A "996" work schedule refers to an unofficial work schedule (9 am - 9 pm, 6 days a week) that has been gaining more popularity. Serving a company that encourages the "996" work schedule usually means work for at least 60 hours a week.
Labor Law of the People’s Republic of China Article 41 says:
The employer can prolong work hours due to needs of production or businesses after consultation with its trade union and laborers. The work hours to be prolonged, in general, shall be no longer than one hour a day, or no more than three hours a day if such prolonging is called for due to special reasons and under the condition that the physical health of laborers is guaranteed. The work time to be prolonged shall not exceed, however, 36 hours a month.
In early 2019, a Chinese E-commerce company called Youzan announced the adoption of the "996" work schedule in the future, at the company's Chinese New Year Party. The CEO of Youzan responded: "This would definitely be a good decision when we look back in a few years time.".
In Mid-March 2019, it was reported that Jingdong started adopting "996" or "995" work schedule in some of the business units. Jingdong PR posted on their maimai(脉脉, a Chinese real-name business social network platform) account: "(Our culture is) to devote ourselves with all our hearts (to achieve the business objectives)".
Although it is gaining more publicity recently, this work schedule is a commonly known "secret" practiced in a lot of companies in China.
According to the Labor Law, employees who follow the "996" work schedule deserve to be paid 2.275 times of their base salary. Unfortunately, people who work under "996" rarely get paid that much.
If you consistently follow the "996" work schedule, you run the risk of getting yourself into Intensive Care Unit.
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