How to break the malformed "overtime culture" on the Internet platform
Expert: Sacrificing the basic rights of workers in exchange for performance will affect the sustainable development of the economy
Three meals for free, hairy crabs, crayfish, Pippi shrimps are arranged in turn; overtime work on weekends is 1.2 times the salary; evening taxi reimbursements...
On February 18, a staff member of an Internet company posted the above recruitment notice on a recruitment platform.
This drew more than 500 comments, most of which asked for "introduction."
However, a few days ago, a human resources staff member of the company issued a recruitment notice containing the same benefits and attracted a lot of criticism-some netizens left a message "Can those who refuse to work overtime and holiday work?"
In recent years, the issue of the "996" work system of Internet companies has aroused widespread discussion and received attention from many parties.
Happiness comes from struggle.
Hard-working workers deserve tribute, but how to break the abnormal overtime culture of Internet companies?
phenomenon
Only 2% of those who "like work and work overtime voluntarily"
Hongjun (pseudonym) is an executive of an Internet company.
He goes to work at the company at more than 9 am every day and gets off work at 8 or 9 in the evening.
Speaking of the "996 work system" of Internet companies, he told Xinjing Think Tank that he works about 12 hours a day, but because a person is in a city and does not have much spare time, working overtime is actually a way to pass the time.
"There is really no sense of depression of '996'. At our age, we don't have so much amateur interest to take care of."
Professor Range, deputy dean of the School of Labor Economics of Capital University of Economics and Business, who has long been concerned about the labor relations ecology of the Internet industry, told Xinjing Think Tank that the existing corporate culture of Internet companies, such as providing free dinner, supper, and taxi reimbursement, can easily encourage singles to work overtime because they There is no family burden. When you get home, you have to cook by yourself and crowd the bus and subway. Therefore, instead of leaving get off work early, it is better to leave work late.
However, most Internet practitioners do not use overtime to pass the time like Hongjun.
According to the survey data of Xinjing Think Tank, when answering "What is the main reason for you to work overtime?", about 2% of Internet practitioners who choose "like to work and work overtime voluntarily" choose "I have nothing to do when I go home and like to stay in the company." "It's also less than 2%.
Because "overtime has subsidies and benefits" only 2.64%.
How long do Internet practitioners add to the shift?
According to a number of Internet company employees, some positions such as the public relations department are not a fixed "996" work system. They need to work overtime when they have tasks, but not regularly. Technical posts and marketing posts need to work overtime regularly.
A former Internet company employee told Xinjing Think Tank that almost all Internet companies have a "996" work system.
According to the survey data of the Xinjing Think Tank, 76.15% of Internet practitioners said that they work more than 45 hours a week (my country’s Labor Law stipulates that the average work week does not exceed 44 hours), and 74.43% non- Internet practitioners believe that Internet personnel work more than 45 hours a week.
The survey data also shows that among those who work more than 45 hours a week, management posts account for 83.34%, product technology development posts account for about 83%; marketing posts, content operation posts, functional posts and other categories also have more than 60% .
For those who work more than 55 hours per week, more than half of the management posts, more than one-third of the product technical posts, and more than one-fourth of the functional posts (such as finance, administration, HR, etc.).
Wang Quanxing, vice-chairman of the China Labor Law Research Association and a professor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics Law School, told Xinjing Think Tank that although they are all under the "996" work system, it is necessary to make a categorical analysis.
Such as compulsory "996" (including direct or indirect compulsory) and voluntary "996", some people do voluntarily work overtime, because some people are too ambitious and are "workaholics"; painful "996" and pleasure "996"; blue-collar "996" and white-collar "996"; perennial "996" and phased "996"; fixed-shift system "996" and flexible shift system "996"; high-efficiency "996", low-efficiency "996" "And inefficiency "996"; with overtime pay "996" and no overtime pay "996", and so on.
Scope said that the Internet implements digital management, which may lead to rigid management at one extreme.
At the same time, Internet companies are supported by multiple projects, and each project is related to each other. Therefore, almost everyone in a company or even in this industry is involved. Most people may face "996 "The problem of working system and working system of large and small weeks.
