Official Media Review 996： Illegal, Overworked and Fake Struggle
Recently, the discussion on the topic of "996 working system" has been heating up. The so-called "996 working system" means that employees arrive at work at 9: 00 a.m. every day and work until 9: 00 p.m., six days a week. From an Internet company’s public announcement at the annual meeting to the "996.ICU" protest initiated by programmers, and to the opinions expressed by many star entrepreneurs in recent days, this topic has become a social hot spot of concern to the whole people. The semi-monthly talk, which has the reputation of being the first magazine in China, has repeatedly commented on the 996 working system and analyzed it from different angles.
Talk about 996— — Keywords "illegal"
[Advocating the 996 working system, who gave "praise" the courage to openly violate the law? 】
At the company’s annual meeting in 2018, which was praised by e-commerce, executives announced on the spot that they would implement the 996 working system in the future, and even said that they could divorce if their work-family balance was not good, which not only made some employees feel dissatisfied, but also caused controversy. Praise CEO White Crow responded that it is definitely a good thing to look back this time a few years later, so that more people can understand the praise culture, and it will also make talents think carefully when they want to enter, so that they will not be different before and after coming.
Article 36 of China’s labor law: the state implements a working-hour system in which workers work no more than eight hours a day and no more than forty-four hours a week on average; Article 90 stipulates that if an employer violates the provisions of this law and extends the working hours of workers, the labor administrative department shall give a warning, order it to make corrections and may impose a fine.
According to the Youzan 996 working system, employees work up to 11.5 hours a day and work overtime for more than 100 hours a month, which obviously exceeds the working hours stipulated by the state. "Zanzan" made a big splash when it announced this illegal work system, and it was also justified when it responded. However, no matter whether "praise" wants to take the opportunity to lay off people or reduce wages in disguise, CEO regards illegality as a "good thing" and sublimates it into corporate culture. This is not only a problem of distorted values, but also a bad environment with high cost of safeguarding rights and low risk of illegality in the current labor market. Rights protection can’t rely solely on individuals, and relevant departments must "shoot when it’s time to shoot" according to law. At present, many enterprises are talking about the wolf nature. This desperate working mode, after putting on the coat of "struggle", has almost become a poisonous chicken soup for squeezing employees. I hope those companies that advocate the 996 working system and regard it as the standard understand that before talking about wolf nature, we must first talk about human nature. For those enterprises that deliberately ignore human nature and want to decorate the facade by one or two "family days", the relevant departments must be tough, give employees the confidence to defend their rights, and let the enterprises involved see the severity of the law.
Two Comments on Half-monthly Talks 996— — Keywords "overwork"
[Beware of the normalization of the "996" working system that gave birth to the "overworked generation"]
Nowadays, the trend of 996 working system spreading from internet companies to various industries is worrying. Many workers are trapped by this working system and forced to become "overworked generation" in endless overtime. This means that in the state that the 996 working system has become a hidden rule in the industry, even if you choose to change jobs, you still can’t get rid of the overtime curse. It is the workplace that changes and the working hours remain unchanged.
In fact, the 996 working system has been invisible for many years. However, it used to be covered with a layer of "flexible working system", but now it is openly declared as a normal working mode by some companies. Some companies use the so-called "struggle" to whitewash the 996 working system, and some companies use "high salary" to achieve a game with workers on the 996 working system. While the downward pressure on the economy is increasing, more companies normalize the 996 working system, while doing everything possible to reduce the overtime pay that workers deserve, so as to save costs and increase profits.
The social harm of 996 working system is self-evident, which overdraws the health and energy of workers, damages the interest and enthusiasm of a generation for work, and then has a negative impact on sustainable economic development and social harmony. Perhaps at present, the number of enterprises implementing the 996 working system has not reached the majority, but in the public opinion field with the magnifying effect of the Internet, the dissatisfaction caused by 996 is immeasurable to the society. A few days ago, an article "In my parents ‘ 996’ In front of us, the news that Japanese young people choose low desire has aroused people’s concern, and we should be alert to the hidden worries behind it.
In the face of the 996 working system, which is striding forward to normalization, the government labor department and the relevant institutions on which workers rely for safeguarding their rights cannot remain silent. After all, people work for a better life, not to give up their lives for work.
Three Comments on Half-monthly Talks 996— — Keywords "pseudo-struggle"
[996 has nothing to do with struggle, but with interests]
The discussion on the 996 working system in the public opinion field has been going on for some time, but it is still not over, and even "climax after climax" from time to time. This in itself is a puzzling phenomenon: why has an obviously illegal practice been standing, even entangled in the basic right and wrong issues? I’m afraid the reason lies in the related interests, so that the defenders of 996 refused to admit it even in the face of common sense recognized by most people.
Needless to say, the defenders of 996 have a strong lineup, among which there are some star entrepreneurs that our society most respects. Their arguments themselves have a strong personality color, and naturally have the star aura of the protagonist, so they are very confusing.
Moreover, some people are good at occupying the commanding heights of morality. For example, their core "rhetoric" is to link, bind and even uniquely equate 996 with struggle. In their discussion, 996 is illegal and unreasonable, which is nothing, as long as a "struggle" is enough: without struggle, where can there be a future? No, where did 996 come from? For the future, shouldn’t it be 996? For the future, it must be 996! Only 996!
In order to "consolidate" this logic, "winners" presented their own "selfless work" and moved out a large set of tall sayings and examples, even "two bombs and one star" were used to say things. They even stigmatized the legal 8-hour work as the opposite of 996. Those who work honestly for 8 hours just don’t work hard, struggle, seek stability, "have no future" and so on. This is a series of extremely confusing operations. It’s a pity that this logic is wrong from the beginning. This artificially set formula "996= Struggle" does not exist, and the resulting series of deductions are naturally just mistakes.
Struggle must be voluntary, supported by a sense of responsibility for the cause and confidence in the future. For 996, which is enforced by enterprises, if there is no system to implement the rigidity of the consistency of employees’ interests and enterprises’ interests, and there is no system to ensure that employees have a solid future, the struggle cannot exist. When employees lack the protection of long-term contracts, they will be laid off at any time, and there is no definite return to reward their sense of responsibility, even overtime pay. At this time, talking about struggle is tantamount to "why not eat meat?" At the end of the demographic dividend, forcing 996 is a double-edged sword. Squeezing employees by killing the goose that lays the golden eggs will inevitably overdraw the future and bring negative effects to the long-term development of enterprises.
I have to say that although this bowl of chicken soup carefully cooked by star entrepreneurs looks tall, it is obviously toxic and it is difficult for workers to laugh. What needs to be vigilant is that this kind of poisonous chicken soup argument is tantamount to deconstructing the spirit of struggle and the construction of a society ruled by law. It has been repeatedly brought out, which will interfere with the main theme of the times to carry forward the spirit of struggle and cause ideological confusion.
996 is not synonymous with struggle, it is more related to legal and interest issues. Advise people who are interested in promoting the normalization of 996: please honestly talk about the interests under the legal framework, don’t confuse the audience with so many lofty words, but actually come up with an interest protection system that allows workers to share joys and sorrows with enterprises. What we need is a legitimate and reasonable spirit of struggle, a spirit of dedication and responsibility to ourselves, our family and our country. If we separate these, the spirit of struggle will become passive water and a tree without roots.