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Denise Tsang

When entrepreneur Keith Li King-wah faced a life and death situation on the eve of flying to Frankfurt to speak at a business conference and meet his potential investor in 2012, he chose to go ahead with the trip.
The 45-year-old boss of award-winning mobile application developer Innopage urgently needed surgery to remove his gallbladder, but he decided to split the operation into three sessions.
So, he did the first part before flying out and the rest after coming back four days later.
“That was the time when I started my own business, I couldn’t afford to call off the trip,” Li said. “I survived, and everything went well. But my medical bill was three times more expensive, at about HK$170,000, than getting it done in one go.”

The company has since grown from three people to employing about 20, but one thing has not changed – he still works virtually 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The debate on the so-called 996 schedule – working 9am to 9pm, six days a week – in technology firms across the border was rekindled recently, putting work-life balance under the spotlight.
Hong Kong does not fare much better.
To Li, his work is his life, because as an IT professional he is chasing his dreams of producing influential apps for smartphones.
That approach has come at the cost of a relationship, rarely seeing his parents, and sleeping only six hours a day. Still that is an improvement from the four hours he managed several years ago.
Why companies should say goodbye to 996 work culture, and hello to 4-day weeks
According to a global study by consultancy firm Randstad, workers and bosses have conflicting priorities.
Polling about 4,300 jobseekers in Hong Kong last year, it found the majority ranked work-life balance as the No 2 desire, which was the last out of 10 things bosses offered. What they wanted most was an attractive salary and benefits, like jobseekers in other Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Japan, it showed.
“In Hong Kong, most people and most businesses have a more traditional mindset when it comes to their operations, which means that the 996 may resonate with the more mature workforce,” said Tim Tsang, associate director, technology and contracting of Randstad Hong Kong.
“Around 30 per cent of Hong Kong’s workforce is under the age of 35, which means a little disconnect when it comes to longer working hours and so on.”
We are in the creative industry, producing short videos, so the concept of fixed work hours is blurred
Dun0T founder Barry Wong
He added that small business, auditing and consultancy firms typically demand long hours from employees.
Since Barry Wong Tsun-hin and two former schoolmates set up a multimedia start-up Dun0T, which means iced lemon tea, in Hong Kong two years ago, they have been working all the hours they can.
“We are in the creative industry, producing short videos, so the concept of fixed work hours is blurred,” the 24-year-old said. “It’s our own business, basically we are thinking about it 24/7.”
The company recently obtained HK$3 million in funding and hired five staff, all in their early 20s, but Wong said he would not demand they work a gruesome schedule.
“We understand we are the owners and they are staff members, we can’t ask them to work like us,” he said. “But we have seen some of them being influenced by us as we work as a team. One of the them will even stay behind after work, play video games, stay overnight on the couch, wake up the next morning and work again.”
‘Developers’ lives matter’ – Chinese software engineers protest against 996 schedule
Working long hours is not exclusive to tech firms or start-ups.
Corporate finance lawyer Crystal Wong Nga-ting, 29, was working seven days a week for a month until last week to race through two companies seeking initial public offerings. Very often, this intensity happens a week every month.
“There are five parties such as listing candidates’ sponsors, lawyers, auditor, the printer, and me working closely in the printer’s office, we spent three meals together every day,” she said from Tokyo for a much-needed break during Easter holidays.
“At that time, I managed to have three to four hours’ sleep every day, but my eyes were sore. I gained weight, too, because I had no time to exercise.”
Knowing the pace is unsustainable in the long term, Crystal Wong is trading off her health, social life, housekeeping, facial treatments and shopping for outfits.
“I knew the job nature when joining the profession, but I am not sure if working like this schedule is sustainable in future,” she said.

Leona Wong Ngai-lai, 40, who set up her consultancy business for tech firms two years ago, is building a healthier routine such as spending 10 minutes a day reading a book, and a few minutes meditating before going to work during the week.
“When starting off a business, there is no boundary between work and life, it is a matter of determination and discipline,” she said.
Tech billionaire says a happy work-life balance is pie in the sky
In Hong Kong, one in every five employees worked an average of 55 hours per week last year, according to the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, which analysed the latest labour data released by the Census and Statistics Department.
That translates to an average of 11 hours a day, assuming a five-day working week.
Despite unions’ long-running call for standardisation of work hours, the government so far has only promised to introduce working hours guidelines in 11 industries, with no plan announced to legislate standard working hours.
But in Japan, a new law came into effect this month capping overtime at 45 hours a month. South Korea last year cut its maximum working hours from 68 hours a week to 52 hours.


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Hong Kong economy

In start-up driven Hong Kong, ‘996’ grind blurs work-life boundary

A majority of Hong Kong jobseekers polled last year ranked work-life balance as their No 1 desire, which was the last out of 10 things bosses offered. Photo: AFP

Barry Wong Tsun-hin, Founder of DONOT, photographed in Tuen Mun. 18APR19 SCMP / Xiaomei Chen

***PLEASE CLEAR THE COPYRIGHTS BEFORE REUSE*** Undated photo of Keith Li. co-founder and CEO of app development company Innopage Limited.

Chinese tech tycoon Zhou Hongyi joins ‘996’ debate, says happy work-life balance impossible

The Qihoo booth at the 4th World Internet Conference in Wuzhen on December 4, 2017. Photo: AFP

Chinese billionaire Zhou Hongyi has weighed in on the debate about long working hours in the tech sector. Photo: Simon Song

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Hong Kong

Hong Kong Economy

Bosses of tech firms and start-ups in Hong Kong typically lead way by putting in punishing hours – with staff often feeling obliged to follow suit


Bosses of tech firms and start-ups in Hong Kong typically lead way by putting in punishing hours – with staff often feeling obliged to follow suit.


In start-up driven Hong Kong, ‘996’ grind blurs work-life boundary

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Bosses of tech firms and start-ups in Hong Kong typically lead way by putting in punishing hours – with staff often feeling obliged to follow suit

Bosses of tech firms and start-ups in Hong Kong typically lead way by putting in punishing hours – with staff often feeling obliged to follow suit