In China’s technology sector business is booming faster than many start-up firms can hire new staff, forcing workers to burn the midnight oil to meet deadlines.

At its most extreme, some tech company employees even live in the office during the work week. Liu Zhanyu at DouMiYouPin, a recruitment and human resources platform, bunks down in a converted conference room from Monday to Friday to avoid the daily commute of more than an hour to his home in Beijing’s far eastern suburbs. The head of the “large clients” department usually retires to the room shared with one or two others between midnight and 3am. “We have to get up at 8.30am because all our co- workers come to work at 9.30 and we wash in the same bathroom everyone uses,” said Liu. While workers across companies said the potential pay-off of working at a start-up was worth the long hours, they aren’t without a social cost. “My kid misses me, I get home and he lunges at me like a small wolf,” Liu said, speaking about his three-year-old son who he only sees at weekends.

Programmer Xiang Shiyang (28) works until 3 or 4am at least twice a week at Renren Credit Management, which uses big data to help firms manage financial risk. The company provides cots for workers to sleep on during late nights. “Actually working overtime is a very casual thing,” Xiang said. “Because I’ve invested the whole of my being into this company.” - (Reuters)