ByteDance is considering whether to eliminate the requirement to work every other Sunday and will likely announce a decision in the near future, ifeng.com said Friday, citing employees at the company.
"It's pretty much decided, but there's no official announcement yet," one employee said. Some employees said ByteDance will announce the elimination of such an overtime system as early as this month, according to the report.
ByteDance was one of the first companies in China's Internet industry to implement the so-called system of "Big Week", which refers to a five-day workweek, and the "Small Week", which refers to a six-day workweek.
Previously, ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo had publicly discussed whether to eliminate this overtime system at the company's regular OpenDay on June 17.
Liang said at the meeting that according to the company's internal survey results, 1/3 of employees supported the elimination, but 1/3 of employees still opposed it, and the remaining 1/3 were neutral.
Some ByteDance employees oppose it because they don't want to lose their overtime pay.
Sunday work is almost the norm in the Internet industry today. But as criticism of this arrangement grows, some companies are trying to return to a normal work schedule.
On June 24, Kuaishou, which has had an internal Sunday work system for only six months, announced that it would abolish the system as of July and employees would work overtime as needed.
Tencent's Lightspeed & Quantum Studios Group announced a new overtime schedule starting June 14.
The company established Wednesday as wellness day, requiring employees to leave work at 6 p.m. sharp on wellness days and no later than 21:00 on the rest of the workday.
Tencent's unit asks employees not to work overtime in rare departure from industry practice