The long and winding working hours

Forget 996. Enter 300.
Just when one thought of work-life balance and thumbed down the Alibaba Group’s unique “9am to 9am, six days a week” work model, this is something even worse.
Rival Pinduoduo topped it up with a monthly working hour of 300, according to our columnist Ko Tin-yau, quoting an internal speech from chief executive Zheng Huang.
To kick off the hard-core hardworking model in the hard nose market, he asked his 6,000 staff to adjust to a structural change and prepare the tough road ahead.
He went further to compare the tough environment to COVID-19, stating that “bed rest is not good enough” and “one must train up mentally and physically”.
So, the troop needs to work 300 hours, equivalent to 10 hours per day except February. Unconfirmed internal news suggested the e-commerce company might implement the two-day-off-per-month system , as opposed to the conventional two day off per week.
Are things that bad in Pinduoduo? The US-listed company known for unbeatable cheap bargains such as two yuan for a 10-pack toilet roll led the sector with a sharp gain in share price, thanks to the pandemic-spurred surge in online shopping activities. But competition from rivals JD.com and Alibaba Group has been intensifying.
Pinduoduo is currently down about 15 per cent from its August peak, but the share price has still doubled year-to-date.
As an employer, Pingduoduo is attractive to many aspiring youngsters because it generally pays more than rival tech giants. And it is said to be generous with share options. The extra hours would likely be compensated at more than the average rate.
China’s rising tech giants are known to be demanding. Earlier this year, Sohu penalized 500 yuan for staff who showed up in office after 9:30am.
Chief executive Zhang Chaoyang said typically he has already worked a few hours before his staffs show up.
He is a big fan of sleeping early and said four-hour of sleep works well for him and he is in great shape.
No wonder many mainland tech guys can retire early!
-- Contact us at [email protected]
-
Jordan lockdown ended, 13 virus cases detected
The government on Monday morning ended the lockdown restrictions on a block of streets in Jordan. The recent centre of a Covid-19 outbreak was sealed off early on Saturday More than 7,000 people in
-
Official blames late start of vaccination programme on logistics
When grilled on why Hong Kong has been slower to kickoff the Covid vaccination programme compared to other places like Singapore, Health Secretary Sophia Chan put the blame on logistics issues,
-
Vaccine experts: Protect the most vulnerable first
Given the uncertainty of the approval of mainland-made vaccines from Sinovac in the absence of enough clinical data, experts advising the government on its vaccination programme concluded that there
-
Flower markets crowd control measures hinge on Covid situation
Health officials these days are busy handling the coronavirus outbreak in Yau Tsim Mong region, while at the same time revving up the pandemic preventive measures for the upcoming Lunar New Year
-
No flower? No, flower! Ben Kwok
Flower growers in Hong Kong must have felt perplexed upon knowing the Lunar New Year Fair is back this year. Our government changed its mind and reversed its earlier decision to suspend the 15 flower