Chinese e-commerce tycoon Jack Ma’s recent remarks that young people should be prepared to work 12-hour days, six days a week have prompted a public debate over work-life balance in the count…
BEIJING — Chinese e-commerce tycoon Jack Ma has long been an example of how the power of big dreams, strong leadership and sheer elbow grease can create massive fortunes in China’s go-go economy.
Even the People’s Daily newspaper, the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece, issued an editorial this week saying mandatory overtime reflects managerial arrogance and is “impractical and unfair” for workers. Online complaints included blaming long work hours for a lower birth rate. Wang Dao, 29, who works in the media industry, said long working hours should not be compulsory, though hard chargers will inevitably put in the extra time.Ma, 54 and with a fortune estimated at around $40 billion, has responded to the criticism by saying work should be a joy and also include time for study, reflection and self-improvement.
“Employees want to enjoy their leisure time more and are less willing to work long hours,” Han said. As Chinese industry develops, companies need more than just hard work and firms that pressure employees to work too many hours might be hurting themselves, he said. That allows employers to avoid violating Chinese labour law and puts their workers at a disadvantage when seeking to assert their rights, Yang said.
Advocacy of “996” by business leaders such as Ma is their way of sending a semi-covert warning to less motivated workers, Zhang said.
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