Latest news with #AdrianKinnersley
Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AI Startups Are Making Their Employees Work Hours That Will Make You Break Out in a Cold Sweat
All Work, No Play Say a little prayer for AI workers in Silicon Valley. In the rush to conquer the AI sector, some startups have adopted a career schedule known as "996" — a draconian work regimen that first took hold in mainland China, according to Wired, in which employees work from 9am to 9pm, six days a week, for a total of a soul-crushing 72 hours. That's obviously a grueling routine, but the AI industry demands it because the space is so extremely competitive at the moment; startups are going to bat against each other, legacy tech companies, and overseas AI companies in places like China. AI startups are gobbling up boatloads of money — $104.3 billion in the first six months of this year — so the race is on to turn those investment dollars into profit and market share. That pressure is pushing more startups towards the 996 schedule. "It's becoming increasingly common," staffing and recruitment expert Adrian Kinnersley told Wire. "We have multiple clients where a prerequisite for screening candidates before they go for an interview is whether they are prepared to work 996." Back to the Future A tough schedule is nothing new to Silicon Valley, which is stuffed to the gills with industry lore about tech stars booking all-nighters at "velvet sweatshops" like Microsoft. "There's a really strong and growing subculture of people, especially in my generation — Gen Z — who grew up listening to stories of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, entrepreneurs who dedicated their lives to building life-changing companies," Will Gao, head of growth at AI startup Rilla, told Wired. But the problem with this work schedule is it chucks out any pretense of work-life balance, taking a toll on the bodies and minds of workers. It's also a type of schedule could shut out certain sectors of the population from tech work, such as women — who are usually the primary caretakers of children and adult relatives — who already only make up 35 percent of the STEM workforce in the United States. There's also a dark irony at play: the basic promise of the AI industry is that it will provide an alternative to the soul-crushing jobs to which so many of us are now subjected — while the very workers tasked with creating that future are being treated like beasts of burden. More on AI: AI Therapist Goes Haywire, Urges User to Go on Killing Spree Solve the daily Crossword
WIRED
23-07-2025
- Business
- WIRED
Silicon Valley AI Startups Are Embracing China's Controversial ‘996' Work Schedule
Jul 23, 2025 5:30 AM In an industry once known for cushy perks, some founders are now asking staff to commit to a 72-hour weekly schedule. You're either in or you're out. Photo-Illustration:Would you like to work nearly double the standard 40-hour week? It's a question that many startups in the US are asking prospective employees—and to get the job, the answer needs to be an unequivocal yes. These companies are embracing an intense schedule, first popularized in mainland China, known as '996,' or 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week. In other words, it's a 72-hour work week. The 996 phenomenon in China gave rise to major protests and accusations of 'modern slavery,' with critics blaming the schedule for a spate of worker deaths. Despite the negative connotations overseas, US firms, many of them working on artificial intelligence, are adopting both the schedule and its nickname as they race to compete against each other—and with China. Adrian Kinnersley, a serial entrepreneur who runs both a staffing and recruitment company and an employment compliance startup, has been surprised by how many startups are going all-in on 996. 'It's becoming increasingly common,' he says. 'We have multiple clients where a prerequisite for screening candidates before they go for an interview is whether they are prepared to work 996.' At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, conversations about conditions for workers in the United States often centered around burnout and the need for increased flexibility. Even in the notoriously hard-charging tech sector, companies began emphasizing efforts to facilitate a balanced schedule. Now, the surge in interest in 996 demonstrates the pendulum has swung the other way. It echoes Elon Musk's 'extremely hardcore' ultimatum to X employees, which encouraged them to work punishing hours. Companies aren't having trouble finding willing employees, and some frame it as core to their work culture. Rilla, an AI startup that sells software designed for contractors (like plumbers) to record conversations with prospective clients and coach them on how to negotiate higher rates, says nearly all of its 80-person workforce adheres to the 996 schedule. 'There's a really strong and growing subculture of people, especially in my generation—Gen Z—who grew up listening to stories of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, entrepreneurs who dedicated their lives to building life-changing companies,' says Will Gao, the company's head of growth. 'Kobe Bryant dedicated all his waking hours to basketball, and I don't think there's a lot of people saying that Kobe Bryant shouldn't have worked as hard as he did.' Rilla is up front about its expectations. In current job listings, it explicitly states that workers are expected to log more than 70 hours a week, warning them not to join if they aren't 'excited' about the schedule. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are provided at the office every day—even on Saturdays. Amrita Bhasin, the CEO of AI logistics startup Sotira, says that it's common for Bay Area founders to adopt the schedule as they grow: 'The first two years of your startup, you kind of have to do 996,' she says. While Bhasin sees the demanding workload as essentially mandatory for company leaders, she doesn't think that rank-and-file employees should be expected to keep pace: 'I don't think it's fair to push it onto them.' Some founders pitch the schedule as an option for their most devoted employees, creating a two-tiered structure where only some employees are expected to work the extra hours. Ritchie Cartwright, founder of the San Francisco–based telehealth company Fella & Delilah, recently posted about a message he'd sent to employees on LinkedIn, outlining his efforts to shift some of his current staff to a 996 schedule. To entice workers to get on board, Fella & Delilah offered a 25 percent pay increase and a 100 percent increase in equity to willing participants. Just under 10 percent of the staff has signed up, the LinkedIn post claimed. (Cartwright did not respond to requests for comment.) In 2021, after years of increasing pushback from workers, the Chinese government cracked down on the widespread 996 practice, which was technically illegal but seldom enforced. While still commonplace in the tech sector, some companies have backed off, at least publicly. Globally, though, 996 appears to be on the rise. This summer, UK-based venture capitalist Harry Stebbings helped spur a lively debate over the trend's adoption when he argued that 996 might not be enough—and that truly ambitious startups might need to go even harder to keep up. 'The truth is, China's really doing '007' now—midnight to midnight, seven days a week, and they just have a rotational workforce,' he says. 'If you want to build a $100 million company, you can do it on five days a week. But if you want to build a $10 billion company, you have to work seven days a week.' Stebbings says US-based companies and their employees are currently far more enthusiastic about 996 than their European counterparts. 'People in Europe seem shocked when you ask them to work the weekend,' he explains. Adrian Kinnersley, the entrepreneur who runs a staffing and recruitment startup, has been alarmed by how many companies pushing 996 appear to be 'wildly noncompliant' with US labor laws. While many employees in the tech sector may be exempt from overtime pay, Kinnersley says he has seen some companies not even bothering to issue employee classifications. 'California is the epicenter of AI, and where a lot of the 996 culture is coming from, and it has the most employee-friendly employment law in the whole United States,' he says. 'There's almost a hysteria in the rush to create AI products, and a lot of very young, highly intelligent people, in their fervor, are forgetting all the risks they're creating, all the massive liabilities.' Despite his reservations, he doesn't think the work schedule is going way anytime soon in the United States. 'I just registered the domain he says.
