The company's employees reportedly include mid- to senior-level staff and technical staff.
Mainland Chinese media reports did not identify the company, which is believed to be based in Fujian Province in southeastern China.
The Washington Post reached out to the tech companies but did not receive a response.
Many Chinese workers say they don't mind working very hard as long as they're properly compensated. Photo: Shutterstock
An employee told Cailian Press that 896's work schedule was communicated verbally during a department meeting on June 14.
Another person told Caixin Media that while the company does not officially enforce the 896-hour workday, employees often work those hours, especially in research and development, where overtime is commonplace.
Another person at the company told Chengdu Economic Daily that it was true the company had called for a “100-day effort” but denied having an 896 policy.
“The 896 labor model is just a rumor. As for the call for '100 days of hard work', you need to work hard to succeed in this fast-growing industry. Perseverance and hard work are what we should be promoting now,” the source said.
The company's prediction has reignited debate over overtime culture in China and its controversial 996 model, which sees workers working six days a week from 9am to 9pm.
In 2019, anonymous online observers started an online protest on GitHub, a global developer platform owned by Microsoft, arguing that the 996 work schedule was endangering the health of tech workers.
The move by companies to require employees to work 12 hours a day, six days a week, quickly became a hot topic in China.
Workers often feel they have to work overtime because it is an “unspoken rule.” Peer pressure is also a key factor.
In August 2021, China's Supreme Court ruled that the 996 policy was illegal.
Strictly speaking, China's labor law prohibits employees from working more than eight hours a day and 44 hours a week, and overtime hours may not exceed 36 hours per month.
But a recent Washington Post investigation found that excessive overtime culture remains a frequent topic of complaint on social media in mainland China.
One worker told The Post that he had been working on the project for a month, working nonstop until 11 p.m. every day, doing the work of two or three people.
Chinese labor law stipulates that overtime cannot exceed 36 hours per month. Photo: Shutterstock
In China, some employees will tolerate time demands only if they are adequately compensated.
He Peng, chief economist at Northeast Securities, said it wasn't that young people in China were unwilling to work, but rather that they were unwilling to work “without fair pay”.
“If wages are 10 times higher than normal, young people will work overtime until the employer goes bankrupt,” he said.
One online observer echoed Fu's views, posting on Weibo: “We're not afraid of the effort, we're afraid that the effort will not be commensurate with the reward.”
