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Young Chinese are sick of working long hours

bbc.com

41–50 of 298 posts

Re: Young Chinese are sick of working long hours

#41
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japanese too. Keep in mind that this article is written from a British/European standpoint, where working overtime is an exception, not the norm.

Then why call it "overtime." Mandatory overtime as a concept is contradictory, that's just the new work-hours.

The government sets the standard working hours. You're asked to work for that much time, plus an additional time over that. It's overtime with respect to the standard, which might not necessarily be the median for your company.

Re: Young Chinese are sick of working long hours

#43

Who's not tired of working overtime?

Is it expected of you in your job often?

I've been in my current role for a year and a half, I did overtime exactly once (because the train I relied on was very very delayed and it was snowing out). Other than that nothing, and most people are out of here by 5 at the very latest each day. Same in my previous two roles, although the one before tried to bring in "on-call" but were quickly beaten back :)

Re: Young Chinese are sick of working long hours

#44
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well that's weird since there's only 325 million of us, and the percentage which has mandatory overtime is pretty low. Even lower if you specify mandatory unpaid overtime.

Even though he probably meant it wrong, too, there are more than 325 milion americans around as america is bigger than the USA ..

Yeah, start referring to Mexicans and Canadians as Americans and see if your efforts are appreciated.

Re: Young Chinese are sick of working long hours

#45
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japanese too. Keep in mind that this article is written from a British/European standpoint, where working overtime is an exception, not the norm.

Then why call it "overtime." Mandatory overtime as a concept is contradictory, that's just the new work-hours.

Because some of our ancestors rioted and fought and unionized to establish the 40 hour work week, and we want to preserve their legacy. And because it's not entitled to want to have a life outside of your salaried job.

Re: Young Chinese are sick of working long hours

#46
I went to China and everyone i met was doing 9-5 monday to friday.

A school leaver with no qualifications in his chosen career finds his first job is crap is not really world news.

Change jobs and hang in there kid.

China's unemployment rate is lower than the uk where this article originates.

You have labour laws.

The worst expected unpaid overtime hours i ever worked or saw worked was in a bank in London. 885 was totally normal.

Making news out of a single case study implying its universal it not really responsible news, even if it is not quite fake news.

Re: Young Chinese are sick of working long hours

#47

Very interesting article, but I was disappointed that the article stated that the millenial only-children of China are "outspoken", "pampered", or "self-centered". I don't believe that any of those terms apply to people who are fighting against working 72 hours per week for low pay. This is a case of basic human rights. The words that come to mind to describe the folks who are fighting this fight are "proud", "resili…

All those adjectives are always applied in relative terms, and aren’t any universal standard!

Re: Young Chinese are sick of working long hours

#48

Very interesting article, but I was disappointed that the article stated that the millenial only-children of China are "outspoken", "pampered", or "self-centered". I don't believe that any of those terms apply to people who are fighting against working 72 hours per week for low pay. This is a case of basic human rights. The words that come to mind to describe the folks who are fighting this fight are "proud", "resili…

It's nice to see that however much America and China might be at odds, they can apparently agree on attacking their young people as lazy and entitled.

Re: Young Chinese are sick of working long hours

#49

“In my experience young people, especially the post-90s generation, are reluctant to work overtime – they are more self-centered,” says labour rights expert Li Jupeng, one of many who have observed some millennials challenging the 996 concept. self-centered is a funny word. It implies selfish, but is it really selfish if it's self-preservation?

Yet the executives and CEO who all benefit directly from unpaid overtime tool around in Maserati's and vacation on Greek islands, but surely that's not "self centered." Surely, capitalist culture has never, ever idolized self-centeredness and entitlement!

China has the same problems the West has. We see labor as this fungible thing done by faceless automatons and its the job of management to extract as much labor as possible to enrich those above them by any means possible. Its considered perfectly normal and moral to have a class of people worrying daily about their bills and keeping a roof in their head and a whole other class who we defend when they scream at the valet or the housekeeper because some trivial thing bothered them. We equate both those situations as the same thus barely being able to feed your kids is on the same level of outrage as 'you scuffed by Maserati's brake pedal with your boots!'

I don't envy the Chinese as they seem to have few fewer avenues to labor enrichment than the West, but fundamentally we all share the same problem: the one-sided relationship between capital and labor. Ironically, their country was built on addressing that fundamental problem but now have fallen into the same dirty form of capatalism everyone else has.

Re: Young Chinese are sick of working long hours

#50
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

gosh this sounds like a revolution in the cooking state, is this totally true? maybe not that bad I hope. the big problems are the debt and the house bubble, one of them blows up will cause serious issues, so far so good it seems.

Not sure if I'm missing sarcasm or anything, but this sounds like the exact same problem as everywhere else in the world.

Really? Which parts of that apply to any western country? The US (where I live) certainly has its problems, but none of the things described by the original comment apply widely in the US.
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