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I grew up in Canada and have worked in China since 2015. Overtime definitely depends on industry, or more importantly a government job or private company. For government jobs, it is pretty lax. A lot of government jobs are usually 9:30am-11:30am, lunch break. then 2:30pm-5pm. But private company jobs often have lots of overtime. And a lot of tech firms, design firms, finance or other service firms are infact private companies. In my case, as an architect, 50-60 hours a week is common. However, I feel overtime in China is actually pretty unproductive, usually caused by needless bureaucracy, bad client management, and just unhealthy overtime culture. I remember this one time, I finished my assigned work from my manager and left on time because my parents came to China to see me. The next day I was reprimanded for leaving before the project group finished their work. I was stunned at this, since I was focused and finished early rather than doing “tea breaks” and chatting during work.
For many government jobs, you need to stay on call for role-irrelevant work at night and during the weekends - which is very common, and there's definitely no overtime pay.
@@zzzstl6371 That is true, but what I meant was big government corporations like China Mobile, Banks, Petrol China, etc. The public servants at the bottom are hard working with no overtime pay like you said.
5:26 "The tech gap and generational gap cannot be solved by working hours" This doesn't get said enough. I've worked with so many people who work long hours, and yet they were some of the most unproductive people around. Quantity =/= Quality
Some companies dont say you need to work 996, but they provide free meals at 6pm, pay for your taxi if you leave after 8 or 9pm. It will attract many ppl especially singles, to stay late
The type of companies and positions that you are talking about are satistically insignifacant, free meal doesn't cost anything but chauffeur is way too far fetched unless you work in some super remote places. You have to be a ceo or at least a regional manager to have treatment like this. My co worker and colleagues that makes about 450k yuan a year(70k) USD minus tax which considers as high earner here takes buses and rides bicycles to work. Taxis ain't cheap here despite it being a developing country, a 10 mile ride will cost you at least 10 USD and the price could go much higher late night. What happened in most cases is that the company give you some subsidy to cover your transportation cost, it will be more than enough to take any public transportation but nowhere close to covering a taxi ride.
@@Max-yp1iw GZ taxi starts at 12 yuan under 3km and 2.6 yuan per km after 3km what you are saying just doesn't make sense mathematically, your taxi literally takes 30 minute to travel 4km/2.5 miles that's slower than a bicycle. Also if your workplace is about 2.5 miles away why not just ride a bike or take the subway, getting a taxi ride is an utter waste of time.
No way, 30min at least cost 40RMB. At least that is the cost for me when I take a Didi, in 30min I cover 22km and the cost goes from 40 to 60RMB depending on the day and time.@@Max-yp1iw
Shanghai is like the only China city where a good portion of the population would likely know about foreign views of China or western websites like youtube. if they went to smaller cities i dont think they would be able to hire people to film videos for a youtube channel lol.
@@dbuc4671 asian boss definitely would not have a problem hiring someone in a Chinese “small city’ of 7 million people, where the average salary is like 1k usd a month …
It would be nice if the industry of the interviewees was displayed because that’s a big factor of the 996 culture. The guy who spoke about retaining top talent in China was very well spoken.
From the last guy interview, I think many millionaires already said "even you have enough money for the rest of your life. You still find something to do but you can say no to things you don't want to do."
@@cristina8868He said, clearly, that the idea of doing "nothing" (i.e., quitting your job and having a huge part of your life devoid of things to do) would be unrealistic. He meant that there would be no sense of purpose without some work or something to do.
The problem is peer pressure. Even if the company has 40hrs work week, many young employees can't simply go home when their boss or senior employees are still around. They don't want to be perceived as lazy. Asian countries are not as individualist compared to the west
Same thing large companies like Wal Mart got in trouble for in the US, having people work lots of overtime without pay - even actively forcing them to officially clock out before continuing to work
Wal Mart didn't stand a chance in Germany in the early aughts when it tried to impose the American-style work environment that is so alien to the Germans. Eventually, Wal Mart gave up and withdrew from German market in a few short years. Thankfully, two German companies, REAL,- and METRO, took over the empty buildings and distribution centres on the cheap.
the girl said it. its either you work over time or not work anymore. the difficulty of finding a job in china is terrible even if you are college graduate, employers will not hesitate to replace you as they can easily hire another.
The true unemmployment rate of college graduates will not be released by the CCP, but the general public believes it is over 50% unemployment. Foreign companies have been leaving China for the last 3 years and more continue to do so. Mexico now is the largest trading partner with USA; not China any longer. South Korean companies have pretty much moved all their manufacturing to India, Vietnam, Singapore or back to Korea. Japan is in the process of doing the same. China is currently in a recession and the last 4 months shows DEFLATIONARY pricing as prices of goods have fallen. God help China. th-cam.com/video/mK2LSOO4Ttg/w-d-xo.html Is The Extreme 996 Work Culture In China True? | Street Interview
If you pass away at your office desk, your belongings will be cleared within a week. No one will talk about it at work after a month. Bosses will give "motherhood politically correct" statements about taking care of your health.
If you do the interview at 11 / 12 p.m. you may get totally different answers； also check those people who start working from 5 a.m., who do the really tough work all the time, but usually get forgotten.
Sometimes we do not seek answer from what people say, instead, their facial expression, that emptiness in their eyes (of those who after work late) should explain everything@@fs5775
@@fs5775 Yeah, yeah, you are the only smart XXX, knows, sees, and hears everything without actually being. The cleaning lady starts at 5, because the traffic is less and the weather is cooler. But they finish at noon. But sure, you can speak for them.
I don't think those 2 girls are in high school, they're probably in college. 1. Chinese high school uniforms are track suits, not what they're wearing. 2. Recruiters usually would visit a college, not a high school.
No, actually its the opposite. Do you think it is easy to find people that are willing to die at work? Why do they die at work? Thats because the company is providing lots of incentive and pay or at least the opportunity to move up. That's why workers only die in fast growing and promising companies. Many will try and 99.99% of them won't die. Its the few which takes it to the extreme will die and I blame mostly themselves for choosing to work so much.
I have a friend who worked in Pinduduo shanghai as software engineer for 3 years, salary is about 500k yuan(70k dollar) per year. That's why everyone wants to be in.
She is 1% of Gen Z who doesn't let problems eat her and don't let BS depression and anxiety take over her. She is a woman of strong will. In a world of Gen Z, LGBTQ and BLM this is ultra rare.
Apparently like the one guy said, it depends on the industry, not that much different from developed countries. In the West, ER medical staff are known to work 997 for a couple weeks then take time off for a couple weeks, while others can work on buildings in an industry that averages 776 in peak seasons and 856 in a slow season, then there's 845 for lower paid office staff, some work extra hours at the office without overtime pay; there's no 4 day nonsense unless your a dentist or some odd job shift worker. Can't generalize work hours as one kind for an entire nation as companies differ.
When I was in postgraduate education, a manager from a consulting company told me that people at the age of 20s don't have personal life, as they neither get married nor have kids. I just got shocked.
Big consulting companies pay their employees enough to require that level of dedications. It's sad many companies that pay poorly and also require you to work long hours with terrible benefits and career developments.
Because Chinese government doesn’t give a damn about how many hours you work even they stipulated all workers in china can’t work more than 40hrs a week. We are just pieces to suppress US in the future
"Allow work to become a part of your life that adds joy." That sounds good on paper, but doesn't pan out in reality. Most people begrudgingly go to jobs that they hate. Very few actually have the luxury of finding fulfillment in the line of work that they do. There is a point of diminishing returns with extended work hours where employee productivity takes a nosedive. Human beings aren't meant to operate at that level continuously. Also, many work hours are wasted on unrelated activities. No one actually spends every second at their job contributing productively; that's an entirely unrealistic expectation.
