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Are 12-16 Hour Workdays Productive?

Posted by samzenpus on from the I-wouldn't-say-I've-been-missing-it-bob dept.

theodp writes " It's important to me,' former Opsware CEO Ben Horowitz recalls saying as he threatened a manager for termination because one of his subordinates failed to conduct 1:1 meetings, 'that the people who spend 12 to 16 hours/day here, which is most of their waking life, have a good life. It's why I come to work.' Ben seems to be cut from the same management cloth as new Yahoo CEO Marissa 'I-Don't-Really-Believe-In-Burnout' Mayer, who boasted how she solved the work-life balance problems of mother-of-three 'Katie,' who was required to attend nightly 1 a.m. video conference calls with her Google Finance team in Bangalore, by no longer making Katie also stay for late meetings on her Google day shift on those occasions where it'd make her miss her kids' soccer games and recitals." Jason Fried, C.E.O. of 37signals, wrote a piece for The New York Times recently singing the praises of working a 4-day week part of the year.

8 of 615 comments (clear)

  1. People that require this are scum by fredrated · · Score: 4, Informative

    and they should be treated like the sociopaths that they are.

  2. just stating the obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Missing "work?" No, I've been missing a lot of meetings.

    (For managerial, talking is working. For technical staff, meetings are precisely the opposite of work.)

    1. Re:just stating the obvious by xclr8r · · Score: 4, Informative

      Meta moderation - you'll get there one day if you're a good little "dotter" and keep your karma up =) .

      --
      Beware of those who profit off the docile and persecute the unbelievers.
    2. Re:just stating the obvious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Nothing wrong with frequent meetings, what's wrong is frequent meetings full of pointless waffle.

      10 mins tops, come prepared, raise issues, update people, assign stuff and outta there. No mucking about with 2 people discussing things that they should already have sorted and are irrelevant to the other 5 people at the table.

      I had a boss who had us in weekly 2 hour meetings at which he refused to ever decide anything. I started sending a junior in my place.

    3. Re:just stating the obvious by LongearedBat · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not if it's an hour a week. That can be a real time saver when colleagues of different areas come up with solutions for each others problems, when ordinarily they wouldn't think of asking each other.

  3. Re:If you have to ask... by 1s44c · · Score: 5, Informative

    (mock rage mode on) Why is it that the punks in the Non-USA countries always get to work the "normal" hours and those in the USA have to be the ones getting up in the middle of the night to call the "foreigners" during their day? huh? HUH?

    Strange, I noticed the exact opposite.

    I've seen people working in the US calling at all hours like they don't actually understand there is a time difference.

  4. Re:If you have to ask... by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Informative

    Why do you need to feel sorry to the people who Live to Work. They have a life, they are doing what they are interested in... It just happened to be work.

    Do any of us really care for everything that suppose to be important.

    I mean how much time do we really do about the following and yes I am missing a lot.
    Controlling Carbon Pollution.
    Saving endangered animals
    Stopping War and Violence
    Helping give the next generation education and good values
    Insuring everyone is being treated fairly and justly. ...

    To be fair most of us who work to live are focused on Banging their preferred gender, and spending time with their genetic offspring, and others with either genetic or personal similarities.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  5. Re:What Longer WOrk Days Get You. by Kreigaffe · · Score: 4, Informative

    Normal people have to pay bills, go grocery shopping, cook food, raise any kids they may have.
    300 million, you pay people to do all that shit for you. It frees up a lot of time.

    --
    ... still waiting for this free-as-in-beer free beer I keep hearing about. :|