Feature
China’s “996 culture” — working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week — has been standard at companies such as Alibaba, despite being outlawed in 2021. Now there’s evidence the 72-hour workweek is spreading to U.S. tech companies.
Take New York City-based software company Rilla, whose founder recently posted on LinkedIn: “The first thing we tell our candidates is: ‘We work 6 days a week, 12-hour days,’” adding that “obsession isn’t just accepted, it’s required.”
But make no mistake, 996 isn’t new: just call it hustle culture by another name.
996: A New Name for an Old Approach
Workers have long accepted extended working hours and lack of work-life balance as a way to advance their careers and demonstrate their loyalty to their company. Research published in 2023 by the University of Bergen indicates how prevalent “workaholism” has become.
The 996 schedule also evokes the “hardcore work culture” popular in the tech industry, which refers to the pressure to continuously produce results and meet rigorous performance metrics.
All of this can lead to toxic productivity, or the compulsion to work no matter the toll it takes on mental health, well-being or your personal life.
Essentially, hustle and 996 culture drive the “belief that extreme dedication and long hours are the only way to succeed, especially in startups and fast-moving tech environments,” explained Kamilla Pinel, a certified business coach and founder of You Dream You Do Coaching.
Factors like growing layoffs, grueling job searches and a job market generally being in the employer’s favor create even more pressure to overwork.
With these “fear-based decisions” front and center, 996 culture may be taking hold, Pinel said.
An analysis released in September 2025 by financial tech company Ramp examined transaction data for restaurants, delivery and takeout by hour among its corporate credit card holders in San Francisco, which the report said is a “good proxy for being on the clock.” It found that from noon to midnight on Saturdays, there’s a “pronounced jump in activity,” which it noted wasn’t present last year.
The authors concluded that “the 996 schedule now has a measurable signature in San Francisco’s spending data.” However, Ara Kharazian, a Ramp economist who wrote the report, said it’s “constrained to what I would call a subculture of firms that are tapping into the excitement of building something new and wanting to work at it all the time.”
For many, the 996 schedule isn’t sustainable, Pinel said, and it can backfire for workers and organizations. Extreme schedules are also exclusionary, especially for women, whose “practical restrictions” like childcare and unpaid labor limit the number of extra visible work hours they can put in.
Why U.S. Companies May Adopt 996
Economic tension, uncertainty and the advancement of artificial intelligence could drive U.S. companies to focus on work hours, one of the few elements they can control, said Kaitlin Woolley, a marketing professor at Cornell University, who has researched hybrid schedules and working hours.
“That could be part of what's going on: these pressures, and the solutions seem to be, oh, if you just work more and put more hours in, that's going to solve the problems,” said Woolley. The push to work long hours may also be related to organizations’ desires to return to in-person work, she added.
Companies that build a culture around long workweeks often start out excited, Pinel said of organizations she’s worked with. “Leaders working long hours are seen as passionate and committed, and teams feel united around the mission,” she said.
Then, resentment builds, not necessarily toward the work itself, but at what people are forced to sacrifice to work longer, Pinel said. The result is a drop in energy and creativity, and a rise in turnover. “The company ends up losing far more than it gains because people simply can’t deliver their best when the rest of their lives are falling apart,” she said.
Working extra long hours takes on a different dynamic when it's an individual and not a company decision. John Pencavel, professor of economics, emeritus at Stanford University, who has studied working hours and productivity, said it’s common in academia. He often put in more than 72 hours a week throughout his career because he loved his work, he said.
However, working long hours isn’t for every organization or employee, Pencavel said. “It’s in a firm’s own interest to find out what productivity is and what is desirable both for workers and for the owner of the firm.”
Why 996 Backfires
Pushing people to work longer and longer almost always backfires, Pinel said. Employees may feel guilty for not producing enough despite working harder and for missing time with their families, she said. “That guilt turns inward and begins draining motivation, creativity and confidence.”
Productivity suffers, mistakes increase and shrinks attention spans, Pinel said. “Ironically, the longer hours start producing less because people need more time to fix what wasn’t done well the first time.”
Research backs this up. A 2014 study by Pencavel found that productivity per hour declines after someone works more than 50 hours a week. “It could be much lower for some types of work; it could be higher for some workers,” he said.
A 2022 study led by Woolley found that when people worked non-standard times, such as weekends and holidays — even when they worked 40 hours a week — they experienced declines in intrinsic motivation. In other words, they considered their work less enjoyable, engaging and interesting when it was done during non-standard times, and it increased their desire to take a break.
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“It seemed part of the problem is this synchrony thing,” Woolley said. “Other people are not working, and you’re working. But with a 996 work culture, if everyone in your office is buying into this, I could see it becoming something where people might think that this is the correct thing to do.”
Working fewer hours is typically more productive and better for people’s health, according to research. A 2025 study published in Nature Human Behavior found that employees who worked four days a week were healthier, happier and performed better. A four-day workweek also improved burnout rates, job satisfaction and mental and physical health.
In contrast, working more than 55 hours a week has been associated with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
What's the End Goal?
Overall, 996 culture “pushes people to the point where resentment replaces excitement, and pressure replaces passion,” Pinel added. “Once that happens, no amount of hours can create quality outcomes, or a workplace people want to stay in.”
Another aspect of 996 culture is that there may be “a lot of performative work happening,” Woolley said. For example, employees may spend some of their 12-hour days waiting for information from others or just sitting at their desks.
So, companies considering adopting the 996 culture should measure productivity in relation to the number of hours people put in, she said.
“There are ways to be more creative about actually being more productive,” Woolley emphasized. “I think that comes down to measuring productivity appropriately and not by just being in the seat for 12 hours.”
Editor's Note: Read more on workplace dynamics:
- 'Hardcore' Work Culture Is a Shortcut to High Turnover — How do you balance employee experience with a focus on increased productivity? It isn't easy, but it's possible. Here's how.
- CEOs Blame Work From Home for Company Failings. Here's Why They're Wrong — Remote work has become a scapegoat for all sorts of company shortcomings. Here's what those claims leave out.
- Having it All, the Workplace Hygge Way — What would happen if a generation of workers entered the workforce with the collective goal of equilibrium in their professional and personal lives?
