Lightspeed & Quantum Studios Group, a gaming studio owned by Chinese Internet giant Tencent, is requiring its employees not to work overtime and to take two full days off on weekends, in a departure from the common practice of big Chinese tech companies requiring employees to work overtime.
Employees in the division are required to leave the office area before 21:00 on weekdays other than Wednesdays and are required to file a request if they have to leave after that time, according to unconfirmed documents circulating on Chinese social networks.
The Lightspeed & Quantum Studios Group, which was founded in 2008 and has well-known games such as "Game for Peace" and "Happy Poker".
The move has sparked widespread debate among Chinese Internet users, as the issue of overtime has become an increasingly heavy burden for employees at tech companies in recent years.
Back in 2019, some Internet company employees had protested against the so-called "996" work arrangement, in which they start work at 9 a.m. and finish at 9 p.m. every day, working six days a week.
Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, once said that the "996" work system was a privilege for employees, and that many people wanted it but were denied the opportunity, sparking a huge controversy.
In April 2019, the official media Legal Daily reported that, according to incomplete statistics, there are 84 Internet companies in China practicing the 996 work hours.
This is not an open and clear assessment standard, and companies are more likely to advocate for employees or require them to fulfill the arrangement in disguise.
The report cited experts as saying that if a company has adopted a system that requires 996 workdays, then such a rule is illegal.
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