996 working hour system

Rare card · No. 34559

The 996 working hour system (Chinese: 996工作制) is a work schedule that derives its name from its requirement that workers clock in from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, 6 days per week, resulting in employees working 12 hours per day and 72 hours per week. It is practiced illegally by some companies in China. A number of mainland Chinese internet and tech companies have adopted this system as their official or de facto work schedule. Critics argue that the 996 working hour system is a violation of the Labour Law of the People's Republic of China and have called it "modern slavery". In March 2019, an "anti-996" protest was launched via GitHub. Since then, the 996 issue has been met with growing discontent in China. In 2025, the practice began to show up among US tech firms, especially startups, in relation to the AI boom. This includes OpenAI, Anthropic, and X Corp..

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