Google’s Sergey Brin urges workers to the office ‘at least’ every weekday

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨spit_evil_olive_tips@beehaw.org⁩ to ⁨technology@beehaw.org⁩

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/technology/google-sergey-brin-return-to-office.html

“I recommend being in the office at least every weekday,” he wrote in a memo posted internally on Wednesday evening that was viewed by The New York Times. He added that “60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity” in the message to employees who work on Gemini, Google’s lineup of A.I. models and apps.

…

“A number of folks work less than 60 hours and a small number put in the bare minimum to get by,” he wrote. “This last group is not only unproductive but also can be highly demoralizing to everyone else.”

Sergey Brin, who is worth $145 billion, thinks workers should come to the office on weekends, and work 60 hours a week as a “sweet spot”.

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dormedas@lemmy.dormedas.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
The science actually says that 60 hours a week, when maintained, is less productive than 40. You can gain productivity in the short term by mandating overtime, but the limit is around two weeks. You also pay for it in lost productivity the following weeks anyway, so it’s more a shifting of productivity.

If he actually cared about productivity (which is related to service/development and eventually profit), he wouldn’t be saying this falsehood.

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- Midnitte@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Research is also highly suggesting that 32 hours is even more productive (and healthier).
  
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- scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  I’m always surprised at myself how much more productive I am during 4 day weeks. If I have a 3 day weekend and I only had to work 4 days I get so much more stuff done than even if I had the full 5 days.
  
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  - EndRedStateSubsidies@leminal.space ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    I work 4x10 wfh and I’m more productive than the people that go into the office despite spending no less than half the day playing videogames.
    
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- Eyekaytee@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  
  60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity
  
  Where did he get this number from? (please don’t say something like his butt, genuinely curious here)
  
  Is it because Googlers are supposed to be high performers who are highly motivated and well paid therefore can do the 60 hours without dipping in productivity?
  
  How do they measure productivity at Google? surely it wouldn’t be lines of code written?
  
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scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Oh my god I had to re-read that. Fuuuuuck that. Seriously fuck that. All those FAANG companies are like that now. Laying off hundreds/thousands and now are trying to squeeze their employees. Nope, I do 40 hours a week and I’m content with it.

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- adespoton@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  My workplace is OK with people working 24 or 32 hours a week as well; they pay them less for the 24 hours, but for 32, if the same amount of work is being done, they’re fine with less time on the job.
  
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  - Megaman_EXE@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    Is this office work? Please adopt me
    
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jjjalljs@ttrpg.network ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Pray to Saint Luigi for guidance.

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Megaman_EXE@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
You would have to be super human to work 60 hours a week and actually be productive.

Like maybe if your work was actually legitimately your hobby. Something that you absolutely loved and were addicted to doing. But even then, I can’t even do my hobbies 60 hours a week. That’s legitimately insane.

The only thing I can think of that I could do for 60 hours a week is sleep. But I haven’t been able to do that for years now because of work-life imbalance

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JokeDeity@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Sounds like a great candidate for the Luigi method to me.

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- anachronist@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Too many villains in our society, not enough heros.
  
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state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Please, Saint Luigi, help us to get rid of all billionaires. They truly are a cancer on society.

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t3rmit3@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Give me a salary that guarantees $1 million a year post-tax, and I’ll do it for a couple of years until I’ve saved up for a seaside llama farm I can fuck off to. But even at Google, almost no one is making that as an “IC”.

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- spit_evil_olive_tips@beehaw.org ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  
  a salary that guarantees $1 million a year post-tax
  
  to keep the mind-boggling numbers in perspective:
  
  you’re paid $1 million/year post-tax, like you said.
  
  and say you have no expenses to speak of - you take all your meals in the Google cafeteria, take the Google shuttle to work, and live with your parents or in some other form of housing that doesn’t cost you anything. this means you can put that entire $1 million/year into a savings account.
  
  even in that contrived scenario, you would need to work 1000 years to accumulate one billion dollars.
  
  at which point, you would have 1/145th of Sergey Brin’s current wealth. if you wanted to match it, you would need to work 145,000 years.
  
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  - t3rmit3@beehaw.org ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Yeah, for sure, but I don’t want to be Brin, I want a llama farm. 🦙
    
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Railcar8095@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
60 hours means work full time weekend, and still make 4 extra hours.

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Midnitte@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Anyone helping this asshat make money should really rethink it.

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Eryn6844@beehaw.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
NO! dont do it peeps don’t let them make you go back. find another fucking job or better create one together where you do not have to put up with bull shit like this ever again! FUCK THEM

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KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
He wants you at the office so he can get trim

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FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Fuck disabled people, I guess.

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wesker@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Sergey has basically stated he wants slaves, not employees.

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- throwback3090@lemmy.nz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  He’s rich and hires youth to rob them of their youth. None of them will ever unionize either, they think they are the lucky ones.
  
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crmsnbleyd@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
How much more money does this guy want?

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- Railcar8095@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Image
  
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- Naich@lemmings.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Too much is never enough.
  
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Naich@lemmings.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Naich urges workers to tell him to fuck off.

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