This week, leaked documents revealed Google co-founder Sergey Brin describing a 60-hour work week as the ‘sweet spot’ for employee productivity.
In the memo, he criticised any employees working fewer hours, suggesting less than this is the ‘bare minimum’.
His comments have sparked a strong reaction online. ‘I’m not working 12 hours a day because some tw*t thinks money matters more than having a life,’ tweeted @Farore13, while @milolzx wrote: ‘The race to advance AI isn’t worth completely burning out your workers. We are humans and we deserve rest and a life outside of work.’
Another, @LukewSavage, added: ‘100 years ago, it was widely hoped technology would liberate us from work and that the future would be a leisure society. In reality, it’s our tech overlords who most want us to be worked to the bone.’
He’s not the only ‘tech bro’ to share similar sentiments either, with Infosys founder (and Rishi Sunak’s father-in-law) Narayama Murthy recently declaring 70-hour weeks are ‘necessary’ for the economy and two-day weekends are unproductive.
From the round-the-clock coding sessions portrayed in The Social Network to Elon Musk publicly firing X staff who didn’t pledge to ‘extremely hardcore’ output, the idea that putting in hours is the only path to success is common in the industry.
And even outside of Silicon Valley, it seems like every week a different business owner is glorifying ‘rise and grind’ hustle culture.
But not only is this viewpoint wildly out of touch with most people’s realities, it’s also incorrect.
‘All the research shows that the average person has about 40 hours of productivity (the ability to concentrate on one thing, with a significant outcome) a week,’ Harriet Minter, work expert and partner at Lea_p Leadership Development, tells Metro.
‘After that, we might still be able to concentrate but the quality of our output goes down and the rate at which we work becomes slower – so essentially, we’re doing more work but getting less done.’
Plus, according to Frank Weishaupt, CEO at Owl Labs, a hybrid work tech company, rigid working requirements such as these can lead to ‘disengagement and higher turnover rates, as employees struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance’ in the long-term.
He adds: ‘Businesses, in turn, may face decreased productivity, lower morale and, most importantly, difficulties in attracting and retaining top talent.’
The same 24 hours in a day?
Another important point is that as the seventh richest person in the world, Brin’s day-to-day life looks nothing like the average person’s.
On X, @zwonakanetsh, writes: ‘Having worked for someone senior enough – these people don’t run their own lives. They don’t cook. They don’t clean. Don’t do groceries. Don’t do the garden. Don’t pick up kids. Don’t fetch their own medicine or dry cleaning or correspondence.’
While Mollie Mae may argue we all have the same 24 hours in a day, we really don’t. The further up the ladder you go, the easier it is to delegate your life admin, effectively allowing you to to create time; a privilege not everybody has.
Alongside wealth, factors like gender play a part too, as Erin Mansell, head of communications and public affairs at the Women’s Budget Group explains.
‘The idea of a 60-hour week isn’t just outdated; it’s absurd,’ she tells Metro. ‘This is especially true for those balancing paid work with caring responsibilities, the majority of whom are women.
‘Our research with the Women’s Environmental Network shows that shorter working hours reduce gender gaps in pay and unpaid work, lower carbon emissions, and enhance productivity.
‘If we’re serious about tackling the intersecting crises of gender and other structural inequalities and climate change, we need to be working less – not more.’
Clocking out
Still, we’re constantly being told ‘nobody wants to work anymore’, despite the majority of Brits racking up more than 50 hours each week – all in a climate of wage stagnation and rising living costs that leave us with less to show for it.
And it seems we may be reaching a tipping point, with trends like ‘quiet quitting’ and ‘workcations’ forming part of the wider pushback against overwork.
Owl Labs’ data shows nearly 1 in 5 workers (19%) are instilling greater boundaries by not taking on work outside of their specific job descriptions, while a further 20% won’t answer work messages outside of work hours.
The Australian government also became the latest country to introduce laws giving workers the ‘right to disconnect’, and more and more companies are trialling four-day weeks (a change 92% then make permanent).
Far from the economic collapse some bosses are predicting though, this shift – if bosses embrace it – could actually lead to better output and a happier, healthier workforce.
‘When managers honour flexibility, they often see a productivity boost as employees feel more engaged with their work, invested in the company’s success, and therefore motivated to deliver better results,’ says Frank.
‘More hours don’t always mean more productivity – it’s about how effectively they’re used.’
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