Ex-TikTok Employee Criticizes ‘996’ Workplace Culture

A previous TikTok personnel has criticized the social media firm’s office culture—claiming that supervisors would stress workforce to perform extended hrs and weekends in a nod to China’s “996” tradition.

Pabel Martinez, a former worldwide account director at TikTok, informed Enterprise Insider that professionals at the Culver Metropolis-based company—which is owned by Chinese mum or dad corporation ByteDance—would really encourage employees to perform into the evening and question them to show up at conferences all through the weekend.

“I do assume that the lifestyle of performing much too considerably or not possessing as a great deal of the operate-lifestyle equilibrium does permeate all through the corporation, and it is frequently encouraged you perform ‘after hours’,” Martinez said. “The 996 policy’s infamous.”

The “996 policy” in dilemma stems from China, where organizations are known to demand that workers work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., 6 days a 7 days. When ByteDance has reportedly manufactured attempts to counteract that tradition, Martinez mentioned he and other colleagues ended up pressured to go to weekend meetings—and that when he objected, he was instructed by a manager: “That’s not how we do company in this article.”

“I was produced to sense like I was never doing more than enough,” Martinez instructed Enterprise Insider. “At TikTok, no conversation began with ‘How are you?’ It was like, ‘How’s the income? What are we accomplishing to drive much more advancement?’”

Representatives for TikTok declined a request for remark by dot.LA.