As American tech companies race to compete in the burgeoning global AI market, some startups are looking to China for inspiration.
They’re not stealing code or poaching talent, but these firms are importing employee expectations that echo the controversial 996 work system.
“996 has been around for a really long time, like decades,” said Caitlin Collins, an organizational psychologist and principal implementation consultant with Betterworks. “It really started in an environment where the ethos of winning at all cost within a market was priority.”
What is 996? Start your work at 9am, work until 9pm, repeat six days a week. The grueling expectations popularized by some Chinese tech firms have received backlash from employees online in China and have even been linked to employee deaths.
“Those are the guardrails,” explained Collins. “The expectation around that is just constant, around-the-hour working. There’s no one checking…But the expectation is that you work around the clock, even over and beyond that.”
Hungry to compete with rivals both domestically and abroad, some tech founders are adopting the exhausting expectations as part of their dogged efforts to get ahead as Silicon Valley and the like lay down AI infrastructure, according to Wired in July.
Workforce impacts. Collins warned that companies looking for a leg up in the AI arms race won’t actually be well served by adopting a 996 ethos.
“There’s study after study about how important sleep is, but we also need to be able to step away from working and have whatever that balance looks like: family, personal life, playing video games, going out to dinner. Whatever the case is,” she said. “You have to be able to separate yourself and provide yourself variety throughout the day—including sleep—in order for your body to function and your brain to function.”
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Collins pointed to research from the World Health Organization in 2021 concluding that working more than 55 hours per week can, in fact, contribute to increased risk of negative health outcomes, including cardiovascular events. A Stanford University study from last year also shows productivity begins to decline after 55 hours. People tend to have shorter patience, a weaker “filter,” and they become more reactionary, she added. Reactionary leadership limits our ability to coach employees with our emotional intelligence.
“Sustaining that level of intensity over a long period of time has more long-term effects on our brains and our bodies than anything else. It’s the concept of too much stress over too much time,” she said.
Remember HR’s job. Collins added that it’s possible a business may require a shorter, more intense period of work to complete a specific goal, but its leaders should understand how best to support the working styles of those employees from whom they’re asking extra. And the extra expectations can’t be limitless.
HR’s human capital management strategy has got to include wellness and well-being in the formula, she said, understanding risks related to burnout, turnover, and employee health and wellness need to be factored in when building out workplace expectations and culture.
“The focus of HR should be, and is typically, sustaining high-performing employees and making sure that they’re responsive in real time to the market needs of the business. That is the goal.” she said. “In order for them to do their best, we know that they need to be happy and rested and well fed and taken care of.”