Jack Ma defends the 'blessing' of a 12-hour working day

[+] Neablis|7 years ago|reply

Today it's 996 and there will probably be bonuses and rewards when it initially is introduced for those working more. However give it a few years, those rewards go away, 996 is the norm. Then give it a few more years and they are asking for 997, or 8-10 7 days a week.

Normalizing this behavior is the short term goal, the longer term goal is returning to indentured servitude.

[+] mevile|7 years ago|reply

I guess family life doesn't matter to Jack Ma. It matters to me. I'm not going to miss my kids growing up to the benefit of your company.

[+] gibolt|7 years ago|reply

It works when you are the founder or super passionate, if you want to. It doesn't work as an expectation for every employee.

[+] drugme|7 years ago|reply

It's called cognitive dissonance.

And basically it's a prerequisite someone who wants to be both a billionaire and a member of the local Communist Party.

[+] carlisle_|7 years ago|reply

Pretty easy to justify long working hours when the payoff is $40 billion.

[+] jandrese|7 years ago|reply

Yeah, it's a blessing for him, he's the guy on top. Related news: Thugs see jackboots as a 'blessing'.

[+] RickJWagner|7 years ago|reply

That's the craziest thing I've read today.

I've worked 12 hour shifts. By the time you eat, shower and commute you have no free time at all. It's horrible.

[+] DanHulton|7 years ago|reply

Same. I worked them as 3-3-4-4 (3 on, 3 off, 4 on, 4 off) and even still, it was taxing. You get extra-long weekends all the time, which are basically mandatory, because you spend that entire first day recovering from the previous 12-hour shifts.

Though it also switched between days and nights, so you'd end up spending your last day adjusting yourself to the upcoming "time switch", which further worsened it. The company had all kinds of research indicating that it was great for morale and productivity and such, and they had a strong union that didn't seem to hate it, but I always had a hard time adapting.

I can't imagine doing it for 6 days straight.

[+] hartator|7 years ago|reply

Thought he was talking about a 12-hour working week. Thought it was a bit extreme. We do live in a tech bubble.

[+] sctb|7 years ago|reply

Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19663317.

[+] cmsefton|7 years ago|reply

Thanks, missed this discussion.

[+] jph|7 years ago|reply

Jack Ma is saying "9-9-6" which means working from 9am-9pm, 6 days per week.

He says if you love what you do then you enjoy the hours.

[+] dev_dull|7 years ago|reply

Come be my indentured servant and work 24/7. What I’m saying is that if you love what you do then you enjoy the hours.

17 comments