Taking Silicon Valley’s efficiency mantra even further.

Bosses in China are upping the pressure on workers after the country’s top five tech companies lost around $1.3 trillion in market value since 2021. Chinese tech workers have been no strangers to aggressive work policies over the years. During their growth in the 2010s, several tech companies in China adopted a so-called “996” working system that demanded 12-hour days from 9 a.m., six days a week. This policy was once advocated by Chinese business titans such as Ma. However, this brutal working pattern has faced a regulatory crackdown from Beijing. Are tech working environments becoming toxic ?