Pinduoduo: China’s Tech culture under scrutiny after suicides

Working conditions at one of China’s largest e-commerce giants, Pinduoduo, are being blamed for a spate of suicides at the company.

The deaths have led some to call for a boycott of the tech giant and the company's share price has tumbled in the news.

The recent situation has once again led some to talk about the country’s “996” working culture. Many in China’s tech companies work from 9am to 9pm for 6 days a week with only Sunday as a day off.

China’s rise as an economic powerhouse, and those of its tech giants, have been fuelled “with the blood and sweat of workers”. The fallout has been witnessed via an increasing number of workers crumbling under the pressure.

In 2019, a rare moment of unity amongst tech workers saw them campaigning against the brutal “996” culture.

In a publicly posted anonymous letter, one of the people aiming to reform China’s working culture said, “If you continue to tolerate the ‘996’ work schedule, you will risk your own health and might need to stay in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) someday.”

The galvanising motto of the petition is “996 working, ICU waiting.” Increasingly, Chinese tech firms have adopted the “996” work schedule as a means of maximising profits in a bid to stay ahead of the competition.

Pinduoduo, according to reports, has even sought to push its workers to work even longer than the “996” norm. This has been a major contributor to the company achieving a $218 billion market capitalisation.

Chinese people, however, have been unimpressed with Pinduoduo's response to the death of its workers and reluctance to overhaul its working culture.

A former Pinduoduo employee who spoke out against the company’s working culture has only fuelled the outcry against the company.

The employee alleged that staff at the company's headquarters can be expected to work at least 75 hours per week or 300 hours per month. Staff in another section of the business can be expected to work a minimum of 380-hours per month.

In 2010 another of China’s tech giants was hit by a scandal that at its height grabbed the world's attention.

More than one worker per month at Foxconn, a company that, among other things, creates the iPhone, was committing suicide, jumping to their untimely deaths.

In 2010 alone, fifteen people attempted to commit suicide at the company. All but two survived. One of those was left paralysed from the waist down.

The company ultimately ended up setting up nets around its buildings in a bid to prevent any recurrence of this on its premises.

China’s tech companies are increasingly facing public scrutiny from society, as well as the government, as their size and reach in the country becomes increasingly influential.