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Jack Ma recently made headlines when he supported a tough overtime work schedule. China has had a work culture of long hours, often referred to as 996 — slogging from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week. Tech employees there are now starting to push back, saying it kills creativity. Do Indian startups have similar grueling schedules? Many do. A number of employees even work on weekends and vacations. Founders defend it, saying that with investors and shareholders breathing down their necks, slacking off from aggressive expansion could mean the closure of the firm

Those in the industry say Indians, both in big companies and startups, are becoming exactly like the Chinese and Japanese when it comes to killer working hours. “Look at private banks or telecom companies, even their employees work 9 am to 9 pm,” said Sarika Bhattacharya, CEO of Biz Divas, which works on inclusivity at corporate houses. Long hours often seem to be “voluntary” as employees are rewarded through faster promotions, more recognition, and ESOPs. “If they are part of the founding team and are emotionally invested in the startup and founder, then it becomes their dream, their passion, and long hours become irrelevant,” Bhattacharya said.

Often, the problem in early-stage startups is that work roles are not clearly defined and as there only a handful of employees, each ends up performing a variety of tasks. Some may not be equipped to do those tasks, spending an inordinately long time to complete them. While some employees see this as new and all-round learning, specialists sometimes find it irksome that they are expected to be jacks of all trades. It’s a culture where singletons with no commitments indirectly gain the upper hand over seniors who might not want to burn the midnight candle.

“Long work hours don’t mean higher productivity,” said Dr. Aniruddha Malpani, an angel investor in the healthcare space, referring to companies which encourage or mandate this schedule. People burn out, he pointed out. “It’s like a race to the bottom. For knowledge workers, it’s a particularly stupid metric. How would one get inspired or be creative?” he said.