A British man has gained unexpected fame on the Chinese internet after he revealed his gruelling work schedule at a Chinese Big Tech firm, drawing fresh attention to the country’s so-called 996 work culture.

Jack Forsdike, a Yorkshire local, joined NetEase in Guangzhou in 2022, doing translation work which did not involve overtime. He was transferred to game design in January 2024, and the work load increased in April. He then realised “how difficult it might be” to keep up with the demanding hours, known commonly to run from 9am to 9pm, six days a week. As a system designer for a video gaming unit, he and his team were forced to sometimes work 80-hour weeks to meet deadlines.

“We started work at 10am every day … in April, my standard leaving time must have been after 10pm, sometimes up to midnight,” the 28-year-old said. “There was a period where I [may have] worked three Saturdays in a row.”

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Although working overtime was not mandatory, Forsdike said all team members were trying to keep the ball rolling, and that he “didn’t want to let them down … didn’t want to delay the project”.

NetEase did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent during the Chinese Golden Week holidays, when many offices are closed.

Jack Forsdike posted this photo of himself, in happier times, on Chinese social media. Photo: XiaoHongShu alt=Jack Forsdike posted this photo of himself, in happier times, on Chinese social media. Photo: XiaoHongShu>

In late April, he posted a picture of himself looking worn out on Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like platform, and asked rhetorically why he accepted the job. Overtime without pay is common in many Chinese companies, but few expats have publicly discussed their work experiences on Chinese social media.

Forsdike told the South China Morning Post that his original post, which went viral and received over 265,000 views, was not meant as a complaint. He said he enjoys being a game designer and that his Guangzhou job generally pays better than in the UK. As a student of Chinese at the University of Manchester, including one year as an exchange student in Beijing, Forsdike said he wanted to find work in China after studies.

In June, Forsdike posted the same photo again, adding a different caption: “why don’t just quit, I’m too tired.” The new post received more than 383,000 views. “I think the fact that it got so much attention was because people could empathise … and maybe the post described how they were feeling,” he told the Post. Forsdike lost his job in June when the company implemented staff cuts.

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The renewed highlighting of the 996 work culture comes after many Chinese Big Tech firms have publicly spoken out against excessive overtime. In 2021, a gaming studio under Tencent Holdings asked employees to go home by 6pm on some days, and short video giant ByteDance ended its big week/small week policy that required staff to work six-day weeks every fortnight. But 996 continues in China’s tech sector amid fierce competition and demanding deadlines.

Wang Chao, an entrepreneur who develops smartphone apps, seen in his office in Shanghai, September 2, 2021. Tech workers often do unpaid overtime under the 996 work culture. Photo: EPA-EFE alt=Wang Chao, an entrepreneur who develops smartphone apps, seen in his office in Shanghai, September 2, 2021. Tech workers often do unpaid overtime under the 996 work culture. Photo: EPA-EFE>

However, complaints about gruelling work schedules have in general become rarer amid job cuts in the tech sector. The last complaint to bring widespread attention was in 2019 when a group of Chinese software engineers protested on developer community GitHub under the code name 996.ICU.

“996 will have a huge effect on the business in the long term, because people will get burned out, and they will lose lots of talent,” Forsdike told the Post. “It will affect people’s quality of work when they haven’t had enough time to rest.”

Since being made redundant in June, Forsdike has moved from Guangzhou to Harbin, a northeastern Chinese city and hometown of his wife. He said he was not currently looking for a new job, but is spending his spare time posting content on social media. “I’m not really looking to find another 996 job quickly,” he added.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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