Companies in China Shift Away from Excessive '996' Working Hours

April 13, 2025 | 06:27 pm

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - China is slowly moving away from the grueling “996 work culture,” which saw employees work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, after several major companies and the central government pushed for restrictions on excessive working hours and the protection of workers' rights.

According to Chinadaily, some Chinese companies have issued internal policies to curb formalistic overtime working and unhealthy competition in the workplace. The central government also shows its seriousness through the latest action plan released by the State Council, the Chinese government's cabinet.

In the document, local authorities are urged to tighten supervision of companies that violate regulations by illegally extending employees' working hours and to ensure workers' right to rest.

This move has been met with concrete policies from several companies. DJI, a drone manufacturer from Shenzhen, became a hot topic on the Weibo social media after some employees shared their experiences of being prohibited from working overtime. According to the posts, the human resources department conducted night patrols and asked employees to leave the office after 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, Midea, a household electronics company, issued an internal memo at the end of January calling for efficiency in work patterns. The company requested that employees should not hold meetings or work overtime that is not customer-oriented or value-creating. They even encouraged the reduction of work groups on the WeChat application to avoid unproductive formalities.

In recent years, working hours in mainland China have continued to increase, even exceeding the provisions in the national Labor Law. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that the average weekly working hours in 2024 reached 49 hours, the same as the previous year and up from 47.9 hours in 2022.

Legally, employees are only allowed to work a maximum of 8 hours per day and 44 hours per week, with a maximum of one hour of overtime that must be agreed upon by the labor union.

This demanding work culture has sparked criticism from workers. Wang Xiaofeng, a telecommunications engineer in Beijing, stated that he often feels guilty when leaving on time.

"My colleagues and I usually joke that we get a 'sense of shame' by leaving the office at 6 pm sharp," he said. He hopes that his company will also follow in the footsteps of DJI and Midea, although he is concerned about how overtime calculations will be made if work is taken home.

Experts see this move as a starting point towards improving workers' welfare and companies' long-term competitiveness. Li Qiang, Vice President of Zhaopin recruitment portal, said that the “996 working culture” was originally seen as a strategy to win the market, but now it can erode employees' loyalty and work enthusiasm.

Similarly, Li Chang'an, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, stated that the unreasonable work system has undermined workers' rights, made it difficult to balance personal and work life, and even affected health and family harmony.

He believes that companies' exploratory steps to eliminate exhausting work culture could help create higher-quality jobs and be more in line with national regulations.

"Corporate social responsibility and sound protection of workers' right to rest have become an important part of their competitiveness in the market," Li said.

Annisa Febiola contributed to the writing of this article.

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