Mimi Zou

The View | China’s ‘996’ work culture should not turn into Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times

While it is true, as Alibaba founder Jack Ma has argued, that extended working hours are not a problem for those passionate about their jobs, a top-down inflexible approach to how long employees work is not the way for Industry 4.0 to go

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Content reviewers at work at the offices Inke, one of the top live-streaming apps in China, in Changsha, Hunan province. Photo: Lea Li

Mimi Zou

Published: 12:30pm, 23 Apr 2019Updated: 10:31pm, 23 Apr 2019

As a university researcher, I often work “997” – 9am to 9pm, seven days a week. Ten years ago, I left another 997 job as a junior lawyer and decided to embark on a PhD at Oxford. I rarely question my motivation to work 997 these days, even on a paycheck that is one-third of what I received in my former corporate jobs. Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, which owns the Post, is right when he said: “If you find a job you like, the 996 problem does not exist; if you’re not passionate about it, every minute of going to work is torture.”

The idea that “work does not feel like work when you love your job” may be a cliché. Yet, there are many people in the tech sector who care deeply about their work and clients. Money is often not the main motivator.

The professional and personal dignity gained from work, and the sense of purpose and the belonging to a community that drives momentous changes in society are more important. Their jobs may involve drudgery at times, but work is an important source of professional satisfaction, self-esteem and personal identity.

In the current debate on the “996” work culture in China, many have argued that companies should reduce working hours, particularly on grounds of health and safety and work-life balance. A more nuanced argument would take into account the different interests of employers and workers, and the diversity of workers’ needs and preferences.

Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group, speaks at a conference in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, in October 2017. Photo: Reuters

The problem with 996 is not the long hours, but the lack of autonomy that workers have over the organisation of their time. My concern is with the employers’ unilateral imposition of work schedules. When I teach labour law, I show my millennial students clips from Charlie Chaplin’s 1936 satirical film Modern Times. The opening title “a story of industry, of individual enterprise – humanity crusading in the pursuit of happiness” is inscribed over the face of a giant clock. The next scene juxtaposes a herd of sheep with a mass of workers entering a factory gate.