If you find no joy in serving others, you'll likely have no gratitude or appreciation towards how others in society are constantly serving you and making your life easier. It's not a good way to live.
You read newspaper everyday, yet you dont read the same news everyday, we watch youtube video every night, yet most of us dont watch. the same video over and over again for the whole year. Your job is to serve the customer, yet your customers may not the same, even the same customer has different problem/need/complain than yesterday when you start to look every small little details in your job, its the time when you enjoy your work. then hours fly faster than you thought when you start complaining even small little details in your job, its the time when you will feel a burden, a minutes feels like an hour, an hour feels like forever.
I _knew_ the shaggy-haired guy in the blue coat was a programmer. Called it. Nobody else is that level of chill about the amount of time he said he was putting in at the office. Doctors, maybe. But that guy... total programmer vibes. Now, back to the video. lol
Apart from working hours, what is important in employment and labor law, it's also number of paid leave days, like vacation leave, sickness leave, maternity leave or leave to take care of members of your family when they are ill (like a child or old parent) etc.
I am an expat in a local company doing overseas business, I tell my interns that we do not work 996 but when we have to do overtime we do it, from intern to team leader, we deal with customers all around the world so sometimes we have to talk to them at night or have meetings on saturday with middle east countries. It is not easy, when I was working in western consulting company we also worked like that. At least I make sure, that when they finish the internship they leave with new skills or a much more clear career path, and Iif I can I help them get a full time job later. Tough times for young chinese workers.
You likely have a much better work life balance there then and better rights for workers generally than countries like the US which is a good thing tho people usually have to fight hard to get those rights. If your country puts the worth of companies & the elite over the worth of it's people then rights protect the company much more and has very little protection for it's workers from being exploited.
@@veryboliaoCollapse is relative when you look at the standard of living of places like France. Even stereotypically lazy countries such as Italy and Spain have roughly the same GDP per capita as Japan. They are also arguably slightly less stagnant. So either people work in the former more than the stereotype suggests, or the Japanese work less, or perhaps there are efficiency issies or diminishing returns to overwork in Japan. It is likely a bit of each.
I am Chinese and once worked in Shenzhen and Shanghai for totally over 10 years, and changed my career from a recruiter manager to a teacher. Fairly speaking, I would doubt where and to whom did this interview take. Based on my experience and those colleagues' understanding who are still endeavouring in the HR industry, working overtime is quite normal and omnipresent, even for most civil servants at the grass-roots level. One female interviewee said objectively, it's a mutual thing but if you don't work overtime, you cannot find a job and right now the working environment in China is worse and trickier than before the pandemic. Most of those interviewees spoke for their own interests, maybe some of them were the bosses, or maybe they just wanna be the representative for government policy, but I doubt their answers when you ask if they themselves work overtime or not. And the policy and the status quo are two different things.
I lived in China for 2 years working for a large American multinational company. We worked at least 40 hours per week, but not way more. While there I met many small business owners and their workers. I was surprised to learn that many of them worked 7 days a week, 9 or 10 hours each day. I remember a young woman who told me that she normally worked about 72 hours per week. It is not unusual if they want to make a good amount of money.
Let’s not pretend like American companies are not doing the same damn thing. I work 10-15 hours of overtime every week. They recently made me salary exempt and now I’m making less than before but still have to work the overtime 👀. Keep in mind this is a top company in the states.l
That's why we have unions. Go ahead and fire everybody, boss. Have fun replacing them. Will cost boss more money and hassle than trying to keep current employees happy. You invest in good people and keep them happy, they stay and make boss & company successful. That's why USA is number 1 in business & industry@@hotbitch3978
They may stay in the office for 12 hours, but are often productive for much less. Sometimes, they'll proudly proclaim how much overtime they do- if they skipped the afternoon nap time and didn't dawdle to get recognition for staying late, they'd be home good and early. I've seen it in my company; the Chinese coworkers who can't be arsed about being praised for their "hard work" are out the door when they should be. The boss encourages staying late, so they do. This is because finding good jobs is indeed very difficult in a massive workforce.
Great interview on this topic. We get to see what the people say on the streets. Always love how Asian boss shows all views and just what is really going on in the country. A little better understanding on this topic. Great work!
Even in indonesia that many people says indonesia is chill country, a lot of workers are working 10-12 hours or more without overtime pay. Notes : It depends on what job you taking for
As Aglo-Saxon remains, ALL Asian countries will have this issue, while western countries are usually be seen as countries who have "lots of freedom" and so called "work life balance". China is the first country to dare to break this wall but it takes times. However, hardworking and enduring hardship are deep in Chinese root for thousands of years.
you didn't hear their gov is working on it? but realistically we are talking about high demand company where you literally cannot slack off, it really depends on the job. Sometimes the more popular company that brings money to the table means there will be more work for you otherwise the company itself will also dieout.
right... the "government is working on it" as their economy is tanking... yeah, I'm sure they'll give workers a break for their mental and physical health sacrificing their overall GDP...riiiiight 🤣🤣@@AKDHFR
@@AKDHFR lmao the government is working on it.🤣Actually, there's a labor law in China that everyone knows it's garbage. The interviewers just tried to leave a good impression on foreigners by saying half of the sentence and ignoring some facts.
It is common in East Asia. The important issue is whether they can get extra money to support their livings. Look at the birth rate of China, Japan and Korea and you can find the attitudes of the new generation to long working hours and slave-like office lives.
No time to find a spouse. No time to have an intimate moment to make babies. No time to spend quality time with family. And Chinese government is concerned about low birth rate. SAD!!!! .
@@bin-siewlim2191 China used to be a very family-centric society. It started changing when China started her open and reform policy back to 1980s. Capitalism changed this nation.
To be honest, It doesn't seem as bad and hopeless as Japan or S.Korea. They know that there is a problem; they address it; they have the hope to change it; and they know that there is a right for getting paid for extra hours, even tho for now they do some extra for free because of the competition. Compared to the other two east asian countries, they're more eager for change and more vocal about their problems, which in return would give more chances to have a progress.
I do not know a single Japanese or Korean person who has never criticized their countries's working culture.. Infact they definitely do so with much more fervor than the people from this video. Also Japan has been enforcing anti overtime laws and many improvements have been made the past 5-10 years. I currently work here and it is not as bad as you guys think at all. Definitely nothing as bad as 996 working culture either
I work for a Japanese company and the average working hours are about 7 hours and people around me go home by train around 6 o'clock. It is a stereotype to say that the working environment in Japan is terrible. However, because people are only interested in extreme content, there are always Japanese black companies that I have never seen before that are presented as average Japanese companies.
Yeah and the youth in China are very politically active, if they don't like the labor laws of the country they will surely vote in a new government, oh wait
Everyone always says stuff about Japan without having any idea what they are talking about. If anything, out of China, South Korea, and Japan, Japan probably has the best and fastest improving working culture. Stop spewing your misinformed garbage
The reference to a 4-day work week, this is not happening in the West. With the high cost of rent and the low hourly minimum wage, not many in the West can work less than 4 days or 32 hours per week. 🦉
I'm with some of those people of staying later and not seeing it overtime. I started working here in China just last month and I'm just an English teacher. I love the country so far, my school, and the workers. They are all really cool and I easily stay a little after just chatting with them and if someone asks me a work question I don't mind at all. My only regret about China is that I didn't come earlier.
