> In an internal memo to employees who work on Gemini, Google cofounder Sergey Brin recommended being in the office at least every weekday and said 60 hours is the “sweet spot” for productivity, according to the New York Times.

Dated August 2025

Remember when Google used to be considered one of the cushier places to work?

Not a fan of how big tech has become the parable of the frog in slowly boiling water.

So a guy that married 2 times and divorced 2 times, has 3 children, recommends that the sweet spot for productivity is 60 hours per week, which would mean about 12h/day if you work 5 days or 10h/day if you work 6 days. This means, if you start your work at 8, you finish either at 20:00 or 18:00 + 30-60min lunch break. With such a packed day I can only imagine what a stellar childhood will his kids get assuming he wants to be involved in rising them...

60 hours, hmm. Does he pay overtime? Does he increase stock options, ideally grants? Is the project horribly behind time or features? Or, is he just an asshole who feels he can replace workers as needed?

Obviously ageist, probably anti-partner. Does this include commute time, or is this gratis?

I work to live and not to make a billionaire even richer off my back. The rank and file who are clued in don't spew this dross but those with most to gain do. You can always tell those with skin in the game.

Okay, so if Google wins AGI first, who is to say that AGI isn’t so disruptive, the government just nationalizes Google?

Our heros fought and died for 8-hour working days and when we stop fighting, we go back to 12-hour working days! That is why you need to search for theinternationalism.org

How many hours per week was he working when having an affair with the Google Glass marketing manager? [1]

[1] https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2014/04/sergey-brin-amanda-...

Didn't he retire not so long ago?

On topic https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48267221

What an arsehole.

Multi-billionaire says to work harder to make him richer faster. The sooner this attitude is recognised as a sickness the better.

Where actually went all the productivity gains of the last decades? Isn't that supposed to decrease the amount of labor we humans have to do eventually?

Most frequent answer to this is: "But look we have all the high tech everyone of us can afford easily". But that cannot be the answer, because even if I choose to live like a luddite hermit while working 40h a week, I'm still not becoming super rich or can afford a house, which people my age could do 50 years ago.

So the productivity gains went elsewhere. The question is, into whose pocket? I guess into the pockets of those people who demand we should work even more than 40h a week.

I mean but AI is replacing humans, so they should be able to work less hours.

And he is absolutely right!

If, like Brin, you're the boss and you can delegate all the unpleasant parts of work to your minions then why not work 60 hours only in the pleasant parts (including having sex with a marketing manager) and, still, cash billions?