Silicon Valley AI Startups Are Embracing China’s Controversial ‘996’ Work Schedule

Want To work almost double the standard 40 -hour week? This is a question that many startups in the United States ask for potential employees and to get the job, the answer must be an unequivocal yes. These companies adopt an intense schedule, first popularized in continental China, known as “996” or from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. In other words, it’s a week of work of 72 hours.

The 996 phenomenon in China gave birth to large demonstrations and accusations of “modern slavery”, criticisms blaming the calendar of a series of deaths of workers. Despite negative connotations abroad, American companies, many of which working on artificial intelligence, adopt both the calendar and its nickname when they compete to compete – and with China. Adrian Kinnersley, a serial entrepreneur who directs both an endowment and recruitment company and a compliance startup in terms of employment, was surprised by the number of startups that go all 996. “It becomes more and more common,” he said. “We have several customers where a prerequisite for the selection of candidates before leaving for an interview is whether they are ready to work 996.”

At the start of the pandemic cochem, conversations on workers’ conditions in the United States were often centered on professional exhaustion and the need for increased flexibility. Even in the notoriously hard technological sector, companies have started to focus on efforts to facilitate a balanced schedule. Now, the wave of interest for 996 shows that the pendulum has changed in the other direction. He echoes Elon Musk’s “extremely hardcore” ultimatum to X employees, which encouraged them to work for hours of punishment.

Companies have no trouble finding voluntary employees and some reflect it as a heart of their work culture. Rilla, an AI startup that sells software designed for entrepreneurs (such as plumbers) to record conversations with potential customers and coach them on how to negotiate higher rates, explains almost all its 80 people adhere to calendar 996.

“There is a really strong and growing subculture of people, especially in my generation – Gen Z – who grew up listening to stories from Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, entrepreneurs who have devoted their lives to the construction of companies that change life,” explains Will Gao, head of society. “Kobe Bryant has devoted all his hours of awakening to basketball, and I don’t think there are many people who say Kobe Bryant should not have worked as hard as him.”

Rilla is in advance on his expectations. In current job lists, he explicitly indicates that workers should record more than 70 hours a week, which warns them not to join if they are not “excited” by the calendar. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided at the office every day, even on Saturday.

Amrita Bhasin, CEO of the logistics startup of IA Sotira, says it is common for the founders of Bay Area to adopt the calendar as they grow: “The first two years of your startup, you must do 996,” she said. While Bhasin considers the demanding workload as essentially compulsory for business leaders, she does not think that basic employees should keep up: “I don’t think it’s fair to push them on them.”