Kuaishou ends exhausting overtime work policy amid public backlash against 996 w...

Kuaishou ends exhausting overtime work policy amid public backlash against 996 work culture

Kuaishou ends exhausting overtime work policy amid public backlash against 996 work culture

4 hours ago

Kuaishou Technologies, the Hong-Kong short video app operator, said it would end its exhausting overtime schedule as big technology companies in China begin to adjust the controversial and unhealthy work culture known as 996 amid ongoing public backlash.

Detail:

The overtime work schedule commonly referred as" big and small week”, required employee to work six-day week every fortnight. Kuaishou begin implementing the schedule in January.  

Starting from July 1, Kuaishou will stop the “big and small week” schedule, according to the company’s internal email released on Chinese social media.

The company also noted that it would pay extra salary for employees who work overtime, but it did not reveal the specific overtime pay. Chinese labor law requires companies to pay employee two times their wages if they work on weekends and three times on legal holidays.

Despite its long-working hours, the “big and small week” work schedule is accepted by employee as the tech companies offered double wages for working weekends.

Context:

Although China’s labor law bars employees from working more than eight hours a day and 44 hours a week, big tech companies have yet to face punishment over implementation of 996 work schedule. Publicly lauded by tech leaders such as Jack Ma, the founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, many Chinese tech companies have employed the 996 work schedule for many years.

Earlier this month, Lightspeed & Quantum Studios, a game studio owned by Tencent Interactive Entertainment Group (IEG), announced to implement a new policy encourage employees to go home at 6pm on Wednesday and leave the office before 9pm for the rest of the week.

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