In traditional industries, people in specific projects and specific departments may be involved in the "996" work system, and it is phased.
Professor Lou Yu, director of the Institute of Social Law of China University of Political Science and Law, believes that in today's society, long working hours and high work intensity are common in all walks of life.
The reason why it gives people a unique impression of Internet companies is probably related to the fact that Internet company employees have the right to speak online.
The entry of the word "996" into people's vision also originated from an initiative project initiated by programmers on the Internet.
At the legal level, overtime is an act of agreement, and it is questionable whether both parties can agree to work longer than the current labor law.
the reason
More than half of the interviewees work overtime because of "uncompleted work/heavy workload"
Regarding the "996" work system in the Internet industry, everyone's reaction is not consistent.
Some netizens said that for people like them who are not from a very good family background, even if they are in the "996" work system, it does not matter if they can get a high salary.
Some people choose to leave, Zhong Yuan (pseudonym) is one.
After working in an Internet company for several consecutive months of the "996" work system, she applied for resignation to the company.
Zhong Yuan told Xinjing Think Tank that the person in charge of her company at the time was puzzled by her resignation, because in the opinion of the leader, Zhong Yuan performed well and did not see the sign of leaving. She thought she had found a better one. The unit.
Zhong Yuan said that the main reason is that the work intensity is too high, and her body is a little overwhelmed, so she wants to rest.
Zhong Yuan said that she doesn't like high-intensity work, so when looking for a job later, she will be very concerned about whether there are overtime problems.
"The work intensity is high," Zhang Jiayin, an associate professor at Tsinghua University, told Xinjing Think Tank that this is a relatively obvious feature of the Internet industry.
Because the corporate culture of the Internet advocates the cultural elements of start-up companies, and start-up companies work overtime is a common phenomenon.
Zhang Jiayin said that Internet companies have grown from a small scale to a large scale, and most of them are completed within a few years, and the longest is more than ten or twenty years. In addition, the Internet industry is a relatively fiercely competitive industry. The rapid expansion of the scale of completion in the environment determines the need for more labor and time.
According to the survey data of Xinjing Think Tank, more than 56.62% of Internet practitioners said that the reason for "996" is "the work is not completed/the workload is too large to finish".
Non-Internet practitioners also believe that the main cause of the "996" work system in the Internet industry is "the work is not completed/the workload is too large to be completed" (accounting for 65.06%).
It is worth noting that the cause of overtime on the Internet is also related to a bad corporate culture.
According to the survey data of the Xinjing Think Tank, 10.23% of Internet practitioners believe that the reason for working overtime is because "the leader did not leave, so they dare not go first." This has become the third major cause of the "996" work system in the Internet industry. .
But among non-Internet practitioners (including those who were previously engaged in the Internet industry), "the leader did not leave, dare not go first" was classified as the second largest cause (11.93%), which was higher than the other cause (everyone did not leave, sorry Go first) is nearly 5 percentage points higher.
Among Internet practitioners, 12.54% of respondents believe that the second biggest cause of overtime is "everyone didn't leave, I'm sorry to leave first."
According to the survey data of Xinjing Think Tank, the top three causes account for nearly 80%, which is highly similar to the perception of non-Internet practitioners (84.24%).
Affected by the epidemic, this phenomenon of overtime has increased.
Professor Shen Jianfeng, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the China Institute of Labor Relations, told Xinjing Think Tank that since the public began to pay attention to the "996" work system at the end of 2019, in the context of the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic and the development of the platform economy, the field of platform employment and remote work have emerged.
(Continued from above) "996" work system, large and small weeks, commissions and non-time work, etc. are more frequent.
During this period, overtime work became more common and it was more difficult for employees to provide evidence for overtime work.
Faced with the "996" work model in the Internet industry, Xinjing Think Tank’s survey data shows that among the respondents, 39.93% of Internet practitioners said they were “stressed,” and 36.30% of practitioners said they were “stressed.” ; Less than 4% of practitioners said that "the pressure is low" or "the pressure is low".
harm
Long-term overtime increases the probability of occupational injury
"If it is '996' for a long time, it will definitely increase the risk of occupational injury or even sudden death." Range said that this need has attracted the attention of Internet companies and the society.