I like your optimism. Don’t accept unnecessary work. Trust me. I worked with Chinese for 6 years ( also lived in China for 4 years ) in the beginning they are all super supportive and great towards employees. Once you start to accepting additional work, they will start using you and your optimism until the last drop of your sweat. Wishing you all the best. 🙏
@@danicajovanovic1963 I guess I'll see. There are teachers who have been here for years, so...I can't see it happening. I do know of some other teachers who also flew along with me who went to other schools somewhat nearby, and they are already having problems. I might have got lucky with a great school.
Give it time, friend, give it time. And Never Forget that you are currently existing in a total privilege bubble. If you choose to never see the man behind the curtain, that's on you. - Someone who's been there done that
@@cleoraasaran9957 Everything is honey and milk in the beginning. Once when there is a minor issue, they will make sure to act like you don’t exist. Sorry to say this. They have no problem having money issues, once they go broke, they will just say:,, sorry, we don’t have money anymore. from tomorrow, find another job as we are not paying you”. Etc.
When Japan and South Korea had a per capita GDP of just over $10,000, their average weekly working hours were not actually shorter than China’s current hours. We are already in a state of catching up, and our international reputation is quite passive. Therefore, we can only work harder to have more high-value-added industries. Don’t we want to have paid vacations every day like Western and Northern Europe? 🌍🌞
The current situation in China is very fragmented. There are huge differences between big cities and small cities, and between different industries and different types of work. Street interviews will have little effect, because assembly line workers are so squeezed that they have no time to hang out on the streets. If you go to second- and third-tier cities Interview employees in small private companies and manufacturing factories, and you will find the answers you want.
Saya pribadi sangat puas Dengan pendapat Dan opini dari para pemuda tiongkok yg diwawancari.Mereka semua punya wawasan yang luas Dan bijaksana.Saya yakin kemajuan tiongkok yang spektakuler kini adalah hasil dari para muda mudi yang terpelajar ini.👍👍👍
The one who wears black pullover, very clever to answer the question. I hope company either it small or big business can apply the work life balance for the workers. Or set up overtime limit. Even in hospitality, construction and startup. I have seen it many times
I used to work 60-80 hour weeks working in the film industry in Toronto. As I worked on the non-union side of things we didn't really receive overtime pay instead our contracts were flat day rates, this often led to being ridiculously overworked sometimes earning less than the national minimum wage. I have many friends that still work in the film industry for a lot of them it has become their entire lives as they don't get much time off. Film productions will have food available on set at almost all hours of the day in order to insure the workers don't have to leave to get food, this food available 24/7 also is a common strategy to increases morale.
Agree with the guy about reitaining talented individuals in the country. Majority of top students in MIT, Harvard etc are Chinese (In Tech related programs). While I dont know if they return to China, China should atleast make an effort to have them return.
The 72-hour /week is relatively short. My parebts are farmers and herders. They start work at 7am every day, until 10pm, except for a particularly important holidays. My parents have no concept of weekends even.
This is so crazy for me to hear and see. I work for the Dutch government and my working life is sooooo different. I work 4 x9 from home. But I could work less to. I am just paying off my student loan and so I don't for now. I think 36 hours is a lot of working already. 🤔 Lucky I have a lot of vacation to. In fact I have 4weeks off now and I will go on vacation to Korea soon. Later this year I will have a other 2 weeks to go to Spain. And at the end of the year probably we will do that same again.
I haven’t taken a single vacation in my entire adult life (I am 34 now) because I couldn’t afford to. I am in the US. I work around 70 hours a week between 3 jobs.
@@sweetReaper damn, but that must be so hard and intense !I have respect to can hold it up. I don’t think I would be able to do so. Also our Tax system is strange, working like double the amount of hour might only give me like $200 in the month more.. that just ain’t worth it in my eyes. What type of jobs do you do if I may ask ? 😊
My company discuss if we can provide 24x7 service or not. All Northern European people support it. And a Japanese colleague and me from China said no, we seldom service the customer after work time. Which was really funny. But actually, 996 is depends on which industry you work on. Internet or financial and fast moving consumer are more common.
If you ever article student for accounting or law firms, in North America, you can count on 80 to 100 hours a week of work with no over hours because you are on fixed salary. And if you are in the IT industry, you can sleep at your desk without day offs. 996 is described as hard on workers in China but 996 is a luxury for some workers in North America. Try to have to three jobs in North America just to pay the rent.
I run my own company in China. As management, I do not encourage lengthy overtime work. That said, during busy seasons when overtime work is absolutely mandatory, I myself work on a 007 schedule.
I like the answer of the boy wearing a black hoodie, and our views are almost the same! China is a developing country, and there are many aspects that require people to try and make mistakes, ultimately influencing changes in the industry environment through people's feedback. This is a process that the Chinese must go through. I always think that China needs time, and the Chinese also need time!
Thanks for the vid!! Wondering where this interview was taken place? Given a great geographic and demographic differences, feeling situation can really vary tho
哥说“retaining foreign-educated Chinese students". 他说的对。他很聪明。He is very thoughtful in his speech & makes a lot of good points. 这个视频很有意思.谢谢您. I heard an Amazon seller say one time that after all the daily activities and after working a 40-hour work week, the average person has 65 hours a week to do anything they wish. I immediately borrowed audio books of American classic literature and started listening to them in the car. I was able to "read" 10 books just in my travel time.
in China production is the economy itself while in USA consumption is the economy itself. That is why there is such a essential difference. For Japan and Korea their roles in global economy are similar to China but their industries are more advanced so their hours are shorter but the general working culture is similar. Unless a country builds an economy based on printing currencies and primarily based on consumption people just won't have the luxury to be too leisurely. Europe is probably something else, because they do not have a hegemony in finance and currency like US (still strong though), neither are they fortifying competitive edges in advanced manufacturing and at the same time people have a world-class work-life balance.
At&t in the U.S. tried the 4 day work week many times in some departments. They found that less work got done for the same 40 hours spent on a 5 day 40 hr work week. But some of the job functions have time restrictions in the field (when you can set up to work and when you must be off some city streets due to commuting hours) so in a few departments it wasn't an advantage. 40 hr 8a-4:30pm left sn ideal 1 hr of prep time before street access was allowed were 6am-4:30pm caused there to be 3 hrs of time before street access which is too much time, therefore wasted time. Later start times for crews and late running shifts historically were less productive due to reduced supervision. Hiring more middle management wasn't cost effective so they eliminated the shift and utilized more goal focused enthusiastic employees on overtime to get more work done at lower total expense.
In Germany it's a normal thing. 8h per day according to working law and 1h out of it is a break. Of course many do overtime, but u can ask for more off day or money €/h but yeah many young people here don't like it cuz this world needs to slow down a bit. 8h a day is kind of too much. More hours doesn't mean people want/can finish or do a good job. The world needs to gather and work together to fix the whole system. At the end it will lead to the problem that people don't want to work anymore and it will cause a bigger problem
Im not a Chinese nationality but I've been working for Chinese tech company that based in Shenzhen, HK, and Singapore for these last 4,5 year. All of these company do indeed got some overtime culture. Sometimes you gotta stay at the office till up to 9:15 pm and sometimes if its something you need to work on till 11 pm above, you can do it home by keep being online on the "work online backend system" at home. So yeah I can tell, the work culture is hard but I think I personally learned a lot as the youth who has been spending my professional time there, It shaped me to become more knowledgable and experiences.
5:08 men is very intelligent and talk about main issue of developing countries as well, talent draining by high salary of US. All the developing countries are facing the same issue.
