In the age of China’s upcoming economic dominance to the world, a quiet revolution is quietly brewing in the backgrounds. The movement called “lying flat” (躺平) has come forward as the counter to the toxic “996” workplace culture—a culture that demands working from 9 to 9, six days a week. It is an exhausting rat race for promotions, for moving up the ladder, having what appears to be better performance than your peers, all while under unbearable pressure. This pressure constructs the workplace culture in China, and often in Asia. This is when the “Gen Zs” of China decided that they would not take it anymore. Some started the movement themselves by quitting jobs, basically by doing nothing, fighting back against the rat race, and having a collective act of defiance toward corporates and their unreachable expectations.

​

To a traditional economist, seeing younger generations give up could look like the whole country is giving up. Some would even call it a massacre of productivity. Others might point to the law of diminishing returns, which could actually help a country’s economy by minimizing costs and maximizing benefits. This raises the question: what is the optimal point in this equation?

​

The ideology of “just keep working, the same thing, over and over,” comes from Frederick Winslow Taylor, the inventor of Taylorism in the early 20th century. Taylor leveraged scientific management to provide better tools and training, breaking down tasks into small chunks, not wasting a second, streamlining, and eventually inventing mass production. Today, ‘996’ culture spreads into the Chinese workplace like never before. Staying until the manager leaves is not optional, but a rule to make sure employees deserve their salary by the end of the month. Taylor’s machine style says that more inputs mean more outputs. But how efficient would it be at the 7th, 8th, or maybe the 9th hour? Taylor’s machines assume a linear return in output. If one person makes 5 cakes an hour, working 8 hours, that could be 40 cakes. But, the simple economics rule of diminishing marginal returns says the productivity of labor is not linear. The slope is concave. As you add more work, productivity drops off, and cognitive labor gets hit even harder. On the 10th hour, burnout can hit, reckless mistakes happen, or you just rush to finish and forget all attention to detail.

​

Microsoft Japan saw the same pattern. More hours didn’t mean more output. Japanese companies are already tough on their employees, especially with a culture of presenteeism—sitting at your desk after hours just to show you care about your job. To challenge this, Microsoft Japan launched “Work-Life Choice Summer 2019,” where all 2300 employees got a four-day workweek, every Friday off, with full pay. The results surprised everyone. Productivity jumped by 40%. Less really was more.

​

Taking a rest actually helps in the long run. Overworking leads straight to burnout. “Lying flat” in China is the response from those exploited, showing a warning sign to corporates to set better boundaries and fix the workplace culture. In a controversial sense, companies should force employees to take breaks to boost efficiency and maximize overall productivity. The focus should move from counting hours worked to looking at the quality of the work. Refusing to let employees work when they want might feel counterintuitive, making an irrational case for human capital management, but this can block meaningless grinds and rigid discipline. In a world where machines and AI can handle all the basic jobs, sometimes procrastination or doing nothing leads to innovation and progress.

 

So what is the optimal point for working efficiently and maximizing productivity? There is no true answer. Optimal work hours should not be defined by count or length, but by quality of output and keeping things sustainable. Imagine you are a Le Mans race car, not a sprinter for one lap and not stuck running at full throttle for 24 hours straight. Pit stops, refueling, tire changes—these things are necessary. If you skip pit stop after pit stop, your brakes fail, you crash. Maintenance isn’t optional, it’s crucial for finishing the race and winning. Sometimes, the best thing you can do is nothing at all. This is not an excuse for doomscrolling or feeling discouraged. This is a call to consciously disengage, reset those diminishing returns, and be ready to refuel and jump back on track, stronger than before.