When ByteDance Ended Its Fortnightly Six-Day Rota, Many Staff Objected
In the summer of 2021, ByteDance, the Chinese technology giant behind TikTok and Douyin, made a surprising move: it scrapped a scheduling system that required employees to work an extra Sunday every other week. This change effectively handed back roughly 20 working days annually to its workforce. While one might assume such a shift would be met with relief or even applause, a significant portion of ByteDance’s staff pushed back. Their resistance highlighted an important dynamic in workplace culture and compensation structures, raising the question: why would employees resist fewer working hours?
Understanding the ‘Big Week, Small Week’ Schedule
ByteDance’s “big week, small week” schedule involved alternating between a standard five-day workweek and a six-day workweek, requiring employees to work an additional Sunday every other weekend. This system was not a minor adjustment—it played a major role in employees’ earnings. According to reports from Caixin, this extra Sunday work, compensated at double pay, accounted for as much as 20% of some employees’ monthly salaries. For certain research and development staff, overtime pay for a single Sunday could reach up to 6,000 yuan (about $930), illustrating the substantial financial incentive embedded in this schedule.
Over the course of a year, the alternating rota added approximately 20 extra working days compared to a traditional five-day week. These additional days were paid at premium rates, making them a significant component of overall compensation for many employees.
Why the End of the Schedule Felt Like a Pay Cut
When ByteDance announced in early July 2021 that it would end this overtime arrangement starting in August, the financial consequences for employees were immediate and tangible. The removal of these extra Sundays also meant the loss of the corresponding double pay. Reports from Caixin noted that paychecks in August were roughly 20% lower than previous months, with other analyses suggesting an average decline of around 17%. This sharp drop in income did not go unnoticed.
Resistance to the change appeared even before the schedule officially ended. An internal survey, as reported by Caixin, found that about a third of ByteDance workers opposed the cancellation of Sunday overtime due to concerns over pay cuts. While this figure is based on a non-official survey and should be interpreted cautiously, it strongly indicates that many employees prioritized income over reduced working hours.
Broader Context: Chinese Tech’s Pushback Against Overwork
ByteDance’s decision was part of a wider trend among Chinese tech companies in 2021, as the industry began pulling back from notoriously demanding work cultures. For example, Kuaishou, a rival short-video platform, announced the abandonment of the “big/small weeks” policy in June 2021, preceding ByteDance’s move.
More significantly, in late August 2021, China’s Supreme People’s Court and Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security jointly declared the widely criticized “996” work schedule—working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week—a violation of labor law. They released ten model cases addressing overtime disputes to enforce compliance, emphasizing that “workers are entitled to remuneration, rest and the right to take leave, and it is the legal obligation of employers to comply with the national working hours system.” This legal intervention underscored a national shift toward regulating excessive overtime in the tech sector.
What the Objection Reveals About Wage Structures
The pushback from ByteDance employees was less about a love for Sunday work and more about how their paychecks were structured. When overtime becomes a significant and regular portion of income—in this case, up to one-fifth of total earnings—removing it without compensating elsewhere effectively acts as a pay cut.
Typically, companies might respond to reduced overtime by adjusting base hourly wages or restructuring work hours to maintain a stable overall compensation package. However, ByteDance did not provide offsetting increases to hourly pay or additional benefits to compensate for the lost Sunday overtime. As a result, employees who had come to rely on that income found themselves facing a reduced standard of living.
This situation highlights a critical insight into wage design: when overtime pay shifts from being an occasional bonus to a core component of regular income, policies intended to improve work-life balance can be perceived as detrimental. The opposition from many ByteDance workers was therefore not necessarily a defense of overwork but a defense of a significant income source they had grown accustomed to.
For further details, see the original report Here.