The issue is it is difficult to find jobs in China now that their economy is in a big trouble. As less jobs and high number of unemployment, keeping your job is a priority no matter how low the pay is or how long the workhour is. Hope these talented people survive this dark time in China.
Everyone is so quick to criticize communism and criticize the Chinese government. But I honestly think this is an example where communism would prevail because this 996 madness is peak capitalism
Don't mistake your job as work. Work = improving your life You don't need to be at your job 24/7 to be '"working". Its ok to have some personal self-care; that is considered work as well. You are maintaining the most important machinery; your body and mind! Playing and having fun can also be considered working; it gives you motivation, connection, and a will to live.
996 is definitely too extreme. 4 days a week is bad for the employer. In Australia that means Thurs is get ready to party. Mon I'm too hungover to work. Meaning only 3 days of productivity. If it were my call, I'd implement a 3 day on 1 day off continuously with no focus on hours, only productivity. If an employee done a good job or completed their task early they're welcome to leave early.
As long as the incentives are suited and attractive, there's always no lack of zealous workers. The real issues are employers who under paid, undercut, under recognize or fleece their employees.
The hourly wages in big cities are relatively high, so many people are willing to work overtime. If you go to a small city for an interview, the answers you will get are completely different.
In US, and my last job did have mandatory overtime at end of month if needed. Which wasn’t too bad. I could not imagine working overtime everyday 6 days a week. 😮
@@Z_Y89 i have never met anyone in Canada who has worked OT without pay, that is against every law in every province. and it is very easy to get support to get your pay, and the business will have to pay a very heavy fine, and if they do it again, they can lose their business license.
@@JalomMatia come on, you are talking about wage (hour) based. I am on salary base, we only talk about annual salary. Most people in high tech industry work OT, like 10 to 12 hrs a day is very normal. It is the same in states as well.
@@Z_Y89 then is it's part of the salary agreement, then it is not considered OT. That OT on salary is often worked into the salary already, so you are in fact getting paid for the OT. You need to be aware of those things and come to an agreement on them before taking a salary job.
The problem is, if you don't do overtime, there are 1.39999 billion others who will. So in this economy, people are just glad they have a job, nevermind being paid for overtime.
Unfortunately this interview will be skewed in results as all the people busy working 996 won't be on the streets with enough free time for an interview
Honestly, I just feel like the fact that China is still a developing country is often temporarily forgotten in the context of these interviews. In my view, anyway, China at this moment could be compared to the West during the late Victorian or early 19th century period as urbanization and industrialization are accelerating but still mostly in progress since a large portion of the population is still rural. Many people living in the cities moved in within a generation from peasant country. China still has quite a bit of work ahead, unlike South Korea and especially Japan.
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I would love it if you did the same interview with lower socioeconomic members of society
They found some really good people to interview this round. It was really enjoyable to hear their answers.
Yeah these were great interviews, agreed
I grew up in Canada and have worked in China since 2015. Overtime definitely depends on industry, or more importantly a government job or private company. For government jobs, it is pretty lax. A lot of government jobs are usually 9:30am-11:30am, lunch break. then 2:30pm-5pm.
But private company jobs often have lots of overtime. And a lot of tech firms, design firms, finance or other service firms are infact private companies. In my case, as an architect, 50-60 hours a week is common.
However, I feel overtime in China is actually pretty unproductive, usually caused by needless bureaucracy, bad client management, and just unhealthy overtime culture. I remember this one time, I finished my assigned work from my manager and left on time because my parents came to China to see me. The next day I was reprimanded for leaving before the project group finished their work. I was stunned at this, since I was focused and finished early rather than doing “tea breaks” and chatting during work.
hmmm, China is a collective culture, I wonder if the expectations is to help your peers if you have finished early? Just a thought. ☯
Interesting! Did you say that to them. Final understanding bn you please?
For many government jobs, you need to stay on call for role-irrelevant work at night and during the weekends - which is very common, and there's definitely no overtime pay.
Since when chine began to turn into japan😂
@@zzzstl6371 That is true, but what I meant was big government corporations like China Mobile, Banks, Petrol China, etc.
The public servants at the bottom are hard working with no overtime pay like you said.
5:26 "The tech gap and generational gap cannot be solved by working hours" This doesn't get said enough. I've worked with so many people who work long hours, and yet they were some of the most unproductive people around. Quantity =/= Quality
It does help. China has been advanced so much and been leading in some area. One important reason is because Chinese work so hard.
Some companies dont say you need to work 996, but they provide free meals at 6pm, pay for your taxi if you leave after 8 or 9pm. It will attract many ppl especially singles, to stay late
The type of companies and positions that you are talking about are satistically insignifacant, free meal doesn't cost anything but chauffeur is way too far fetched unless you work in some super remote places. You have to be a ceo or at least a regional manager to have treatment like this. My co worker and colleagues that makes about 450k yuan a year(70k) USD minus tax which considers as high earner here takes buses and rides bicycles to work. Taxis ain't cheap here despite it being a developing country, a 10 mile ride will cost you at least 10 USD and the price could go much higher late night.
What happened in most cases is that the company give you some subsidy to cover your transportation cost, it will be more than enough to take any public transportation but nowhere close to covering a taxi ride.
@@calebgao6931where do you live? In Guangzhou 30min ride costs 15yuan
@@Max-yp1iw GZ taxi starts at 12 yuan under 3km and 2.6 yuan per km after 3km what you are saying just doesn't make sense mathematically, your taxi literally takes 30 minute to travel 4km/2.5 miles that's slower than a bicycle. Also if your workplace is about 2.5 miles away why not just ride a bike or take the subway, getting a taxi ride is an utter waste of time.
@@calebgao6931 many tech companies provide this kind of benefit, JD, Tencent, Alibaba etc.
No way, 30min at least cost 40RMB. At least that is the cost for me when I take a Didi, in 30min I cover 22km and the cost goes from 40 to 60RMB depending on the day and time.@@Max-yp1iw
Asian Boss need to expand out of Shanghai. Please do more interviews in Beijing, Shenzhen, Nanjing etc.
They need budget to either travel to those areas or to hire competent interviewers from that area.
So true
Shanghai is like the only China city where a good portion of the population would likely know about foreign views of China or western websites like youtube.
if they went to smaller cities i dont think they would be able to hire people to film videos for a youtube channel lol.
@@dbuc4671 asian boss definitely would not have a problem hiring someone in a Chinese “small city’ of 7 million people, where the average salary is like 1k usd a month …
@@Mr.paillantmore like 500 in reality
It would be nice if the industry of the interviewees was displayed because that’s a big factor of the 996 culture. The guy who spoke about retaining top talent in China was very well spoken.
I spent 2 years living in China and same. I will never complain about the U.S. ever again.@MAGAChanel
From the last guy interview, I think many millionaires already said "even you have enough money for the rest of your life. You still find something to do but you can say no to things you don't want to do."
@@cristina8868He said, clearly, that the idea of doing "nothing" (i.e., quitting your job and having a huge part of your life devoid of things to do) would be unrealistic. He meant that there would be no sense of purpose without some work or something to do.
The problem is peer pressure. Even if the company has 40hrs work week, many young employees can't simply go home when their boss or senior employees are still around. They don't want to be perceived as lazy. Asian countries are not as individualist compared to the west
So, Chinese working culture is also becoming like Japanese working culture.
@@Poe168 yep, we called that adapting the new meta /=
That only applies to Japan. many Asian countries don't do this
Yep, and unfortunately it all boils down to perception and appearances.
Luckily I live in Europe 😅
I really like the videos from China, help me learn the language! Thanks!
