Chinese Companies Start to Say Goodbye to Long Work Hours

Not too long ago in a country where working overtime used to be regarded as a badge of honor, things are slowly changing. Some of China’s large companies are now telling their employees to ‘go home early.’

There is Midea, one of the known home appliance brands, it has asked workers to leave work at 18:20 now.With the inscribed phrase being “Life starts after work,” images of workers enjoying some live music post work have been rolled out on social websites.

A move so big in an environment such as China, where “996” culture has always prevailed, meaning working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week, especially for tech companies. It was earlier called “blessing” by one of the co-founders, Jack Ma of Alibaba.

More Firm Involvement

• At Haier, another very big appliance maker, the employees have adopted a five-day work week, celebrating.
• At DJI, which is the world’s biggest drone company, employees had expressed their happiness because they could now leave the office by 9 p.m., no matter what.
• But as per one of the employees, “No more worrying about missing the last metro. No more waking up my wife after midnight.”
• While Haier and DJI did not make any formal comments on this development, the social media buzz from employees paints an accurate description of the excitement.

Rules and Reactions

In fact, it actually fined by the recent law firm in Beijing on one unusual occasion for making its employees work overtime. Netizens commended the government for finally taking action to companies that broke the law regarding labor.

However, experts admit that they will not be able to find the match between these small changes and a huge transformation in China’s corporate culture. Some people argue that these changes have been spurred on from outside rather than by local outcry, such as the new EU regulations prohibiting any products produced using forced labor, which includes extreme overtime. Such companies would be at risk of losing clients from other countries should such regulations get into place.

Though the top court in China declared the 996 schedule illegal in 2021, still, many people still work long hours, most of them are based in tech and finance areas. A new term, “007,” meaning no rest by being on call 24/7 all week, has come to represent it. The government is now pushing to obtain the “work-life balance” equation within its citizens. Recently, a new plan that entices the private sector into recognizing paid time off and vacation rights was issued in March around the time state media also launched stronger media campaigns for healthier work practices.