I don't even understand what the point of 996 is. I work normal hours and I find by the last hour I'm mentally done and I become totally unable to do anything more, staying extra hours would get nothing extra done.

There is no point other than opportunism. The same reason kids were working in textile mills last century and why housing costs are multiplying now in the western world.

But a greedy company acting purely in self interest wouldn't want this because you are getting less productivity by making sure your employees are constantly tired and never getting anything done.

To get the full picture you need to shift perspective and see humans more as resources. When a resource doesn’t produce enough anymore it gets replaced.

How can you possibly develop a product when none of your developers have been around for more than a few months?

If the entire industry is less productive, it's not a business problem.

Overworked employees a probably cheeper per hour too.

Inappropriate incentives for individuals cause behavior that hurts everyone. Not exactly a new thing.

I think it’s a symptom of double digit growth. China does not have enough experienced and qualified managers and executives. So this stupid shit like this flies.

> ... we do not have the same problems

You/we do not have problems of the same scale/severity, but they are still the same problems.

This is the argument that things are good in one place because they're slightly better off than another place where things are worse. The status quo of working hours in the US are far from ideal.

Not 996, but some of the h1bs from India go through something similar 5 days a week. Many of them have to attend 'offshore calls' with the team in India which usually starts around 10 pm and goes till midnight, in addition to the regular 9-5 work. One h1b guy I know had his schedule like this - attend early morning 1-1.5 hour meetings at 6.30 am on 3 days of a week, work from 9/9.30-4 (sometimes 5 or 6), attend offshore calls from 10pm that sometimes go beyond 12 am. He worked like this for almost 4 years.

The same goes for people in India working with US workers though.