Same thing large companies like Wal Mart got in trouble for in the US, having people work lots of overtime without pay - even actively forcing them to officially clock out before continuing to work
Easy lawsuit 😅
Wal Mart didn't stand a chance in Germany in the early aughts when it tried to impose the American-style work environment that is so alien to the Germans. Eventually, Wal Mart gave up and withdrew from German market in a few short years. Thankfully, two German companies, REAL,- and METRO, took over the empty buildings and distribution centres on the cheap.
Ain't no way that was a real thing in the US. Instant lawsuit 😂
@@crowing3886it’s definitely real.
This is normal in London, everybody i know has to do unpaid overtime.
the girl said it. its either you work over time or not work anymore. the difficulty of finding a job in china is terrible even if you are college graduate, employers will not hesitate to replace you as they can easily hire another.
I am both employer and employee. I can tell you as an employer, it is equally hard to find and retain a good employee.
same south korea
Just come to America! 🎉🎉🎉
The true unemmployment rate of college graduates will not be released by the CCP, but the general public believes it is over 50% unemployment. Foreign companies have been leaving China for the last 3 years and more continue to do so. Mexico now is the largest trading partner with USA; not China any longer. South Korean companies have pretty much moved all their manufacturing to India, Vietnam, Singapore or back to Korea. Japan is in the process of doing the same. China is currently in a recession and the last 4 months shows DEFLATIONARY pricing as prices of goods have fallen. God help China.
th-cam.com/video/mK2LSOO4Ttg/w-d-xo.html Is The Extreme 996 Work Culture In China True? | Street Interview
@@Zarozian and do what? dish washer..no thanks
If you pass away at your office desk, your belongings will be cleared within a week. No one will talk about it at work after a month. Bosses will give "motherhood politically correct" statements about taking care of your health.
That guy around 8:40 spoke so well, man, knowledge just is readable from everything he says. Wish i could have a good conversation with him
If you do the interview at 11 / 12 p.m. you may get totally different answers； also check those people who start working from 5 a.m., who do the really tough work all the time, but usually get forgotten.
No, you would get the same answers just with awkward giggles. These are Mainlanders we are talking about here.
Sometimes we do not seek answer from what people say, instead, their facial expression, that emptiness in their eyes (of those who after work late) should explain everything@@fs5775
@@fs5775 Yeah, yeah, you are the only smart XXX, knows, sees, and hears everything without actually being. The cleaning lady starts at 5, because the traffic is less and the weather is cooler. But they finish at noon. But sure, you can speak for them.
This poor high school girl !!! Baby i assure u, u dont want to work in a company where people die of overworking 😅😭
I don't think those 2 girls are in high school, they're probably in college. 1. Chinese high school uniforms are track suits, not what they're wearing. 2. Recruiters usually would visit a college, not a high school.
No, actually its the opposite. Do you think it is easy to find people that are willing to die at work? Why do they die at work? Thats because the company is providing lots of incentive and pay or at least the opportunity to move up. That's why workers only die in fast growing and promising companies. Many will try and 99.99% of them won't die. Its the few which takes it to the extreme will die and I blame mostly themselves for choosing to work so much.
I have a friend who worked in Pinduduo shanghai as software engineer for 3 years, salary is about 500k yuan(70k dollar) per year. That's why everyone wants to be in.
@@lianzhu6810Yes, it also looks like Japanese-style high school uniforms, which are also fashionable and for some a personal styling choice.
She is 1% of Gen Z who doesn't let problems eat her and don't let BS depression and anxiety take over her. She is a woman of strong will. In a world of Gen Z, LGBTQ and BLM this is ultra rare.
Thanks!
Apparently like the one guy said, it depends on the industry, not that much different from developed countries. In the West, ER medical staff are known to work 997 for a couple weeks then take time off for a couple weeks, while others can work on buildings in an industry that averages 776 in peak seasons and 856 in a slow season, then there's 845 for lower paid office staff, some work extra hours at the office without overtime pay; there's no 4 day nonsense unless your a dentist or some odd job shift worker. Can't generalize work hours as one kind for an entire nation as companies differ.
But people will generalize anyway. China bad, eh?
When I was in postgraduate education, a manager from a consulting company told me that people at the age of 20s don't have personal life, as they neither get married nor have kids. I just got shocked.
Big consulting companies pay their employees enough to require that level of dedications. It's sad many companies that pay poorly and also require you to work long hours with terrible benefits and career developments.
I'm Chinese, I hate working overtime, and I hope the government can do something
Basically they are all working overtime everyday without getting paid 😭😭😭
Corporations love that "free labor".
Most don't. many white collars do, blue collars always get paid for overtime.
As Chinese, 98% Chinese work overtime everday except work for government
Because Chinese government doesn’t give a damn about how many hours you work even they stipulated all workers in china can’t work more than 40hrs a week. We are just pieces to suppress US in the future
It's common everywhere in Asia even in some European countries too
"Allow work to become a part of your life that adds joy." That sounds good on paper, but doesn't pan out in reality. Most people begrudgingly go to jobs that they hate. Very few actually have the luxury of finding fulfillment in the line of work that they do.
There is a point of diminishing returns with extended work hours where employee productivity takes a nosedive. Human beings aren't meant to operate at that level continuously. Also, many work hours are wasted on unrelated activities. No one actually spends every second at their job contributing productively; that's an entirely unrealistic expectation.
I agree. Also, even if you "like" your job, the fact you need to go there almost everyday will eventually become a "burden" because it's an obligation
Rest is needed for all activities, even those you love
If you find no joy in serving others, you'll likely have no gratitude or appreciation towards how others in society are constantly serving you and making your life easier. It's not a good way to live.
@@danfg7215Why would anyone find joy in working as a corporate slave to serve a company that just wants to maximize its own profits 💀
You read newspaper everyday, yet you dont read the same news everyday,
we watch youtube video every night, yet most of us dont watch. the same video over and over again for the whole year.
Your job is to serve the customer, yet your customers may not the same, even the same customer has different problem/need/complain than yesterday
when you start to look every small little details in your job, its the time when you enjoy your work. then hours fly faster than you thought
when you start complaining even small little details in your job, its the time when you will feel a burden, a minutes feels like an hour, an hour feels like forever.
I _knew_ the shaggy-haired guy in the blue coat was a programmer. Called it. Nobody else is that level of chill about the amount of time he said he was putting in at the office. Doctors, maybe. But that guy... total programmer vibes. Now, back to the video. lol
He probably watch anime
Apart from working hours, what is important in employment and labor law, it's also number of paid leave days, like vacation leave, sickness leave, maternity leave or leave to take care of members of your family when they are ill (like a child or old parent) etc.
here in china, the paid leave day is 5days private and 15days state-owned.🥲
是真的，而且很多底层工人一天工作普遍都在12小时，一周只有一天假期，工资也不是很高。中国的有钱人非常多，但穷人也很多。
Same in india. O e of our billionaire said indian youth should work 70 hours per week
有钱人上千万很多，穷人十几亿也很多
@@R_t-99 all these rich people man, I just hate them
讲对了!
I am an expat in a local company doing overseas business, I tell my interns that we do not work 996 but when we have to do overtime we do it, from intern to team leader, we deal with customers all around the world so sometimes we have to talk to them at night or have meetings on saturday with middle east countries.
It is not easy, when I was working in western consulting company we also worked like that.
At least I make sure, that when they finish the internship they leave with new skills or a much more clear career path, and Iif I can I help them get a full time job later. Tough times for young chinese workers.
