'It's About A Fetishization Of Overwork Rather Than Smart Work,' Why These Tech Leaders Are Pushing Back Against '996 Work Culture'

Venture capital Fund 20VC founder Harry Stebbings made a LinkedIn post in June that sparked a debate among European tech leaders about the culture of overworking.

"What European founders need to realize: The valley has turned up the intensity once again. Seven days a week is the velocity required to win right now," the post read. There is no room for slip up. You aren't competing against a random company in Germany, etc., but the best in the world," 

Like many LinkedIn posts, Stebbings intended his message to be motivational. However, it wound up being wildly controversial.

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In places like China, the 996 work culture, where employees are expected to be at their desks from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, has been the expected mode of operation for years. CNBC has reported that at China-based companies like Alibaba BABA and TikTok all but require 996 working hours from their employees.

However, many European founders and venture capitalist partners are now telling CNBC that they think the 996 work culture is unnecessary.

"It's about a fetishization of overwork rather than smart work…it's a myth," Balderton Capital General Partner Suranga Chandratillake told CNBC. "California is very good at telling stories and there's a lot of mythmaking around the concept of what startups look like…. there is hard work involved but if you really spend time in that ecosystem, you will discover that lots of people work really hard, but there are also periods where they don't work."

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Bloom Money founder Nina Mohanty agrees, pointing out the "lasting effects and unintended consequences" of such an over-the-top work culture. 

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Husmus co-founder Sarah Wernér and Bethnal Green Ventures Partner Dama Sathianathan pointed to the negative effects 996 work culture has on talent. 

"Overwork today is a productivity crisis tomorrow," Wernér told CNBC. "Personally, I hope my competitors are doing 996. It makes poaching great people a lot easier when they decide they've had enough."

"Optimizing labor doesn't always lead to better productivity, or help with differentiating from other companies long-term, if you've made work devoid of meaning," Sathianathan explained.

Meanwhile, Luna founder Jas Schembri-Stothart said that 996 culture was going to alienate millennial and Gen Z employees, in particular, as they have "much less tolerance for toxic hustle culture." 

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Instead of requiring more working hours, these European tech experts say that startups need more funding and resources to be competitive on the world stage.

"What Europe really needs isn't more hustle-porn it's more aggressive funding," Wernér told CNBC. "With the right level of capital, our startups can hire enough talent to work intensely without breaking themselves."

Still, these experts acknowledge that for many startups, there will be a season of hustle that is necessary to achieve a certain level of success. 

"I think there are seasons but I also think that if you are a first-time founder or if your primary goal is basically wealth creation, I'll be very candid, if this is your season, and you're stepping back, then you're not serious about it," Fanbytes co-founder Timothy Armoo told CNBC.

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Image: Imagn Images