As growth slows, Chinese tech companies are squeezing more hours out of fewer staff, as some in the industry view PDD's grueling hours as a model to emulate
working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week — is returning to gruelling hours as growth slows and share prices suffer https://www.ft.com/... [image] LinkedIn: Katerina Guseva : China's concept of working 996—from 9 am to 9 pm six days a week—has always horrified and fascinated me. …
Context & Ripple Effects
China’s tech sector has repeatedly confronted the human cost of “996”: earlier coverage documented worker burnout, followed by official condemnation of the practice as a serious labor-law violation.
The current pressure reversal follows companies’ earlier attempts to formalize shorter schedules, including ByteDance’s limits on weekday working hours, and a downturn that had already brought layoffs across the sector.
First-order effects
- Employees at Chinese tech companies face longer working hours as employers seek more output from leaner teams amid slower growth and weaker share prices.
- PDD’s demanding work culture becomes a reference point for peers considering labor intensity as an operating lever.
Second-order effects
- Companies that had moved away from 996 face renewed pressure to match rivals’ output without expanding headcount, weakening the practical effect of prior work-hour reforms.
- A return to extended schedules sharpens the tension between cost control and the legal and employee-relations risks highlighted by China’s earlier official rebuke of 996.
Third-order effects
- If the practice spreads, Chinese tech’s labor model may become more cyclical: workplace protections strengthen in expansionary periods but erode when growth and valuations weaken.
- The pattern suggests that enforcing limits on work intensity, rather than announcing them, remains the decisive test for regulators and employers.
The trend: Chinese tech companies are shifting from growth-led hiring toward extracting more productivity from existing workforces as economic pressure intensifies.