. It's really a terrible way to manage your workforce.

as a chef a 12 hour day sat in front of a screen sounds pretty relaxing. a 16 hour shift isn't uncommon in my industry

I work 667 for 4-6 weeks at a time on a ship, where I don’t get to go home or sleep in my own bed… it sucks sometimes

“If you dont do it someone else will.” God i’d hate to be under this manager

That executive woman sounds like she's on her way towards depression and/or suicide, or quitting her job entirely.

I would really love to receive some book recommendations on modern China - want to get some knowledge about common people’s lives

I'm a nurse who only has to work 3-4 days a week of 12 hour shifts, and it absolutely burns me out. I can't imagine doing 996, I would literally off myself

The real irony is, that science has demonstrated that the brain works BETTER when it's not stressed, so it should be the focus of the leaders to promote balance of work life.

And there's Alibaba who's advocating for 996

In the USA it is pretty much 955 is the grind with a lunch. Only major issue in USA is few holidays. A better work schedule would be 934 in the future it would be great to have 4 workdays that are 6 hours

At the same time, in Europe, several countries are testing 4 day working weeks...