Work can be fun if you don't listen to Jack Ma

It's okay to work 12-hour days when there's work to be done, but codifying long work hours could seriously put the overall health of the workforce in peril.

By Allan Jacob

Published: Tue 23 Apr 2019, 8:00 PM

Last updated: Tue 23 Apr 2019, 10:25 PM

Look, Ma, who's talking? It's Jack Ma, the Chinese e-commerce icon, and arguably the country's richest man, who rose from being a school teacher to an entrepreneur of repute. His net worth is estimated at $40 billion. I follow him on social networks and watch his videos. When he speaks, workers, corporate mandarins, and other leaders are inspired. He's a natural when he talks about business, about working long, hard, and being productive. In fact, he's a child of the Chinese Dream that is now matching wits with the American Dream.
Ma has a passion for work that deserves to be admired. I would call him the Bruce Lee of corporate China. The focus, the intensity he brings to the business, the work ethic, the perfection. Seems robotic but it's true. Almost inhuman, I would struggle to do what he does. He gets a kick out of the businesses he runs; he can't break the habit because he appears to enjoy the perks of success and wants to dish out a dose of enthusiasm to those who care to listen. I mean, he's a well-meaning guy and I like the fact that he's constantly sharpening his leadership skills while encouraging his staff to follow his glowing example.
He can also be misunderstood (if you're human) and are not used to the kind of work (hours) he is propagating - work long and hard, push the body to its limits, put your heart and soul...whatever you've got to achieve your goals. Last week, I was again listening to Ma, reading what he was saying about work or, specifically, the time spent at work to achieve the level of success he has achieved.
It's called the '996' formula - 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week. Sounds like some doomsday cult number. Simply dial 996 and watch the end of days unfold. Sorry, that was 666. I began to wonder and questioned his thought process, even chided myself for not putting enough hours at work (if one doesn't consider the time spent working from home). I fall way short of Ma's lofty standards, I have concluded to my dismay.
I hadn't heard of such an exacting schedule before but apparently in China's quasi-private sector '996' is the norm, an old normal from the new manual written by the likes of Ma and other entrepreneurs who have gone on to become business magnates. In the Chinese tech industry, young people are expected to work 12 hours a day for six days a week, which works out to a whopping 72 hours a week.
"I personally think that 996 is a huge blessing," said the former English teacher who launched Alibaba in 1999 with some friends. "How do you achieve the success you want without paying extra effort and time?"
Spoken well but that could spell an early death for mortals who have other things to do....like spending some time with family, playing sport, or simply sleeping.
Ma's pitch, therefore, lacks objectivity while being mechanical to a fault. It's also indicative of the times we live in, when we are told that machine learning is taking over. Re-skill, re-learn and un-learn or get-out is the mantra.
Studies show that European countries have the shortest work hours and a better quality of life. That may be because people are concerned about privacy and the invasion of Big Tech and Big Data. There is little or no obsession with growth in Europe unlike what you see in the developing work that is playing catch up with the West.
Europe is in a happy place with its economic and human development indices, so the UK's 42-hour week appears extreme when compared with 37 hours in Denmark, the country with the least number of work hours in the world. The figure rises to a still enviable 39 in The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, France, Sweden and Ireland, according to the Eurostat Database.
While the happy work hours debate rages across Europe, the UAE has a more reasonable 48-hour work-week. But experts who gathered in Davos this January said working less has enormous benefits for both workers and employers as they advocate a four-hour workday daily for improved efficiency and creativity.
"If you reduce work hours, people are able to focus their attention more effectively, they end up producing just as much, often with higher quality and creativity, and they are also more loyal to the organisations that are willing to give them the flexibility to care about their lives outside of work," said Adam Grant, a psychologist from the Wharton School in Pennsylvania at the forum.
The four-hour workday was, in fact, successfully trialled by Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand company. Last year, the firm that deals with wills and estates conducted a two-month trial in which employees worked four-day weeks for the same pay, five days a week. Results showed the experiment reduced workers' stress levels by 7 per cent.
Seventy-eight per cent of staff said they achieved a better work-life balance, up from 54 per cent before the trial. Performance improved, too. Leadership, commitment, stimulation and empowerment, all climbed post-trial, said a report.
That's a far cry from what the likes of Jack Ma and others in Big Tech are promoting. Marissa Mayer, the former Yahoo chief, who oversaw the demise of the once-leading online portal, even talked of a gruelling 130-hour week when she worked at Google.
The e-commerce leader has defended the 'blessings' accrued from 996. It's okay to work 12-hour days when there's work to be done, but codifying it could seriously put the overall health of the workforce in peril.
The Alibaba boss has surprisingly found a supporter in Richard Liu, the chief of another Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com as workers unite to protest impending career burnouts.
Ma has since fallen a notch from grace. By crunching and extending work to '996' he's taken the fun out of office hours. But the data's talking now. Only this time I'm not listening.
- allan@khaleejtimes.com