Can we ever defend the Crunch?

Running and keeping a business alive these days is tough and you must be ruthless. It is almost like war, and we all know that war does not determine who is right, but instead it determines who is left.

All too often - the tough decisions you have to make is to present the need to put in more hours as a do-or-die, and then following it up with a “if you don’t like it there are plenty of jobs elsewhere”. However, how often do you hear otherwise, when extra time is deeply ingrained with the notion of diligence and commitment, and a positive impression that leads to a path to promotion? It is no longer about working hard, OR working smart; you have to work hard AND work smart to stay in the game.

You would think that these ‘extended working hours’ only apply to start-ups, but as turns out, many established companies (Uber, Amazon, Netflix, etc.) especially in tech, saw a need to move fast in this extremely competitive climate that favors disruption. In unpredictable market developments and rapidly changing consumer preferences, the most immediate suggestion is to go into a crunch and demand for more work hours.

This is frequently evidenced: the recent 9-9-6 protests in China (for the uninitiated, that’s an work schedule that refers to 9am to 9pm, 6 days a week), Rockstar’s 100-hour week development controversy, BioWare’s crunch culture resulting in Anthem’s launch issues, and more.

It’s not hard to see why they had to do this. (Pardon my gaming references) There will always be a Fortnite to your PUBG, and not even Steam can stay comfortable where is at. I’m not here to say if it is right or wrong to demand for these hardworking talents to commit the long hours, under the assumption that they get more work done, derive more experience in their field and there’s overall benefits to the results achieved.

It goes without saying, that a great surgeon can save more patients by clocking more hours – needless to say, it also becomes a consequence that hospitals need to be willing to bear when fatigue kicks in for that surgeon as he moves into his X-th consecutive patient. I’ll also save you the discussion on the implications of overworking: from burnout to real health problems with this analogy.

I do believe that companies that embrace these intense cultures need to realize a certain unsustainability in these practices. In an article by South China Morning Post exploring the 9-9-6 culture of China’s Silicon Valley, they’ve noted that for Chinese tech firms, the average tenure is less than 2.6 years and 8% of the failed companies that were analysed failed because of burnout.

It is obviously difficult to refute when companies say that more livelihoods will be at stake, but the usual saying goes – just because you can, does not mean you should. As you prepare to make this decision yourself (as company management or as an individual) – bear in mind the need for some forms of check and balance. Always remember that the backbone of any company is its people, and there’s value in growing and retaining these talents.

For companies, you would want to build a work culture that builds on momentum and encourages consistency – it is definitely not the same as pulling all-nighters constantly. A sustainable company is built on strong values that create a shared sense of purpose – and not on exhausted and dead bodies. Never forget that some of your most exceptional employees are successful not just at work, but also in life. Their ability to manage their work-life cycle with efficacy is also the big reason why they are also your best problem solvers; all the more for you to not disable them with these work constraints.

Adopt the right kind of motivation that does not reward good work/productivity with more work. It is a perennial problem to set the right benchmarks and manage team performance. It helps when you acknowledge and address the bigger problems at hand and make it a team effort to address them (such as, allowing your top performers to take on mentoring responsibilities instead of getting them to put more hours into execution).

For the individuals – understand the clear differences to what constitute great work ethics, workaholism and conditions for the crunch. Strong contributing factors along with traits like passion, or the accompanying compensation serve as mitigation to the effects of long working hours but bear in mind not to be lulled into a false sense of comfort. In many likely situations, these often backfire on employees as instead their passion gets weaponized to justify crunch, and that certain benefits (free transport, lunch, dinners, in-house massages) often locks the employees away from the outside world.

You should continue to remain passionate at what you do, but do take a step back and work with the company to understand where you stand and understand if both your objectives align at the end of the day. This needn’t only happen at appraisals and should always be ongoing conversation.

(As a side, it absolutely did not set the right tone when you see the Chinese companies put more emphasis in censoring the 9-9-6 protests, than to actually deal with it in an open manner).

At the end of the day, time management for both companies and employees is a zero-sum game and the strive for balance is something that ought to be constantly, and more importantly, pro-actively worked on. Like potential lost revenue, consider that you may also never be able to make up for the lost family/personal time.

I am looking forward to the day companies establish an assessment that’s an equivalent of the ‘Cheap-Fast-Good’ trinity to understand where and what they’re being stretched on. Is it a scaling and resource problem? Are you hiring the right people? Are you adopting the right management style? For everyone that is fighting the immediate battle and want to be around for the long game, this is a balance they will need to consider.

Lastly, where do you stand on this? Let me know.

References: SCMP Article - https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3002533/no-sleep-no-sex-no-life-tech-workers-chinas-silicon-valley-face