A British man has achieved unexpected fame on the Chinese internet after revealing his grueling work schedule at a Chinese Big Tech company, drawing new attention to the country’s so-called 996 work culture.
Jack Forsdike, originally from Yorkshire, joined NetEase in Guangzhou in 2022 and did translation work without overtime. In January 2024 he was transferred to game design and in April the workload increased. That’s when he realized “how difficult it could be” to keep up with the demanding hours, which are widely known to run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week. As a systems designer for a video game unit, he and his team sometimes had to work 80 hours a week to meet deadlines.
“We started work at 10am every day…in April my standard departure time must have been after 10pm, sometimes until midnight,” the 28-year-old said. ‘There was a period when I… [may have] worked three Saturdays in a row.”
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Although overtime was not required, Forsdike said all team members tried to keep the ball rolling, and 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 China’s Golden Week, 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 photo of himself looking exhausted on the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like platform, and rhetorically asked why he accepted the job. Unpaid overtime 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 was viewed more than 265,000 times, was not intended as a complaint. He said he enjoys being a game designer and that his job in Guangzhou generally pays better than in Britain. As a Chinese student at the University of Manchester, including a year as an exchange student in Beijing, Forsdike said he wanted to find work in China after college.
In June, Forsdike reposted the same photo, with a different caption: “Why don’t you just stop, I’m too tired.” The new message was viewed more than 383,000 times. “I think the fact that it got so much attention was because people could relate… and maybe the post described how they felt,” he told the Post. Forsdike lost his job in June when the company made staff cuts.
The renewed emphasis on the 996 work culture comes after many Chinese Big Tech companies publicly spoke out against excessive overtime. In 2021, a gaming studio under Tencent Holdings asked employees to go home at 6 p.m. on some days, and short video giant ByteDance ended its big week/little week policy that required staff to work six-day weeks every two weeks. 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 work 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 work unpaid overtime under the 996 work culture. Photo: EPA-EFE>
However, complaints about grueling work schedules have generally become rarer due to job losses in the technology sector. The last complaint to gain widespread attention was in 2019 when a group of Chinese software engineers protested on the GitHub developer community under the codename 996.ICU.
“996 will have a huge effect on the company in the long run because people will get burned out and lose a lot of talent,” Forsdike told the Post. “It will affect the quality of people’s work if they haven’t had enough time to rest.”
Since being fired in June, Forsdike has moved from Guangzhou to Harbin, a city in northeastern China and his wife’s hometown. He said he is not currently looking for a new job, but spends his free time posting content on social media. “I don’t really plan on finding another job at 996 anytime soon,” he added.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice covering China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP Facebook page Tweet pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
