996 : What is the 'work culture' of China that Elon Musk intends to implement in Twitter?

- Sign-in-Harsh Meswania

- China has made economic progress by making workers work 72 hours a week. Even the richest businessman Elon Musk wants to implement that 'work culture'

While this demon was living on hunting, his total working hours were only four. Since man became a farmer, working hours increased from 9 to 12. The method of working in agriculture-agricultural labor was such that the work started in the morning and the work was finished in the evening. Daily entertainment was not. A man's lifestyle of sleeping on time and getting up early was set. Work was stopped in heavy rains, extreme cold and extreme heat. Apart from this, there was exemption from work when there were socio-religious celebrations. The work was traditional, the method of working was also traditional. It went on like this for centuries.

After the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, the way of working changed. When industries were developing, man came to work for 12 to 16 hours. At that time there were no laws for workers. Working hours varied according to the compensation agreement between workers and employers, but the average hours remained 12 to 16. Initially production was done manually and the first generation machines were run in factories so production took more time. Workers had to go to work in factories seven days a week. As most of the workers worked as day laborers, the concept of giving them at least one day off per week did not exist. Compensation was given at the end of the day after the work was completed every day.

After the end of World War I, the International Labor Organization was established under the auspices of the National League. Earlier in a few countries including Britain, local level labor unions came into being. The struggle for workers' rights began. In France in the first decade of the 20th century, there were demonstrations demanding an eight-hour working hour. The long working hours of factory workers were noted to have serious effects on their health, and as a result, in 1919, factory owners were under increasing pressure to fix working hours.

12 hours of work per day and one day off per week - such a model was implemented initially, but as the laws of the country did not favor particular workers, workers had to work 12-12 hours a day. A day used to be 9-10 hours for the clerks working in government offices. Working hours were the least in an educational institution. Working 8-9 hours was becoming an unwritten rule in mostly educational institutes. It affected all other areas. After World War II, technology began to develop. Non-factory sectors also emerged. As the age of computers began and the office work culture came into being, the 8-hour work day and one day off per week model became accepted for employees in developed countries.

In America, Henry Ford implemented a work culture of five days instead of six days a week. America made changes in labor law only in the period of World War. Most American companies have adopted the model of working five days eight hours and giving two days off. After the Second World War, the work culture of 40 hours per week started to be applied in Europe following the footsteps of America. By the 1970s, the model of 40 hours of work and two days off was accepted almost everywhere in America and Europe. In the post-war period, newly independent countries adopted the eight-hour-day model, but kept the workday to six instead of five. In India also the law of working eight hours a day and six days a week was applied.

The United Nations has set a standard of 40 hours a week for everyone from factory workers to employees of private companies and hospital staff, employees of educational institutions. Working hours in most countries are 45 to 48 hours per week, although there is a widespread rule of giving two days off in exchange for eight hours of work per day for five days. Even in countries like America-Canada-Britain-Australia, employees work for 48 hours. However, employees prefer to work more hours as they are paid better overtime compensation.

China has the most inhuman attitude among all these countries. China has officially made a 40-hour work week culture rule on a government basis, but IT companies squeeze employees by making them work 12-12 hours a week. Chinese businessman Jack Ma has promoted the 12-hour work culture. In the beginning, Alibaba company made an agreement with the employees that they will have to work 12 hours a day. The annual package is expected to be asked accordingly. Gradually, most of the Chinese companies adopted this method. In China, compliance with labor laws and company laws is only nominal. From the beginning, China increased production by exploiting labour, employees, not only that, but also kept the cost of production low with the same strategy.

A work culture named: 996. Reaching the office at nine in the morning and working till nine at night. Doing that six days a week instead of five. Hence this method of working hours was identified with 996. Chinese IT companies require employees to work 72 hours a week instead of 40. When this work culture is opposed, Chinese companies defend themselves by saying that employees get overtime compensation. But in fact they are being exploited by taking the signatures of the employees in the contract.

In 2019, the world's attention was drawn when the anti-996 campaign took place in China for the first time. Jack Ma had already defended him. A report by China's state-run newspaper Global Times justified the working method by linking it to nationalism. Chinese technology companies have reached every corner of the world by making cheap products because of this working model. This working model of the 996 is a major contributor to the fact that no one can give competition to Chinese companies in the manufacturing of consumer goods, electronics toys, cheap gadgets, mobile accessories etc.

Now the world's richest businessman Elon Musk has been influenced by this work culture. Elon Musk has advised Twitter employees to work 12 hours a day by advising them on extreme hard work. Elon Musk wants to make Twitter more than just a social media platform, and to do so, he is counting on increasing the working hours of employees.

Musk's praise of Chinese companies' 9-to-9 working method for six days led to the conclusion that Twitter employees were counting on five 12-12 hour days, if not six days. In short, Musk will only hire employees in the future who are able to work 60 hours a week.

When the Industrial Revolution took place, the workers were like slaves. After Musk's 12-hour work day, people are calling it modern slavery. The difference is that this slavery is not visible to the eye!

How many hours of sleep do top businessmen sleep?

Working hours and sleep are directly related. A common belief is that people who work more have fewer hours of sleep. In particular, people working in IT and corporates have problems of insufficient sleep due to increasing working hours. But what was interesting about the industrialists was that they did not have any problem of insufficient sleep. According to a Hogan Development study, the world's top businessmen sleep an average of at least eight hours. Elon Musk gets seven hours of adequate sleep. Entrepreneurs including Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Jack Dorsey get an average of eight hours of sleep. Businessmen like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg said that they sleep seven-seven and a half hours.

According to an Oxford University study, people who work long hours and get enough sleep complain about not having enough time to exercise, but business people proved to be adept at managing their time. The Bloomberg Index of the Rich had the answer, with most businessmen saying they spend 40 to 70 minutes at the gym every day. In the 21st century, the average sleep of a human being has decreased from eight hours to seven hours. Due to various reasons including noise, gadgets, the amount of sleep has decreased, but business people manage their time and get enough sleep. Maybe the secret behind being able to work for 10-10 hours every day will be enough sleep.

How many hours do millionaire businessmen work?

Everyone wants to be successful in every field. No one in the world works to fail. The difference between failure and success is the difference in working hours and efficiency. Work skills vary from person to person, so the results are also different. Everyone wants to be successful by taking inspiration from the lives of successful personalities. New business start-ups expect to earn a reputation like the top businessmen in the field, but success is not guaranteed. It is hard work. We see the success of people who have reached the top in that field, but we rarely think about their hard work.

Forbes surveyed the working hours of the world's richest businessmen. It presented interesting findings. Most businessmen worked an average of 60 hours a week. That is, they used to work for an average of 10-10 hours every day for six days of the week.

The category of entrepreneurs was separated. 77 percent of entrepreneurs worldwide worked 70 to 80 hours a week. It is commonly believed that rich businessmen make employees work but do not work that hard themselves. This assumption was broken in more than one study. Entrepreneurs share the secret of their success, it was found that 93 percent of their success in business was due to their hard work.