Jack Ma defends long work hours as ‘huge blessing’

Josh Horwitz, Reuters

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2019/tvpatrol/04/12/20190419-jack-ma.jpg"/><figcaption>Alibaba Group founder and billionaire Jack Ma has defended the grueling overtime work culture at many of China&#x27;s tech companies, calling it a &quot;huge blessing&quot; for young workers. File/Aly Song, Reuters</figcaption></figure></div>SHANGHAI—Alibaba Group founder and billionaire Jack Ma has defended the grueling overtime work culture at many of China&#x27;s tech companies, calling it a &quot;huge blessing&quot; for young workers.The e-commerce magnate weighed into a debate about work-life balance and the overtime hours demanded by some companies as the sector slows after years of breakneck growth.In a speech to Alibaba employees last April 12, Ma defended the industry&#x27;s &quot;996&quot; work schedule, which refers to the 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. workday, 6 days a week.&quot;I personally think that being able to work 996 is a huge blessing,&quot; he said in remarks posted on the company&#x27;s WeChat account.&quot;Many companies and many people don&#x27;t have the opportunity to work 996,&quot; Ma said. &quot;If you don&#x27;t work 996 when you are young, when can you ever work 996?&quot;The issue has fueled an online debate and protests on some coding platforms, where workers have swapped examples of excessive overtime demands at some companies.Ma, a former English teacher who co-founded Alibaba in 1999 and has become one of China&#x27;s richest people, said he and early employees regularly worked long hours.&quot;In this world, everyone wants success, wants a nice life, wants to be respected,&quot; Ma said.&quot;Let me ask everyone, if you don&#x27;t put out more time and energy than others, how can you achieve the success you want?&quot;Ma referred to the tech industry today where some people are without jobs, or working at companies in search of revenue or facing closure.&quot;Compared to them, up to this day, I still feel lucky, I don&#x27;t regret (working 12 hour days), I would never change this part of me,&quot; he said.This month, activists on Microsoft&#x27;s GitHub, the online code repository site, launched a project titled &quot;996.ICU&quot; where tech workers listed Alibaba among the companies ranked as having some of the worst working conditions.An opinion piece that been published in a state newspaper argued that 996 violated China&#x27;s Labor Law, which stipulates that average work hours cannot exceed 40 hours a week.&quot;Creating a corporate culture of &#x27;encouraged overtime&#x27; will not only not help a business&#x27; core competitiveness, it might inhibit and damage a company&#x27;s ability to innovate,&quot; the unnamed author wrote in the People&#x27;s Daily.

The e-commerce magnate weighed into a debate about work-life balance and the overtime hours demanded by companies as the sector slows after years of breakneck growth.

The e-commerce magnate weighed into a debate about work-life balance and the overtime hours demanded by companies as the sector slows after years of breakneck growth.

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Jack Ma defends long work hours as ‘huge blessing’

Jack Ma defends long work hours as ‘huge blessing’

Josh Horwitz,

Reuters

Published Apr 19, 2019 07:21 PM PHT

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