Photo:Courtesy of Ren Shuyue

Recently, the 996 work schedule proposed by Alibaba founder Jack Ma has caused great controversy. This schedule is highly controversial because it arouses opposing viewpoints. Some argue that although it is common in the Internet industry, it violates China's labor laws. However, others believe that it is extremely reasonable for employees to fight for their future and the company, especially for entrepreneurs who gain huge profits.

If we look at this issue from a larger picture, we will find that this is a long-standing overtime culture in China. We can accept working overtime, but we should not accept that our interests are trampled on. Therefore, I don't think the 996 work schedule is reasonable, because we are a civilized country that respects workers.

To start with, according to our country labor law, employees' daily working time does not exceed 8 hours, and their average weekly working time no more than 44 hours. If the working hours need to be extended due to special reasons, the extended working hours shall not exceed three hours per day under the condition that the physical health of the workers is guaranteed, but and shall not exceed 36 hours per month. Clearly, the 996 work schedule is a violation of labor law. If the interests of employees can not be effectively guaranteed, if the will of employees and their physical and mental health are ignored, even if employees can get overtime pay for their hard work, the 996 work schedule enforced by some enterprises is deteriorating their health and well-being, which is exactly harmful to strivers and lowers their spirit of struggle.

What's more, the whole society disputes the 996 work schedule, not because people don't want to struggle and don't want to work. It goes without saying that each man knows the truth that no pain, no gain. However, advocating struggle and labor does not mean enforcing extra hours of work . We can never deny that the idea of getting your own reward is not a struggle. Therefore, employees who object to 996 cannot be labeled as "not striving".

Furthermore, can long working hours really be productive? Not quite . It seems, from the point of view of some sociologists. 996 work schedule are not only bad for employees' health, but also do little to improve productivity and efficiency. The average working week in some rich countries is shorter than the G7 average, but these countries' productivity is remarkably high. Some media have reported that Japan's labor force has the longest working hours and the lowest productivity among the G7 countries.

As we all know, in the face of downward economic pressure, many enterprises are facing the test of survival. Society as a whole understands corporate anxiety. But the way to relieve anxiety isn't to get employees to work as long as possible. From the perspective of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, their spirit of extreme struggle is valuable. In fact, the position of the average employee is different. Forcing employees to accept the overtime culture of 996 work schedule not only reflects the arrogance of enterprise managers, but also is unrealistic and unfair.

In my opinion, our enterprise should not only require employees to fulfill their job duty, but also inspire them. Entrepreneurs should not only make their employees work harder, but also motivate them to work more efficiently. Employees not only need the incentive of overtime pay, but also pay more attention to the company of family members, their good health and full meaning of life. Only those enterprises that can balance well can adapt to the changes of the times and obtain sustainable competitiveness.

Needless to say, 996's supporters include some of our society's most respected celebrity entrepreneurs. Some people are also good at occupying the moral high ground, with their central argument that 996 is associated, tied, or even uniquely identified with struggle. In their argument, it doesn't matter that the 996 work schedule is illegal or unreasonable; asking employees to "fight" is enough.

They even stigmatized the legal eight-hour workweek as the antithesis of 996. All honest 8 hours of work is trickily described as "not hard", "with not struggle", "mediocre performance", "no future", and so on. This is a series of deceptive claims. Unfortunately, this logic is wrong from the premise , in that the forced and artificial formula "996 work schedule = struggle" does not exist.

To sum up, as noted above, we can easily arrive at the conclusion that 996 work schedule is not a synonym for struggle, but more concerned with legal and interest issues. Frankly speaking, those who want to normalize the 996 work schedule are supposed to abide by the law . Don't use so many noble words to confuse the public, but with the practical action to make workers willing to share the benefits and hardships of the enterprise security system.

Teacher: Yang Qin
Chengdu Experimental Foreign Languages School