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Microsoft purchased the popular coder hang-out Github in 2018. Photo: AP

‘Developers’ lives matter’ – Chinese software engineers use Github to protest against the country’s 996 work schedule

  • The post has received wide support from developers, receiving more than 30,000 stars
  • CB Insights study found that burnout was the primary cause of 8 per cent of the 101 start-up failures it analysed

Resentment against long working hours in China’s tech industry is growing among software developers that use the Github open development platform after a user posted a copy of China’s labour laws on the site and named two e-commerce companies that practice the 996 work schedule – 9am to 9pm, six days a week.

A Github user called “996icu” posted a so-called repo (repository) on Tuesday complaining that working 996 all the time means running the risk of ending up in the “intensive care unit”, adding that “developers’ lives matter”, a reference to the US activist movement Black Lives Matter.

By Thursday night, the Github post had more than 30,000 “stars”, a metric that allows users to bookmark a project they like. 996icu was also ranked No 1 on the site’s trending page on Thursday.

The post also named Chinese e-commerce firms Youzan and JD.com as practising 996, and highlighted a comment from Youzan chief executive Bai Ya, responding to the company’s adoption of 996 since the Chinese New Year.

“This would definitely be a good decision when we look back in a few years time,” Bai said in a post on his own WeChat Moments page at the time. When news of Youzan’s adoption of 996 went viral, it triggered an inspection by the labour authorities in Hangzhou, where the company is based.

“After our investigation, we found that [Youzan] hasn’t practised a 996 work schedule,” the Hangzhou Xihu Labor Inspection Brigade said in a faxed statement to the South China Morning Post on Thursday.

A JD.com spokesman said on Thursday: “We believe in hard work and that being ‘all in’ leads to the fruit of success, but are also advocating for a healthy and effective approach to work.”

Tech firms in China typically expect their employees to work long hours to prove their dedication. However, some young Chinese tech workers are coming to the realisation that they need to strike a better work-life balance for the sake of their own health.

Beijing-based ByteDance, which runs the popular short video app TikTok, has eased that a bit by introducing a “big/small week” policy, where most of its employees work a six-day week every second week.

“Serving a company that encourages the 996 work schedule usually means work for at least 60 hours a week,” 996.icu wrote on Github and on a separate 996. ICU website that was registered on March 18. “According to the Labor Law, employees who follow the 996 work schedule deserve to be paid 2.275 times of their base salary. Unfortunately, people who work under 996 rarely get paid that much.”

A full copy of the Chinese Labor Law, which prohibits more than 36 hours of overtime per month,  was attached to the post.

Microsoft’s Github is an online version control platform usually used by programmers and engineers to share codes and collaborate on projects.

“I suggest we gather a list of the companies that are practising 996 and the ones are not,” user Yaunping-Huang commented on Github, which is also used by some Chinese users to discuss various topics, including social issues.

Another user called TheFirstWhiteDream wrote, “We should raise our legal awareness like foreigners!”

“I’m jealous of all of you, because I work as 896,” user HelloAnyu said.

The public discussion about the negative impact of the 996 work culture is going beyond Github.

On WeChat, China’s dominant social media platform, a developer surnamed Li posted on Moments, “Life or money, it’s a question. But you can’t get both at the same time.”

In a new study, CB Insights found that “burnout” was the primary cause of 8 per cent of the 101 start-up failures it analysed.

Additional reporting by Sarah Dai

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