Zhongxin Finance, March 29 (Reporter Li Jinlei) Many places in China are stepping up efforts to rectify the problem of overtime and overtime.

  Since March, at least nine provinces, including Beijing, Shandong, Anhui, Henan, Guangxi, Qinghai, Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi, have announced that they will focus on investigating and rectifying the problem of overtime work.

What signal does this send?

Centralized investigation and rectification of overtime work

  Recently, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security issued the "Notice on Further Doing a Good Job in Safeguarding the Rights and Interests of Working Hours and Rest and Vacation". From March 15th to May 15th, a centralized investigation and rectification of the protection of working hours and rest and vacation rights will be organized throughout the city. Focus on key industries and enterprises, focus on investigating and rectifying the problem of overtime and overtime, and protect employees' working hours and rest and vacation rights in accordance with the law.

  Subsequently, Shandong, Anhui, Henan, Guangxi, Qinghai, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and other provinces also took the

initiative to carry out overtime overtime investigation and rectification, which also lasted until May 15, for a period of about 2 months.

  Such a large-scale and long-term investigation and rectification of overtime overtime is quite rare in recent years.

Internet companies, etc. are under inspection

  Judging from the information publicly released in various places, Internet companies, which are hardest hit by overtime and overtime problems, have become key inspection targets.

  Beijing and other places pointed out that the inspection objects of this centralized inspection and rectification are mainly

key industries, key enterprises, and key parks that are prone to overtime and overtime problems, and focus on Internet (platform) enterprises and affiliated enterprises, and technologies with a high proportion of R&D positions. Intensive enterprises, labor-intensive processing and manufacturing enterprises and service enterprises.

  If the employer commits relevant illegal acts, it will be held accountable and even exposed.

Among them, Beijing and other places proposed that administrative punishments will be imposed in accordance with the law and rectification within a time limit will be urged.

Shandong and other places have made it clear that prominent issues such as forced overtime and institutionalized overtime that are not negotiated with trade unions and workers will be cracked down on; major and typical illegal cases will be announced or made public in accordance with the law.

Screenshot of the "996.ICU" project.

"996" work system is seriously illegal

  In recent years, the phenomenon of overtime has been generally institutionalized and severely overtime in some industries. The popularity of "996" and "007" has overwhelmed employees, and tragedies caused by high-intensity overtime are not uncommon.

  In fact, the "996" work system is illegal.

According to the labor law, the employer may extend the working hours after consultation with the trade union and the workers due to the needs of production and operation. Generally, the working hours shall not exceed one hour per day. If the working hours need to be extended due to special reasons, the conditions for ensuring the health of the workers shall be ensured. The extended working hours shall not exceed three hours per day, but not more than thirty-six hours per month.

  In 2021, the Supreme People's Court and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security jointly released typical cases of overtime and overtime,

clarifying the content of "working hours from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, working 6 days a week", which seriously violates the legal provisions on extending the upper limit of working hours and should be deemed invalid.

Data map: Office workers queuing for a bus at 5:30 in the morning.

Photo by Leng Haoyang

What signal?

  It is clear that "996" is a serious violation of the law, and this year, overtime overtime rectification has been carried out, and the signal released is very clear:

correct the current abnormal overtime culture, and ensure that workers have decent work and a happy life.

  Su Hainan, a special researcher of the China Labor Society, told Chinanews.com's "China New Observation" column that the overtime phenomenon of "996" has caused a lot of negative comments in the society. The right to rest, even giving money, is illegal.

Rectifying the problem of overtime and overtime is a manifestation of the country's greater concern for protecting the basic rights and interests of workers in terms of labor remuneration, rest and vacation in the process of solidly promoting common prosperity.

  "The

implementation of '996' violates labor laws and regulations, damages the humanistic care that enterprises should have, and deviates from the psychological expectations of laborers and society. It must not become a social trend.

" Su Hainan said.

  Feng Wenmeng, director and researcher of the Research Office of the Social Development Research Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council, told Chinanews.com's "China New Observation" that some corporate employees have had accidents due to excessive overtime recently, and everyone is more concerned about working conditions and labor rights protection, and young people are employed. There is a growing awareness of seeking better working conditions, and many factors have driven the development of the entire society to a new stage:

paying more attention to the rights and interests of workers, giving more consideration to development for a better life, striving to achieve a balance between life and work, and making work better Quality of life improvement and human development.

  In addition, Feng Wenmeng pointed out that

some surveys have shown that many young people report that they work overtime all day and do not have time to fall in love, get married, or have children. Therefore, it is necessary to change the state of overemphasizing work and making life "nominal", so that everyone has time and energy to give birth and nurture. .

In the context of encouraging the birth of three children, the country is also striving to create a better child-rearing environment, so that everyone can achieve a work-life balance, plan childbirth and parenting with confidence, so as to achieve long-term sustainable and balanced development of the population.

Data map: Tourists "embracing the sea" on the beach at the ends of the earth.

Photo by Fan Yong

How to truly say goodbye to "996"?

  At present, some companies have taken the initiative to cancel the "996" and "big and small weeks".

Su Hainan believes that the practice of forcing employees to work overtime to maximize their output in exchange for enterprise development by sacrificing the health and rest of employees is to fish for the best.

Under the background of the country's emphasis on promoting common prosperity and managing enterprises according to law, the ideology of business managers has changed to a certain extent, which is a good phenomenon.

  Su Hainan said that on the one hand, the regulatory authorities and public opinion should pay more attention to the phenomenon of overtime and overtime, and urge enterprises to strictly abide by labor laws and regulations, expose bad examples, and discover good examples.

Secondly, if workers face forced or semi-forced overtime work, they should be brave and good at defending their rights in accordance with the law.

In addition, enterprise managers still need to change their misconceptions of excessively exploiting workers and establish the correct concept of management in accordance with laws and regulations.

  Feng Wenmeng suggested that the relevant regulations should be further refined in the future, including how to punish overtime overtime, how to define and distinguish necessary overtime and unreasonable overtime, improve relevant systems and rules, strengthen the feasibility and effectiveness of standardization, and guide enterprises to consciously respect and Implement regulations, no longer force or force excessive overtime in a disguised form, and actively advocate a culture of no overtime.

  "

It is necessary to establish an effective mechanism, which has both incentives and punishments, and improve both internal and external supervision mechanisms

," Feng Wenmeng said. rights protection channels, and found that problems can be solved in a timely and effective manner.

  During the National Two Sessions in 2022, Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric Appliances, said that if the company ignores the physical and mental health of employees and implements the "996" work system, it is absolutely unfeasible.

Procuratorial organs are suggested to supervise the "996" work system and carry out public interest litigation for relevant workers.

(over)