Great Wall Motor has formally abolished the alternating workweek system, which had been in place for nearly a decade, and is now comprehensively implementing a two-day weekend work schedule covering all employees. This adjustment is clearly reflected in the company's internal work calendar for 2026, where all weekends are marked as two-day breaks.
The implementation of the two-day weekend system marks the fourth iteration of Great Wall Motor's leave policy. It has evolved from the initial "alternating single and double weekends per month" to the "alternating workweek" system, then to "alternating workweek + summer heat break," and has finally transitioned to a full two-day weekend system.
According to the internally circulated 2026 work calendar, all weekends throughout the year are now designated as two-day breaks. Concurrently, the approximately 10-day summer heat break practiced in previous years will be canceled.
Following the announcement, cheers erupted in the cafeteria at Great Wall Motor's Baoding headquarters, with employees sharing short videos on social media set to the song "Good Days" to celebrate the moment. A veteran employee who has been with the company for 30 years emotionally stated, "I've waited 30 years for this day."
An employee with eight years of service admitted that in the context of the automotive industry's intensely competitive environment, the company's proactive move to reduce the burden exceeded expectations. He calculated, "Five days of the summer heat break were deducted from annual leave anyway, so we're only actually losing five days. Trading that for a stable two-day weekend all year is a great deal; I can finally spend proper weekends with my family."
Behind Great Wall Motor's weekend reform lies the deeply ingrained overtime culture within the automotive industry. Data from the American consulting firm AlixPartners shows that employees at domestic new energy vehicle brands typically work 70-100 hours of overtime per month, with some positions even exceeding 150 hours.
In contrast, monthly overtime at foreign-owned automakers' factories in China is only 0-20 hours. This disparity in time investment is directly reflected in R&D speed: Chinese brands have an average R&D cycle of just 1.6 years, while foreign brands require 5.4 years.
The implementation of the two-day weekend system at Great Wall Motor is both an upgrade in employee benefits and the result of multiple strategic considerations. In the first three quarters of 2025, Great Wall Motor's net profit fell by 16.97% year-on-year.
Even under operational pressure, the company is advancing this leave adjustment, demonstrating its determination to move away from extensive competition. The EU's "Anti-Forced Labor Regulation" is set to take effect by the end of 2027, stipulating that no stage of production for goods exported to the EU can involve forced labor, including overtime exceeding 40 hours per week.
This creates a hard constraint for Chinese automakers planning to expand into the European market. Simultaneously, as talent becomes a core resource in the competition surrounding the automotive industry's "new four modernizations," the two-day weekend system will help Great Wall Motor compete for talent against new automakers and attract a new generation of R&D and intelligent connectivity professionals.
Industry observers believe that Great Wall's adjustment to a two-day weekend system signals to the market a commitment to "long-termism" and a "people-oriented" corporate value system.
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