每年多放四十五天假？

Speaking of work systems at Chinese companies, there was a very interesting piece of news recently.

Ctrip announced a new policy.

Ctrip is one of China's biggest travel companies.

If you want to buy plane tickets or book hotels, many people use Ctrip.

What is this new policy?

Starting from May first this year.

Ctrip employees can take an extra forty-five days off.

Forty-five days.

This isn't ordinary leave.

This is "no-reason personal leave."

What does that mean?

It means if you want to take a day off, you don't have to tell your boss why.

Before, if you wanted to take time off.

You had to give your boss a reason.

Being sick, something at home, needing to see a doctor.

You had to explain.

Now you don't have to.

If you want to rest, you can rest.

No need to say why.

But there's something important to clarify.

These forty-five days are without pay.

That means you can skip work.

But you won't get paid for those days.

This is different from paid leave.

Paid leave means you're off but still get your salary.

This no-reason leave has no salary.

Why is Ctrip doing this?

Because they're running an experiment.

A scientific experiment.

They chose about six thousand employees.

Then randomly split them into two groups.

One group is the "experimental group."

They can enjoy this new holiday policy.

The other group is the "control group."

They cannot.

Then after one year they'll see.

Which group has higher work efficiency.

Which group is happier.

Which group is more willing to stay at the company.

If the experimental group does better.

This policy might be given to all employees in the future.

Ctrip's founder is named Liang Jianzhang.

He is a very special entrepreneur.

He doesn't just run a travel business.

He also studies population issues.

He thinks Chinese people work too hard.

No time to have children.

No time to be with family.

So he's always looking for ways to make work more flexible for employees.

Ctrip has done many similar things before.

In 2022 they started "hybrid work."

That means two days a week working from home.

Three days at the office.

Later they also gave new parents special leave.

So they could work remotely from home while taking care of their children.

These things are quite rare among Chinese companies.

Do you know that many Chinese companies have a culture called "nine-nine-six"?

Nine-nine-six means starting work at nine in the morning.

Finishing work at nine at night.

Working six days a week.

This is the norm at many internet companies.

Although the law says you should only work five days a week.

Eight hours a day.

But many companies don't follow this.

They think working more will bring better results.

In this kind of environment.

What Ctrip is doing is very different.

Other companies make you work more.

Ctrip lets you rest more.

After this news came out it sparked a huge discussion.

Some people think it's great.

They say finally a big company is willing to do this.

Giving employees more freedom and trust.

But others think it doesn't mean much.

Because there's no pay when you take leave.

Many ordinary employees need money.

They don't dare take time off.

Even if they can take leave, they won't.

Because they're afraid it will affect their work performance.

Afraid the boss will think they're not hardworking.

This problem is very common in Chinese workplaces.

Even if the company says you can take leave.

Many people don't dare to actually do it.

Some people worry about another problem.

That this policy might become a disguised form of layoffs.

If the company wants you to leave.

They hint that you should take more days off.

Then say your work isn't enough.

Of course this is just speculation.

Ctrip says this is a scientific experiment.

They really want to see the results.

No matter what.

This experiment is an interesting attempt.

Actually it's not just China.

The whole world is discussing the issue of working hours.

Some countries are trying a four-day work week.

Britain did an experiment.

Many companies found that after four-day weeks.

Employees were happier.

Efficiency didn't decrease.

Some companies even saw efficiency increase.

Japan also has companies trying this.

Microsoft Japan tried a four-day work week.

The result was efficiency increased by forty percent.

So shorter working hours don't necessarily mean lower efficiency.

Sometimes it's actually higher.

Because after people rest well.

They do things faster and better.

Ctrip's experiment is trying to answer the same question.

Give employees more freedom.

Will they actually do better?

If the results are good.

Maybe more companies in China will follow.

Maybe one day.

"Nine-nine-six" will really become history.