Mao Shanzhi (pseudonym) is an Internet company programmer. He was exhausted from overtime work and had an operation in the hospital.
A diagnostic certificate issued by a hospital in Beijing provided by Mao Shanzhi to the Xinjing Think Tank showed that he was holding his breath for 4 days due to chest tightness. He placed a closed thoracic drainage tube in the emergency department. After conservative treatment, he still had continuous air leakage. He was admitted to the emergency department.
From May 23 to June 1, 2020, he was treated in this hospital. On May 24, under general anesthesia, the adhesions on the right side were loosened by thoracoscopy, bullae resection, pleural fixation, closed drainage, and the operation went smoothly.
Mao Shanzhi told Xinjing Think Tank that before seeking medical treatment, he had just experienced overtime work for one month. He went to work at 8 o'clock every day and left work at 12 o'clock in the evening. He worked 7 days a week and was engaged in plant development work.
After this incident, he finally found that the damage to his body caused by continuous overtime was irreversible.
Mao Shanzhi went to work not long after he was discharged from the hospital, and was called to work overtime on the weekend of the first week after returning to work.
He still didn't dare to stand up and say "no", but chose to remain silent.
Because "I need this job to bear the cost of my surgery, I can't drag this body to find another job," Mao Shanzhi said.
Regarding this phenomenon, the long-term focus on labor relations in the Internet industry indicates that a long time in the "996" work system will increase the risk of sudden death.
As a result, it may lead to the risk of interruption of production and operation, which is also the cost of Internet companies, and may cause chain effects, which will gradually increase.
According to the data of the "2020 National Health Insight Report" released by Dr. Dingxiang on January 14, 2021, more than half of the respondents are worried about their sudden death; among them, 6% of the respondents are often worried or even worried every day.
Those who work longer hours are even more worried about sudden death.
This includes designers and programmers who work harder, are sedentary, and work more often, and worry about a higher proportion of sudden death.
Mao Shanzhi said that this incident made him see a reality that only he and his family would cherish life and health.
"I hope that '996' will disappear, that the health of workers can be respected, and that someone can stand up and oppose it."
In fact, most people who stand up against the "996" work system have similar experiences to Mao Shanzhi, or are migrant workers who cannot accept the "996" work system.
On the contrary, people who work normally or accept the "996" work system rarely express "dissatisfaction."
Many Internet company technical posts and marketing post staff contacted by Xinjing Think Tank were unwilling to talk about the topic of the "996" work system, or declined to be "busy".
According to the scope analysis, when there is no physical health problem in the workplace, people will feel that it is reasonable to get higher pay through the "996" work system; once in the "996" work environment, even if they get higher pay At last, when they find that they may face physical and psychological harm or the risk of sudden death, people will feel that the "996" work system is unreasonable.
A programmer told Xinjing Think Tank that for them, although it is the "996" work system, after all, working in a large company, the money is still in place, and it is a good choice.
Even if some people really want to jump out to oppose it, they are worried about being "settling accounts" by the company.
Another reason is that many people can hardly bear the burden of unemployment, especially after middle age, it is more difficult to find a job.
However, according to the survey data of Xinjing Think Tank, 41.91% of Internet practitioners believe that the “996” work system “is suspected of violating the labor law and should be strictly regulated or cancelled”, and 31.68% of the respondents believe that “work There must be a balance with life, and health and life must not be sacrificed."
Only 2.97% of the interviewees think that “it is understandable, work is the most important thing, and other things should be taken care of”, and less than 4% of the practitioners said that “it is normal. Internet companies have high salaries and there is a lot of room for growth”.
Countermeasure
Industry collective negotiation mechanism is a better choice
At nearly 10 pm on July 10, 2020, Mao Shanzhi was notified to work overtime the next day (Saturday).
Mao Shanzhi finally couldn't hold back.
