Photo: Courtesy of Lin Jiayi

 As a newly-emerged industry, Internet provides people with abundant opportunities to explore, innovate and succeed. Although it is really promising, people have to make great efforts. They cannot afford the enormous workload with a traditional work schedule. So many Internet companies begin a new work schedule called 996. 996 is a work schedule to keep employees paying full attention to the job in order to generate more work efficiency. And it quickly becomes prevailing throughout the Internet industry.

This new work schedule brings a lot of discussions in the society. Some people, especially those who own and manage the Internet companies, believe 996 schedule can benefit both employees and companies. However, others who oppose the 996 schedule point out that it is a way for employers to exploit their employees and it is a reflection of low efficiency. In my opinion, both perspectives show parts of the reality.

All the employers hope the people they hire can work hard and bring maximum benefit to companies. The 996 schedule corresponds to their need, because employees can spend most of their time in the office working. In an ideal situation, if everyone in the company can focus on their work in the fully 10 hours a day, six days a week, they must have high-quality yields and the company will gain lots of profits. But the fact is concentrating for such a long time is not easy and even impossible. Working too long, people will feel tired and frustrated. This mode of working actually will lower the work efficiency of all employees. Moreover, the cost of the company will increase because of the 996 schedule. For example, if employees spend more time in the office, they will use more and more water, electricity and so on. There must be a large amount of costs of generating. In other words, the company will lose money if employees do not focus on their work in the 996 schedule.

On the other hand, to employees’ perspectives, the 996 is another story. Different opinions to work cause various work attitudes towards the 996 schedule. Some people think that life is more important than the job, but others believe the work is the first thing they should do. Nowadays many people don’ t need to work just to support their families. They are more likely to travel or spend time with their families rather than spend all their time at work. Therefore, they will be reluctant to follow the 996 schedule. And they will slow down their work efficiency in order to end the 10 hours. It is a waste of time in fact. However, some employees believe work is the first thing they should do. They appreciate the 996 schedule because they can dedicate most of their time in the office, working with other enthusiastic people and learning from the skilled and experienced workers. In short, these two ideas about arranging their work time influence people’s attitudes towards the 996 schedule.

In my opinion, those who resist the 996 schedule can change another job. There must be some other jobs that can fulfill their needs if they would like to spend more time on their life and they cannot fully focus on their work for about 10 hours long. To those who enjoy this schedule, they can use the schedule to learn more skills. They should hang in there and they will get something new. To the employers, they should offer some compensation to those who stay in the company and concentrate on the work. If employers add salary to them, employees must be willing to bring more benefit to company and they will be more loyal to the company. However, not every employer should follow the tendency of the 996 work schedule. The start of a new work schedule must be based on the situation of the company. They should consider the workloads and the recent development of the company and finally decide whether they should begin this work schedule.

If there are two work schedules for me to choose, I am not afraid of working in the 996 work schedule when I just graduate from college. I think the long-time work can help me learn many different skills I cannot learn at school. I can ask someone who is experienced how to do the work better and learn more from them. I believe this is a time for me to improve myself. But things may change when I get older and have a family. Perhaps I will choose another job with less workload and more free time because I would like to spend my spare time with my family instead of working all the time when I am old.

Teacher: Ruan Baoguo
Shenzhen Hongling Middle School