It’s strange because in my country (France) 40 hours a week is considered as overtime since 20 years
You likely have a much better work life balance there then and better rights for workers generally than countries like the US which is a good thing tho people usually have to fight hard to get those rights. If your country puts the worth of companies & the elite over the worth of it's people then rights protect the company much more and has very little protection for it's workers from being exploited.
Europe generally has a better work life balance compared to US and Asia.
Maybe that's why Europe is collapsing and Asia is catching up economically ?
@@veryboliaoCollapse is relative when you look at the standard of living of places like France. Even stereotypically lazy countries such as Italy and Spain have roughly the same GDP per capita as Japan. They are also arguably slightly less stagnant. So either people work in the former more than the stereotype suggests, or the Japanese work less, or perhaps there are efficiency issies or diminishing returns to overwork in Japan. It is likely a bit of each.
I am Chinese and once worked in Shenzhen and Shanghai for totally over 10 years, and changed my career from a recruiter manager to a teacher. Fairly speaking, I would doubt where and to whom did this interview take. Based on my experience and those colleagues' understanding who are still endeavouring in the HR industry, working overtime is quite normal and omnipresent, even for most civil servants at the grass-roots level. One female interviewee said objectively, it's a mutual thing but if you don't work overtime, you cannot find a job and right now the working environment in China is worse and trickier than before the pandemic. Most of those interviewees spoke for their own interests, maybe some of them were the bosses, or maybe they just wanna be the representative for government policy, but I doubt their answers when you ask if they themselves work overtime or not. And the policy and the status quo are two different things.
我在中国二线城市。普通职业的上班时间大部分都是8.30- 6.00。但是，90%的都是单休。
I lived in China for 2 years working for a large American multinational company. We worked at least 40 hours per week, but not way more. While there I met many small business owners and their workers. I was surprised to learn that many of them worked 7 days a week, 9 or 10 hours each day. I remember a young woman who told me that she normally worked about 72 hours per week. It is not unusual if they want to make a good amount of money.
Let’s not pretend like American companies are not doing the same damn thing. I work 10-15 hours of overtime every week. They recently made me salary exempt and now I’m making less than before but still have to work the overtime 👀. Keep in mind this is a top company in the states.l
And guess what, you have the right to Openly Complain in the U.S. So why don't you???
@@fs5775 If so, there are also relevant laws in China, and legal procedures can also be taken
@@fs5775 and what is complaining going to do? get you laid off most likely
That's why we have unions. Go ahead and fire everybody, boss. Have fun replacing them. Will cost boss more money and hassle than trying to keep current employees happy. You invest in good people and keep them happy, they stay and make boss & company successful. That's why USA is number 1 in business & industry@@hotbitch3978
@@fs5775 complain lmao? I work in a at will state. My ass will be replaced in a second. HR is not our friend dummy.
They may stay in the office for 12 hours, but are often productive for much less. Sometimes, they'll proudly proclaim how much overtime they do- if they skipped the afternoon nap time and didn't dawdle to get recognition for staying late, they'd be home good and early. I've seen it in my company; the Chinese coworkers who can't be arsed about being praised for their "hard work" are out the door when they should be. The boss encourages staying late, so they do. This is because finding good jobs is indeed very difficult in a massive workforce.
Great interview on this topic. We get to see what the people say on the streets. Always love how Asian boss shows all views and just what is really going on in the country. A little better understanding on this topic. Great work!
Even in indonesia that many people says indonesia is chill country, a lot of workers are working 10-12 hours or more without overtime pay.
Notes : It depends on what job you taking for
As Aglo-Saxon remains, ALL Asian countries will have this issue, while western countries are usually be seen as countries who have "lots of freedom" and so called "work life balance". China is the first country to dare to break this wall but it takes times. However, hardworking and enduring hardship are deep in Chinese root for thousands of years.
It's like hardworking and enduring is in the Chinese DNA.
@@greentea8852 yea but if it's enduring until one's death i don't think it's still great idea. Although the video said the gov is working on it.
They love abuse, it's like their kink@@greentea8852
The Chinese government is trying to defuse the population bomb.
When did you film these interviews? Right now in Shanghai there are no leaves on the trees and everyone is wearing big winter coats.
I currently work for an American company in China, 5 days a week for 48 hrs.
Edit: 70 min break time per day included.
@luisanthonychau Does the 48 hr include breaks and nap time?
@@yerri5567 Break time is 70 min. per working day, so you can deduct 5 hr 50 min from the 48 hr. which would give you 42 hr 10 min.
@@yerri5567 42 hr 10 min after deducting those.
@@yerri5567 42 hrs 10 min after deducting those
@@yerri5567 70 min per day
996 is just crazy. Workers need to unite together and say no to this unhealthy working culture!
you didn't hear their gov is working on it? but realistically we are talking about high demand company where you literally cannot slack off, it really depends on the job. Sometimes the more popular company that brings money to the table means there will be more work for you otherwise the company itself will also dieout.
right... the "government is working on it" as their economy is tanking... yeah, I'm sure they'll give workers a break for their mental and physical health sacrificing their overall GDP...riiiiight 🤣🤣@@AKDHFR
@@AKDHFR lmao the government is working on it.🤣Actually, there's a labor law in China that everyone knows it's garbage. The interviewers just tried to leave a good impression on foreigners by saying half of the sentence and ignoring some facts.
There is no such a thing as unions in China...
联合起来!
It is common in East Asia. The important issue is whether they can get extra money to support their livings. Look at the birth rate of China, Japan and Korea and you can find the attitudes of the new generation to long working hours and slave-like office lives.
No time to find a spouse. No time to have an intimate moment to make babies. No time to spend quality time with family.
And Chinese government is concerned about low birth rate.
SAD!!!!
.
@@bin-siewlim2191 China used to be a very family-centric society. It started changing when China started her open and reform policy back to 1980s. Capitalism changed this nation.
To be honest, It doesn't seem as bad and hopeless as Japan or S.Korea.
They know that there is a problem; they address it; they have the hope to change it; and they know that there is a right for getting paid for extra hours, even tho for now they do some extra for free because of the competition.
Compared to the other two east asian countries, they're more eager for change and more vocal about their problems, which in return would give more chances to have a progress.
I do not know a single Japanese or Korean person who has never criticized their countries's working culture.. Infact they definitely do so with much more fervor than the people from this video. Also Japan has been enforcing anti overtime laws and many improvements have been made the past 5-10 years. I currently work here and it is not as bad as you guys think at all. Definitely nothing as bad as 996 working culture either
@@Ceylin_KurtboganExactly, people just be talking to be talking.
I work for a Japanese company and the average working hours are about 7 hours and people around me go home by train around 6 o'clock.
It is a stereotype to say that the working environment in Japan is terrible.
However, because people are only interested in extreme content, there are always Japanese black companies that I have never seen before that are presented as average Japanese companies.
Yeah and the youth in China are very politically active, if they don't like the labor laws of the country they will surely vote in a new government, oh wait
Everyone always says stuff about Japan without having any idea what they are talking about. If anything, out of China, South Korea, and Japan, Japan probably has the best and fastest improving working culture. Stop spewing your misinformed garbage
That pony tail girl is clearly the boss at work
nah i think she's the middle management that's squished from both sides. boomer boss and genZ minions. zzzz.
She's clearly not, you can see from her wearings and emotions
The reference to a 4-day work week, this is not happening in the West. With the high cost of rent and the low hourly minimum wage, not many in the West can work less than 4 days or 32 hours per week. 🦉
I'm with some of those people of staying later and not seeing it overtime. I started working here in China just last month and I'm just an English teacher. I love the country so far, my school, and the workers. They are all really cool and I easily stay a little after just chatting with them and if someone asks me a work question I don't mind at all. My only regret about China is that I didn't come earlier.
