Jack Ma is a Chinese Billionaire with an estimated net worth of over $50 billion.
He’s the co-founder and executive chair of the e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group.
In 2017, he came second in the annual "World's 50 Greatest Leaders" list by Fortune Magazine.
He’s planning to resign in the next year or so and pursue his passions in education
and philanthropy.
He’s also a member of the Communist Party of China.
However, he also likes giving advice — public advice.
I think he sees himself as some kind of guru.
In April 2019, he endorsed the 996 Work-Hour System.
Basically, 996 stands for 9am to 9pm, six days a week.
In a speech to staff at Alibaba, he said,
“Working 12 hours a day for the company is a blessing.
If you don't work 996 at a young age, when will you be able to?
Do you think never having to work 996 in your life is an honour to boast about?
How can you achieve the success that you want without exceeding other people's effort and
time?”
He faced a lot of online criticism for making that speech, and consequently, backtracked
a little bit in a lengthy Weibo post.
He said,
“If you find a job you like, the 996 problem does not exist — if you're not passionate
about it, every minute at work is torture.
No one likes working at a company that forces you to do 996.
Not only is it inhumane, it's unhealthy and even more unsustainable for long periods — plus
workers, relatives and the law do not approve of it.
In the long term, no matter how high the salary, the employees will all leave.”
The Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece, the People's Daily newspaper, spoke negatively
of Jack Ma’s comments.
They said,
“Doing forced overtime is not equivalent to working hard.
With the pressure of an economic downturn, many enterprises are facing challenges to
survive… but the way to relieve anxiety is not to make employees work overtime as
much as possible.”
Just a few days ago on the so-called “Ali Day”, 10 May 2019, Mr Ma presided over a
mass wedding ceremony for 102 pairs of newlyweds.
He gave another piece of sage advice to the new couples,
“At work, we emphasise the spirit of 996.
In life, we should follow 669.
What is 669?
Six times in six days, the emphasis is on the nine.”
What does he mean by that?
He means that couples should “spend time” together at least six times a week.
By “spending time”, he doesn’t mean going out for a picnic — He means spending
time together in the bedroom.
Six times in the bedroom, six days a week.
What does the 9 mean?
The Chinese character for 9, 九, sounds just like another character, 久, which means “long
lasting”, or “long time”.
So I guess by 669 he means he wants couples to have six long-lasting bedroom sessions,
six times a week.
Why you may ask?
Because China is facing a population crisis.
China’s population is expected to peak in around 2029 at 1.44 billion people due to
a declining fertility rate.
People are just not having kids anymore.
From 2029 onwards, China’s population will face an unstoppable decline bringing with
it a raft of unfavourable social and economic consequences.
So Mr Ma thinks that by encouraging young couples to procreate, he will somehow save
China from itself.
I have a few issues with his advice, both regarding 996 and 669.
1.
If people follow his 996 advice and work harder in China, this does not necessarily translate
to more money.
I’ve worked in China and know that many Chinese people work unpaid overtime.
They do it, because they don’t want to lose their job.
If you work for a big Chinese company like Alibaba eight hours a day, and then suddenly
decide to follow Mr Ma’s advice and work 12 hours a day, do you think that you’ll
get more money for doing so?
No, of course not.
Chinese companies love to cheat their workers as I’ve experienced firsthand and seen on
many documentaries.
If you’re working 996, you’d be doing so voluntarily, and if you don’t like it,
you can leave and find a different company.
There’s plenty of people in China who don’t have a job and are willing to take your place,
even if it involves working 12 hours a day, six days a week.
2.
If you’re following the 996 work ethic, then realistically, you wouldn’t have time
to perform 669 with your partner.
Most Chinese workers in the big cities commute at least one hour each way.
That means you’re spending at least 14 hours a day away from home.
If your partner is also performing 996 work hours, then surely both of you will be super
tired and stressed when you get home in the evening, so I doubt either of you will much
feel like performing 669.
3.
China’s fertility rate is dropping not because of lack of time spent with partners, but because
raising children in China is super expensive now.
Education is not free.
Hospitals are not free.
To go to a good university, some parents are literally selling their houses — and that’s
just for a single child.
Having more than one child is an impossibility for most families.
To suggest that spending more time in the bedroom is somehow going to fix China’s
declining fertility rate, is naive at best.
4.
If you know anything about falling pregnant, then the typical advice is to “spend time
together” every other day.
Spending time together in the bedroom every day does not allow the man time enough to
increase his sperm count.
5.
The Communist Party of China brought this on themselves by introducing the one-child
policy back in 1979.
This has since been scrapped and was changed to a two-child policy back in 2015.
It has been reported recently that there are plans to eliminate all forms of population
control in the near future.
However, the effects of 40 years of government intervention has already taken hold.
Modern Chinese society has been shaped around having only a single child.
Even though couples are free to have more children nowadays, they are simply not having
them.
They can’t afford to.
Some of my wife’s Chinese friends who live in China are choosing to not have any children.
It’s a sad state of affairs.
And that’s my rant on Jack Ma’s 996 and 669 advice.
It’s easy for him to give advice when he’s sitting on a multi-billion dollar fortune.
He can afford to do whatever he wants to.
But like many other billionaires, he lives worlds away from the average Chinese citizen.
He can’t understand that everyday people are struggling to keep themselves alive let
alone take on the burden of raising a large family.
Mr Ma, you might be smart in business, but your advice for young people is just downright
silly.