Slang & Culture
996 (workweek framework)
A work schedule of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week — 72 hours. The term comes from China's tech industry, where it described the expected schedule at some large internet companies. It has since entered wider discussion of work culture, including debate over whether AI startups are adopting similar expectations.
Origin
The schedule became a named issue in China around 2019, when the '996.ICU' protest repository on GitHub drew attention to it. China's Supreme People's Court and Ministry of Human Resources declared the schedule illegal in 2021. Jack Ma's public defense of 996 in 2019 made it internationally known.