I like your optimism. Don’t accept unnecessary work. Trust me. I worked with Chinese for 6 years ( also lived in China for 4 years ) in the beginning they are all super supportive and great towards employees. Once you start to accepting additional work, they will start using you and your optimism until the last drop of your sweat. Wishing you all the best. 🙏
@@danicajovanovic1963 I guess I'll see. There are teachers who have been here for years, so...I can't see it happening. I do know of some other teachers who also flew along with me who went to other schools somewhat nearby, and they are already having problems. I might have got lucky with a great school.
Give it time, friend, give it time. And Never Forget that you are currently existing in a total privilege bubble. If you choose to never see the man behind the curtain, that's on you. - Someone who's been there done that
@@cleoraasaran9957 Everything is honey and milk in the beginning. Once when there is a minor issue, they will make sure to act like you don’t exist. Sorry to say this. They have no problem having money issues, once they go broke, they will just say:,, sorry, we don’t have money anymore. from tomorrow, find another job as we are not paying you”. Etc.
Chinese propaganda.
Once upon a time, i hope a 24 hour work week is normalised. Now in europe we are aiming for 32. I wish the best to all friends in asia !
im writing my thesis about tang ping's socio-economic factors rn and 996/ unhealthy work culture is definitely a key player in the phenomenon
Big Whoop! Some people in New London has to go through the 6-20-7 culture (6:00 - 20:00, 7 days a week)
How is it that dude knows what the government doesn’t. It’s not hours worked it’s the quality and talent retained
996 work culture in very common in India also for many years... especially in small scale industries
i think it's not uncommon in Asia in general.
true
Third guy looks EXHAUSTED
When Japan and South Korea had a per capita GDP of just over $10,000, their average weekly working hours were not actually shorter than China’s current hours. We are already in a state of catching up, and our international reputation is quite passive. Therefore, we can only work harder to have more high-value-added industries. Don’t we want to have paid vacations every day like Western and Northern Europe? 🌍🌞
When Japan and SK where at 10k gdp per capita the level of technological development was also different.
要是能介绍一下采访者的职业就好了，我看这些人好多都不上班的样子，没有那种打工人的气质，哈哈。
里面有一个小哥说加班的都是少数高科技行业以及不要跟别的国家对比，可以说非常“典”了。
那个说不跟国外比的，看到那我也想说很典，很官方
那个逼估计就是个公务员吧。说话很官腔，和中国外交部一样。呵呵
不知道别的城市如何，就以我自己在深圳的情况来讲，同行业的加班现象相比往年确实越来越少了，虽然和欧美等发达国家还是没得比，但也算是往好的方向发展了吧😂😂
那个人说的话让人很恶心反感
因为加班组都在加班，哪有时间在街上闲聊
The current situation in China is very fragmented. There are huge differences between big cities and small cities, and between different industries and different types of work. Street interviews will have little effect, because assembly line workers are so squeezed that they have no time to hang out on the streets. If you go to second- and third-tier cities Interview employees in small private companies and manufacturing factories, and you will find the answers you want.
Saya pribadi sangat puas Dengan pendapat Dan opini dari para pemuda tiongkok yg diwawancari.Mereka semua punya wawasan yang luas Dan bijaksana.Saya yakin kemajuan tiongkok yang spektakuler kini adalah hasil dari para muda mudi yang terpelajar ini.👍👍👍
Those young people seem to be fairly informed and have at least a modicum of interest in economics and the politics of labour. Nice to see
Shanghai
The one who wears black pullover, very clever to answer the question. I hope company either it small or big business can apply the work life balance for the workers. Or set up overtime limit. Even in hospitality, construction and startup. I have seen it many times
I used to work 60-80 hour weeks working in the film industry in Toronto. As I worked on the non-union side of things we didn't really receive overtime pay instead our contracts were flat day rates, this often led to being ridiculously overworked sometimes earning less than the national minimum wage. I have many friends that still work in the film industry for a lot of them it has become their entire lives as they don't get much time off. Film productions will have food available on set at almost all hours of the day in order to insure the workers don't have to leave to get food, this food available 24/7 also is a common strategy to increases morale.
Agree with the guy about reitaining talented individuals in the country. Majority of top students in MIT, Harvard etc are Chinese (In Tech related programs). While I dont know if they return to China, China should atleast make an effort to have them return.
The 72-hour /week is relatively short. My parebts are farmers and herders. They start work at 7am every day, until 10pm, except for a particularly important holidays. My parents have no concept of weekends even.
This is so crazy for me to hear and see. I work for the Dutch government and my working life is sooooo different. I work 4 x9 from home. But I could work less to. I am just paying off my student loan and so I don't for now. I think 36 hours is a lot of working already. 🤔 Lucky I have a lot of vacation to. In fact I have 4weeks off now and I will go on vacation to Korea soon. Later this year I will have a other 2 weeks to go to Spain. And at the end of the year probably we will do that same again.
I haven’t taken a single vacation in my entire adult life (I am 34 now) because I couldn’t afford to. I am in the US. I work around 70 hours a week between 3 jobs.
@@sweetReaper damn, but that must be so hard and intense !I have respect to can hold it up. I don’t think I would be able to do so. Also our Tax system is strange, working like double the amount of hour might only give me like $200 in the month more.. that just ain’t worth it in my eyes. What type of jobs do you do if I may ask ? 😊
@@Johanneslol11I am a conservation educator in a major theme park, I work a call center and I am also a delivery driver.
@@sweetReaper wow respect! 🙌 You must be very tired at night though.
@@sweetReaperi wanna be the one who travels with you❤😊
In india Narayan murthy said
"Youngsters should work for 70 hours a week"
Fun fact : most do over 50 hours
My company discuss if we can provide 24x7 service or not. All Northern European people support it. And a Japanese colleague and me from China said no, we seldom service the customer after work time. Which was really funny. But actually, 996 is depends on which industry you work on. Internet or financial and fast moving consumer are more common.
If you ever article student for accounting or law firms, in North America, you can count on 80 to 100 hours a week of work with no over hours because you are on fixed salary. And if you are in the IT industry, you can sleep at your desk without day offs. 996 is described as hard on workers in China but 996 is a luxury for some workers in North America. Try to have to three jobs in North America just to pay the rent.
I think you are conflating overtime in a 996 culture with low paying jobs in North America. They are two different things.
@@thang5240
I am in IT and it’s not a low paying job, I sleep on the floor of my office and I hardly see my family. I wish I can do 996.
I run my own company in China. As management, I do not encourage lengthy overtime work. That said, during busy seasons when overtime work is absolutely mandatory, I myself work on a 007 schedule.
There is an unwritten rule though. If an employee works overtime then they get extended vacations during off seasons.
the guy in a jacket that talks about 'working more hours does not solve prosperity' gap is a catch, his insights throughout are all very wise.
I like the answer of the boy wearing a black hoodie, and our views are almost the same! China is a developing country, and there are many aspects that require people to try and make mistakes, ultimately influencing changes in the industry environment through people's feedback. This is a process that the Chinese must go through. I always think that China needs time, and the Chinese also need time!
Thanks for the vid!!
Wondering where this interview was taken place?
Given a great geographic and demographic differences, feeling situation can really vary tho
It seems the cinecamera has been mounted by an over 85mm fixed focal lens for the interviews cuz you can see a deep blurry scenery out of focus.
There were a lot of interesting points made.
