Google co-founder says 60-hour working week is "sweet spot"

• Sergey Brin has reaffirmed his belief that employees should work 60 hours a week
• Google co-founder is also an advocate of return-to-office policies
• But Infosys CEO Narayana Murthy wants a further 10 hours/week

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has reaffirmed his belief workers should consider giving up to 60 hours a week to their job.

An internal memo seen by The New York Times has Brin yet again urging workers to devote 60 hours each week to work in order for Google specifically to keep up with the likes of Microsoft and OpenAI in the AI race.

Brin is also an evident advocate of in-office working for its perceived productivity benefits, adding that workers might want to consider paying a visit to the office at least every weekday to get things done.

Longer hours

“60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity,” Brin declared as he discussed how underperforming workers can be “demoralizing” to others: “A number of folks work less than 60 hours and a small number put in the bare minimum to get by.”

Not forgetting that worker burnout is still a thing, particularly among developers, Brin also called for increased use of artificial intelligence tools.

Sure, the likes of Google are working to develop better AI models, but that shouldn’t stop workers from exploiting current technologies to make them the “most efficient coders and AI scientists in the world,” he said.

Brin isn’t the only business leader in favor of extreme working hours – Infosys CEO Narayana Murthy has urged Indian workers to devote a staggering 70 hours per week to life the country’s poorest out of poverty once and for all.

Big Tech has also been turning back to office working, upping their return-to-office policies from three days per week to five – Amazon and Dell are two such companies, which have both been met with widespread worker dissatisfaction.

As we continue our long-term return to ‘normal’ in a post-pandemic world, the definition of ‘normal’ continues to shift as the divide between worker and employer desires becomes more evident.

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