In WeChat, he said to the boss: "If I relapse again, it is not as simple as intubation. I have to open the chest. The sequelae of the next operation may not be relieved in a few years."
Subsequently, Mao Shanzhi proposed to leave the company.
Because the compensation issue could not be negotiated, he filed a labor arbitration.
For Mao Shanzhi, he could not understand that the company "cares so much about the performance."
From the company's perspective, this is a labor cost option.
A graph of labor cost calculations spread on a certain platform: If an engineer, the monthly basic salary is 20,000 yuan, and the year-end bonus is 4 months.
Then, the implementation of the "996" work system, the total cost paid by the company is 511,700 yuan (basic salary, overtime, year-end bonus and social security provident fund, etc.), and the cost of personnel efficiency is 341,100 yuan.
If "996" is not implemented, another engineer will be recruited and a nine-to-six work system will be implemented. The company will have to pay a total labor cost of 844,400 yuan, and a labor cost of 423,200 yuan will be realized.
Scope said that in absolute numbers, Internet companies will definitely consider reducing labor costs as much as possible.
Even if you pay 1.5 times or even twice the overtime pay, the cost of hiring one person is lower than that of two.
Wang Quanxing said that the "996" work system of Internet companies actually transfers the company's reduced costs to the social burden.
The medical and pharmaceutical, health care products/services, psychological consultation services and other expenses incurred due to the physical and mental health damage caused by overwork are all borne by employees, families, and society. Internet companies only pay for overtime work. If overtime pay is paid, don’t these health losses have to be borne by employees, families, and society?”
Wang Quanxing believes that the "996" issue of governing Internet companies needs to be considered at the level of national and social development.
For example, elementary schools and kindergartens in big cities basically leave school at three or four in the afternoon, but parents have to face "996", which highlights the conflict between work, public services and family life.
The "996" work system is also not conducive to the improvement of the quality of workers.
"Because the improvement of the quality of the labor force also requires sufficient time for study, further education and training," Wang Quanxing said.
Lou Yu also believes that when it comes to issues involving the lives and physical and mental health of workers, it is generally inappropriate to adopt a negotiated labor contract system, but a labor protection system that forces employers to perform their obligations and assume administrative responsibilities when they fail to perform them.
The law must achieve a high degree of unification of fairness and efficiency. The two values of promoting economic development and protecting disadvantaged groups should be in parallel, and neither of them should be overemphasized. The view that the basic rights of workers can be sacrificed in exchange for economic development is not only It is biased, and will eventually hinder the sustainable development of the economy.
So how to manage the "996" work system of Internet companies?
Lou Yu said that, first, there must be a reasonable, true and fully reflecting mechanism for determining working hours in the Internet industry. The collective consultation mechanism of the industry is a better choice. Then the labor union will supervise the implementation and the labor supervision will be mandatory. Finally, Provide rights relief through work-related injury insurance, medical insurance and other systems.
Zhang Jiayin believes that Internet companies need to pay attention to social responsibility from the time they are founded, and incorporate all possible social impacts into the corporate governance framework.
The algorithms of Internet companies have no values, but there are values behind the algorithms.
According to the survey data of the Xinjing Think Tank, the interviewees said that with regard to the work system, what they most hope for improvement is "the company’s management is more refined, and the working hours, overtime system and other related requirements are clarified" and "the company establishes a reasonable working mechanism to ensure Employees get adequate rest" and "the workload and the number of jobs are more matched."
And Shen Jianfeng believes that in order to fundamentally change the status quo of overtime work, we must first rely on economic development and establish a healthy competitive relationship between producers and industries.
Secondly, the relevant systems of the working hour system, such as the wage system, social insurance premium calculation and payment system, all have a direct impact on overtime work.
When the wages agreed in the labor contract are the minimum wage, workers have to work overtime in order to get the desired remuneration.
If social security is not paid in accordance with the wages of the workers, but in accordance with the payment base, the enterprise is naturally willing to arrange overtime instead of increasing the number of employees.
In this case, changes need to be made in the future.
Beijing News reporter Xiao Longping