哥说“retaining foreign-educated Chinese students". 他说的对。他很聪明。He is very thoughtful in his speech & makes a lot of good points. 这个视频很有意思.谢谢您.
I heard an Amazon seller say one time that after all the daily activities and after working a 40-hour work week, the average person has 65 hours a week to do anything they wish. I immediately borrowed audio books of American classic literature and started listening to them in the car. I was able to "read" 10 books just in my travel time.
what's the point ? even a machine can do that and even more !!
You should ask factory workers. Those are pushed to work 996. Not office workers in the cities 🙄
they're too busy working. lol the factory slaves i mean
Working in Asia is tough.
living in america is even worse
in China production is the economy itself while in USA consumption is the economy itself. That is why there is such a essential difference. For Japan and Korea their roles in global economy are similar to China but their industries are more advanced so their hours are shorter but the general working culture is similar. Unless a country builds an economy based on printing currencies and primarily based on consumption people just won't have the luxury to be too leisurely. Europe is probably something else, because they do not have a hegemony in finance and currency like US (still strong though), neither are they fortifying competitive edges in advanced manufacturing and at the same time people have a world-class work-life balance.
At&t in the U.S. tried the 4 day work week many times in some departments. They found that less work got done for the same 40 hours spent on a 5 day 40 hr work week. But some of the job functions have time restrictions in the field (when you can set up to work and when you must be off some city streets due to commuting hours) so in a few departments it wasn't an advantage. 40 hr 8a-4:30pm left sn ideal 1 hr of prep time before street access was allowed were 6am-4:30pm caused there to be 3 hrs of time before street access which is too much time, therefore wasted time. Later start times for crews and late running shifts historically were less productive due to reduced supervision. Hiring more middle management wasn't cost effective so they eliminated the shift and utilized more goal focused enthusiastic employees on overtime to get more work done at lower total expense.
In india, afaik the govt puts a bar at 48 hours per week, so 9.5 hours per day is pretty common here😢😢
In Germany it's a normal thing. 8h per day according to working law and 1h out of it is a break. Of course many do overtime, but u can ask for more off day or money €/h but yeah many young people here don't like it cuz this world needs to slow down a bit. 8h a day is kind of too much. More hours doesn't mean people want/can finish or do a good job. The world needs to gather and work together to fix the whole system. At the end it will lead to the problem that people don't want to work anymore and it will cause a bigger problem
Im not a Chinese nationality but I've been working for Chinese tech company that based in Shenzhen, HK, and Singapore for these last 4,5 year. All of these company do indeed got some overtime culture. Sometimes you gotta stay at the office till up to 9:15 pm and sometimes if its something you need to work on till 11 pm above, you can do it home by keep being online on the "work online backend system" at home. So yeah I can tell, the work culture is hard but I think I personally learned a lot as the youth who has been spending my professional time there, It shaped me to become more knowledgable and experiences.
in the US, it is called exemption for most of employees working in the corporation, there is no overtime payment
Wow! Good to know what greatness awaits me!
Is this Shanghai? I think it'd be interesting to go try these interviews in lower tier cities too
In Canada I used to work construction 6 or 7 days to get the job done made enough $ to retire early tho,,its same all over the World
5:08 men is very intelligent and talk about main issue of developing countries as well, talent draining by high salary of US. All the developing countries are facing the same issue.
i work 60 hr/week. love from singapore
The issue is it is difficult to find jobs in China now that their economy is in a big trouble. As less jobs and high number of unemployment, keeping your job is a priority no matter how low the pay is or how long the workhour is.
Hope these talented people survive this dark time in China.
you actually found some smart people for these interviews
Everyone is so quick to criticize communism and criticize the Chinese government. But I honestly think this is an example where communism would prevail because this 996 madness is peak capitalism
Well, work more than 66 hours a week is the normal routine for me in china. Crazy! Every company I had stayed are overworking. Incredible China!
Don't mistake your job as work.
Work = improving your life
You don't need to be at your job 24/7 to be '"working". Its ok to have some personal self-care; that is considered work as well. You are maintaining the most important machinery; your body and mind! Playing and having fun can also be considered working; it gives you motivation, connection, and a will to live.
996 is definitely too extreme. 4 days a week is bad for the employer. In Australia that means Thurs is get ready to party. Mon I'm too hungover to work. Meaning only 3 days of productivity.
If it were my call, I'd implement a 3 day on 1 day off continuously with no focus on hours, only productivity. If an employee done a good job or completed their task early they're welcome to leave early.
That last part is the most important I think. Being outcome focused rather than focusing on time spent
I also like that idea! just won't work for shop workers in restaurants, hospitals and so on. you can't really leave early there
@@ewalala682 in that case i'd just reward the good work with gifts or bonuses.
996 is usually applies only to those start up companies. Even in the US that is typical for such companies and investment banking or auditors.
if you completed your jobs early. you will get more tasks form Chinese boss.you won't leave early😂
As long as the incentives are suited and attractive, there's always no lack of zealous workers.
The real issues are employers who under paid, undercut, under recognize or fleece their employees.
hoodie guy had good outlook
The hourly wages in big cities are relatively high, so many people are willing to work overtime. If you go to a small city for an interview, the answers you will get are completely different.
i work a 4 day workweek it sounds amazing but i still have only 2 days of weekend so in the end theres not really that much of a difference.
節目組可能不了解一般中國人的傳統觀念和價值觀，他們都是乘年輕多努力學習，不怕吃苦付出，一如唸書應付高考的苦讀精神。新加坡人總習慣用他們西方講求個人自由享樂主義的標準為出發點，受訪者當中，那個年輕男生的態度就很積極正面，講出了工作生活融匯貫通的重點。
Well, it happens here in the USA too. It's pretty 'normal' to work beyond the prescribed 40 hours a week.
even in Canada, it is too normal to have OT without pay, or 2 jobs etc.
In US, and my last job did have mandatory overtime at end of month if needed. Which wasn’t too bad. I could not imagine working overtime everyday 6 days a week. 😮
@@Z_Y89 i have never met anyone in Canada who has worked OT without pay, that is against every law in every province. and it is very easy to get support to get your pay, and the business will have to pay a very heavy fine, and if they do it again, they can lose their business license.
@@JalomMatia come on, you are talking about wage (hour) based. I am on salary base, we only talk about annual salary. Most people in high tech industry work OT, like 10 to 12 hrs a day is very normal. It is the same in states as well.
@@Z_Y89 then is it's part of the salary agreement, then it is not considered OT. That OT on salary is often worked into the salary already, so you are in fact getting paid for the OT. You need to be aware of those things and come to an agreement on them before taking a salary job.
The problem is, if you don't do overtime, there are 1.39999 billion others who will. So in this economy, people are just glad they have a job, nevermind being paid for overtime.
Unfortunately this interview will be skewed in results as all the people busy working 996 won't be on the streets with enough free time for an interview
One thing you should be aware of is that most of us were not compensated for the overtime work.
Honestly, I just feel like the fact that China is still a developing country is often temporarily forgotten in the context of these interviews. In my view, anyway, China at this moment could be compared to the West during the late Victorian or early 19th century period as urbanization and industrialization are accelerating but still mostly in progress since a large portion of the population is still rural. Many people living in the cities moved in within a generation from peasant country. China still has quite a bit of work ahead, unlike South Korea and especially Japan.
How naive to say it’s a tragedy for company when a worker dies, they don’t realize they are expendable pieces? It’s back to business come next day.
The 4 day work week in USA i see many are 4 ten hour days. I actually prefer the 5 eight hour days.
5x8's is still the norm. 4x10 weeks are a new and still relatively niche schedule.