Would you like to work nearly double the standard 40-hour week? It’s a question that many startups in the US are asking prospective employees—and to get the job, the answer needs to be an unequivocal yes. These companies are embracing an intense schedule, first popularized in mainland China, known as “996,” or 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week. In other words, it’s a 72-hour work week.
你愿意几乎工作标准 40 小时周的两倍时间吗？这是许多美国初创公司在招聘时向潜在员工提出的问题——而想要获得这份工作，答案必须是明确的“是”。这些公司正在采用一种最初在中国大陆流行的高强度工作时间表，称为“996”，即早上 9 点到晚上 9 点，每周工作六天。换句话说，就是每周工作 72 小时。
The 996 phenomenon in China gave rise to major protests and accusations of “modern slavery,” with critics blaming the schedule for a spate of worker deaths. Despite the negative connotations overseas, US firms, many of them working on artificial intelligence, are adopting both the schedule and its nickname as they race to compete against each other—and with China. Adrian Kinnersley, a serial entrepreneur who runs both a staffing and recruitment company and an employment compliance startup, has been surprised by how many startups are going all-in on 996. “It's becoming increasingly common,” he says. “We have multiple clients where a prerequisite for screening candidates before they go for an interview is whether they are prepared to work 996.”
中国的 996 现象引发了大规模抗议和“现代奴隶制”的指控，批评者将一系列员工死亡归咎于这一工作时间表。尽管在海外有负面含义，许多美国公司，尤其是从事人工智能领域的公司，正在采用这一工作时间表及其昵称，以在相互竞争以及与中国竞争的过程中抢占先机。连续创业者 Adrian Kinnersley 经营着一家人力资源和招聘公司以及一家就业合规初创企业，他对有这么多初创公司全力推行 996 感到惊讶。“这变得越来越普遍，”他说，“我们有多个客户，在筛选候选人面试之前的前提条件就是他们是否准备好接受 996 工作制。”
At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, conversations about conditions for workers in the United States often centered around burnout and the need for increased flexibility. Even in the notoriously hard-charging tech sector, companies began emphasizing efforts to facilitate a balanced schedule. Now, the surge in interest in 996 demonstrates the pendulum has swung the other way. It echoes Elon Musk’s “extremely hardcore” ultimatum to X employees, which encouraged them to work punishing hours.
在新冠疫情初期，美国关于工人工作条件的讨论常常围绕着倦怠和对更大灵活性的需求展开。即使是在以高强度著称的科技行业，公司也开始强调促进工作与生活平衡的努力。如今，对 996 工作制兴趣的激增表明摆钟已经向另一个方向摆动。这与埃隆·马斯克对 X 员工发出的“极端硬核”最后通牒相呼应，鼓励他们工作超长时间。
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Companies aren’t having trouble finding willing employees, and some frame it as core to their work culture. Rilla, an AI startup that sells software designed for contractors (like plumbers) to record conversations with prospective clients and coach them on how to negotiate higher rates, says nearly all of its 80-person workforce adheres to the 996 schedule.
公司在寻找愿意加班的员工方面并不困难，有些公司甚至将其视为其工作文化的核心。Rilla 是一家人工智能初创公司，销售为承包商（如水管工）设计的软件，用于记录与潜在客户的对话并指导他们如何谈判更高的收费，该公司表示其近 80 名员工几乎全部遵守 996 工作制。
“There's a really strong and growing subculture of people, especially in my generation—Gen Z—who grew up listening to stories of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, entrepreneurs who dedicated their lives to building life-changing companies,” says Will Gao, the company’s head of growth. “Kobe Bryant dedicated all his waking hours to basketball, and I don’t think there’s a lot of people saying that Kobe Bryant shouldn’t have worked as hard as he did.”
“有一个非常强大且不断壮大的亚文化群体，尤其是在我这一代——Z 世代——他们从小就听着关于史蒂夫·乔布斯和比尔·盖茨的故事长大，这些企业家将一生奉献给了打造改变生活的公司，”该公司增长负责人 Will Gao 说。“科比·布莱恩特把所有清醒的时间都投入到了篮球上，我认为很少有人会说科比不应该那么努力地工作。”
Rilla is up front about its expectations. In current job listings, it explicitly states that workers are expected to log more than 70 hours a week, warning them not to join if they aren’t “excited” about the schedule. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided at the office every day—even on Saturdays.
Rilla 对其期望非常坦率。在当前的招聘信息中，明确表示员工每周预计工作超过 70 小时，并警告如果对这种工作时间表不“感到兴奋”，就不要加入。办公室每天提供早餐、午餐和晚餐——即使是周六也不例外。
Amrita Bhasin, the CEO of AI logistics startup Sotira, says that it’s common for Bay Area founders to adopt the schedule as they grow: “The first two years of your startup, you kind of have to do 996,” she says. While Bhasin sees the demanding workload as essentially mandatory for company leaders, she doesn’t think that rank-and-file employees should be expected to keep pace: “I don’t think it’s fair to push it onto them.”
