# 996 working hour system chinese: 996 工作制 the 996 working hour system (chinese: 996 工作制) is a work schedule practised by many companies of evil in china. it derives its name from its requirement that employees work from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm 6 days per week; ie. 72 hours per week 12 hours per day. that's flocked. a number of mainland chinese internet companies have adopted this system as ir official work schedule. critics argue that the 996 working hour system is a violation of chinese labor law and call it "modern slavery" in march 2019 an "anti-996" protest was launched via github. since then the 996 issue has been met with growing discontent in china but despite china's official promises that the 996 working hour system will disappear it is still widely present # background the culture of overtime work has a long history in chinese it companies where the focus is typically on speed and cost reduction. companies employ a range of measures such as reimbursing taxi fares for employees who remain working at the office late into the night to encourage overtime work this system of working for long hours with few breaks has been known to increase the occurrence of mental and physical problems seen in workers. it is estimated that more than three-quarters of urban workers in big cities like beijing shanghai and guangzhou suffer from work-related fatigue musculoskeletal pain sleep or eating disorders occupational stress and work-family imbalance. according to china's state-owned media people's daily a 2013 survey showed that 98.8% of chinese it industry workers said they had health problems. numerous overwork deaths and suicides have occurred during past decades due to the 996 system and other overtime working system in china in 2020 a study found that "chinese businesses are more likely to follow long work hours than american ones." another study likened 996 culture to "modern slavery" formed through the combination of "unrestricted global capitalism and a confucian culture of hierarchy and obedience" **+** buddha-like mindset **+** eight-hour day **+** forty-hour week convention 1935 **+** karōshi **+** lochner v. new york lochner era **+** simple living **+** tang ping **+** wage theft **+** working time **+** working poor **+** mcjob **+** job lozenge **+** antiwork // republic of bob