996 isn't about productivity, it's about keeping workers' living expenses low

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨MangoCats@feddit.it⁩ to ⁨showerthoughts@lemmy.world⁩

996: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., 6 days a week

Sure, they’re burnt out, sluggish, surly, but… they’re present. And when they’re present, they’re not out in the world spending their income. They don’t need an expensive apartment or house, all they do there is sleep. Why have a fancy car when all you do is drive to/from your shitty job in it? Family? Who would have children with somebody who works such a schedule?

Even if you got more productivity from the same workers on a 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., 4 days a week schedule, you’d have to pay them more, not just per hour but overall, because they’d be out spending money on those afternoons / evenings and 3 days a week they have off. Organizing, demanding better healthcare, dental, more paid time off for vacations, and higher total wages to support all these “needs” they invent for themselves on their time off.

Keep 'em locked down, keep 'em tasked with … anything, doesn’t matter if it’s productive or not, as long as it keeps them on-the-job and not spending their pay.

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Comments

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Ledivin@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’ve literally never heard of anyone doing this. I’ve heard of 9 9s, which is 9 hour days with every other Friday off, but that’s obviously the complete opposite of whatever this silly burnout schedule is.

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- artifex@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  It started in china, and douchebag valley tech bros are now breathlessly trying to make it a thing here so they can have their own little fiefdoms.
  
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- MangoCats@feddit.it ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I hope it doesn’t spread outside of China, and I hope it ends (in practice) there soon.
  
  “Although the Chinese Supreme People’s Court ruled 996 illegal in 2021, the practice remains a de facto standard in many private companies due to lax labor law enforcement.”
  
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  - DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Laws in China is so funny.
    
    You can “jaywalk”, drive across red lights, have food safety violations, tofu-dreg, and even just ignore One Child Policy (when it was a thing)
    
    Its random and arbitrary enforced.
    
    Which might be a good thing since VPNs traffic often just leaks through anyways, such an… interesting country
    
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itkovian@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
So living expenses are kept low, but at the high health cost? Is it really worth it?

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- MangoCats@feddit.it ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  at the high health cost? Is it really worth it?
  
  Look at who’s promoting 996, I don’t think any of them take any responsibility for their workers’ health.
  
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remon@ani.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Where is this even legal?

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- MangoCats@feddit.it ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  It was practiced in the Chinese tech sector for a while, then made illegal by their courts - but it is still practiced in private firms there due to lax enforcement.
  
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- artifex@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  If you’re salaried there is effectively no limit on the hours you can be made to work (or else get fired). The job description just has to make clear that it would be impossible to get the workload done in a typical 40 hours. And even that is mostly optional.
  
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  - l_isqof@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Not in the EU. Working time is regulated, esp anything over 60 hours.
    
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slazer2au@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
if people are at work, not spending money at shops, restaurants, and other entertainment services how will the consumer driven society work?

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- MangoCats@feddit.it ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Now you’re being rational, looking at the big picture. Anyone promoting 996 is, first, using it for shock value, and second, promoting a: me first, me always, me only. perspective on what’s desirable - for the company owners. Workers? Meh, they bought trickle down once, why not try that again? /s
  
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- fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Exports primary economy. I mean that falls apart if you remember the world economy is also people but myopic nationalist are happy with it
  
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GreatWhite_Shark_EarthAndBeingsRightsPerson@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Could you please, explain what 996 better? I have no idea what you mean?

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- artifex@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  From 9 in the morning till 9 at night, 6 days a week. 996
  
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  - GreatWhite_Shark_EarthAndBeingsRightsPerson@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    WOW, that is a lot of Hrs. in a work day, week, month & year!!!!!
    
    No, that sucks!!!!!
    
    Why would anyone agree to that work schedule????? Time for a union & activist campaign!!!!!
    
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UpperBroccoli@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Not for productivity, but to keep the workers too tired to resist.

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- MangoCats@feddit.it ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Resisting workers are unproductive, and annoying - you can see their perspective, right?
  
  Mdme Antoinette, Mdme Antoinette, the peasants are revolting!
  
  When have they not been?
  
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psx_crab@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
No, it’s about keeping worker locked down and denied them the time to rest or find another job. I work 51 hours a week and most people in my line of work tend to stay in line because they’re too tired physically and mentally to look for another job.

As we like to joke, all the money we earn we give it to doctor.

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- MangoCats@feddit.it ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Well, really, it’s wage slavery. Work is all you have, and the pay you get is not enough to give you any freedom from the work.
  
  As you say, you don’t have enough time / energy to go look for another job - such places also intimidate the workforce and arbitrarily fire workers who might signal that they are looking for another job (such firing probably being a favor in the long run, but not if you starve to death in the meantime…)
  
  Ben & Jerry had it right with a 5:1 ratio. No person in a company’s time is “worth” more than 5x the value of another person’s time. Some incentive to develop skills, advance in your role, recognition of better performance, sure. At 5x, that should be enough to recognize your investment in yourself and your skills and your commitment to the company vs some guy who just shows up to push a broom. It wasn’t so out of line with “reality” when they did it in the 1980s, but today it just doesn’t work - the US is stratifying into classes/castes like the ones India is trying to abolish, just without explicit labels. The US system is based on how many digits are in your annual income figure: 4, 5, 6, 7, more?
  
  UBI would go a long way toward rectifying all of this. Let business do what they will, provide every citizen with enough money to live, instead of 0 + whatever they can squeeze out of the bureacrazy by “demonstrating need.” If “illegals” can earn enough to live better here than elsewhere without any UBI, let them - if they get into financial trouble, give them assistance getting back to where they came from - otherwise: live and let live. At the very least, businesses would have to improve working conditions - otherwise the workers would just stay home until they find a better deal elsewhere. I can tell you from experience in the disabled community: people want work, they want to get out and have their value to society acknowledged with a paycheck - they also like to be able to buy shiny things. The current welfare system is a big bureaucratic stick hanging over their head threatening to beat them with benefit cancellation if they do get out and earn a little money.
  
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