AI 物流初创公司 Sotira 的首席执行官 Amrita Bhasin 表示，湾区的创始人在公司发展过程中采用 996 工作制很常见：“创业的头两年，你基本上得实行 996。”虽然 Bhasin 认为这种高强度的工作量对公司领导来说几乎是必需的，但她并不认为普通员工应该被要求跟上这种节奏：“我觉得把这个压力强加给他们是不公平的。”
Some founders pitch the schedule as an option for their most devoted employees, creating a two-tiered structure where only some employees are expected to work the extra hours. Ritchie Cartwright, founder of the San Francisco–based telehealth company Fella & Delilah, recently posted about a message he’d sent to employees on LinkedIn, outlining his efforts to shift some of his current staff to a 996 schedule. To entice workers to get on board, Fella & Delilah offered a 25 percent pay increase and a 100 percent increase in equity to willing participants. Just under 10 percent of the staff has signed up, the LinkedIn post claimed. (Cartwright did not respond to requests for comment.)
一些创始人将这一工作时间安排作为对最忠诚员工的选择，形成了一个两级结构，只有部分员工被期望加班。总部位于旧金山的远程医疗公司 Fella & Delilah 的创始人 Ritchie Cartwright 最近在 LinkedIn 上发布了一条消息，介绍了他向员工发送的信息，说明他正在努力将部分现有员工转为 996 工作制。为了吸引员工加入，Fella & Delilah 为愿意参与的员工提供了 25%的加薪和 100%的股权增加。LinkedIn 帖子称，刚好不到 10%的员工报名参加。（Cartwright 未回应置评请求。）
In 2021, after years of increasing pushback from workers, the Chinese government cracked down on the widespread 996 practice, which was technically illegal but seldom enforced. While still commonplace in the tech sector, some companies have backed off, at least publicly.
2021 年，在经历多年员工不断反对后，中国政府开始打击广泛存在的 996 工作制，这种做法在技术上是非法的，但很少被执法。尽管在科技行业仍然普遍存在，但一些公司至少在公开场合有所收敛。
Globally, though, 996 appears to be on the rise. This summer, UK-based venture capitalist Harry Stebbings helped spur a lively debate over the trend’s adoption when he argued that 996 might not be enough—and that truly ambitious startups might need to go even harder to keep up. “The truth is, China’s really doing ‘007’ now—midnight to midnight, seven days a week, and they just have a rotational workforce,” he says. “If you want to build a $100 million company, you can do it on five days a week. But if you want to build a $10 billion company, you have to work seven days a week.”
不过，从全球范围来看，996 似乎正在上升。今年夏天，总部位于英国的风险投资家 Harry Stebbings 引发了一场关于这一趋势采纳的热烈讨论，他认为 996 可能还不够——真正有雄心的初创公司可能需要更加拼命才能跟上。“事实是，中国现在实际上是在实行‘007’——从午夜到午夜，一周七天，而且他们采用轮班制，”他说。“如果你想打造一家 1 亿美元的公司，五天工作制就够了。但如果你想打造一家 100 亿美元的公司，你必须一周七天工作。”
Stebbings says US-based companies and their employees are currently far more enthusiastic about 996 than their European counterparts. “People in Europe seem shocked when you ask them to work the weekend,” he explains.
Stebbings 表示，总部位于美国的公司及其员工目前对 996 工作制的热情远高于欧洲同行。“当你让欧洲人周末加班时，他们似乎会感到震惊，”他解释道。
Adrian Kinnersley, the entrepreneur who runs a staffing and recruitment startup, has been alarmed by how many companies pushing 996 appear to be “wildly noncompliant” with US labor laws. While many employees in the tech sector may be exempt from overtime pay, Kinnersley says he has seen some companies not even bothering to issue employee classifications. “California is the epicenter of AI, and where a lot of the 996 culture is coming from, and it has the most employee-friendly employment law in the whole United States,” he says. “There’s almost a hysteria in the rush to create AI products, and a lot of very young, highly intelligent people, in their fervor, are forgetting all the risks they’re creating, all the massive liabilities.”
经营一家人力资源和招聘初创公司的企业家 Adrian Kinnersley 对许多推行 996 工作制的公司“严重不遵守”美国劳动法感到震惊。虽然科技行业的许多员工可能免于加班费，但 Kinnersley 表示，他见过一些公司甚至连员工分类都懒得做。“加州是人工智能的中心，也是许多 996 文化的发源地，而且它拥有全美最有利于员工的劳动法，”他说。“在争相开发人工智能产品的过程中，几乎有一种狂热，许多非常年轻且极具智慧的人们在热情中忘记了他们所制造的所有风险和巨大的法律责任。”
Despite his reservations, he doesn’t think the work schedule is going way anytime soon in the United States. “I just registered the domain 996careers.com,” he says.
尽管他有所保留，但他并不认为这种工作时间表在美国会很快消失。“我刚刚注册了域名 996careers.com，”他说。
