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I read the article about OpenAI employees working 80 hours a week and for that reason, OpenAI decided to give them a one-week rest. To be fair, I can't believe someone working 80 hours a week, that looks almost impossible to me. Working almost 12 hours a day + 1-2 hours of transportation, 30 minute break when you wake up and another 30 minute when you come at home, it feels like they are only living to work, I can't imagine living such a lifestyle, what's the point of life if you spend your whole life working under constant stress and anxiety?
A healthy culture of work is when you work up to 8 hours a day and have no homework when you leave work. This burnout culture, that's becoming popular, will negatively affect every 12 hours worker. This will increase their heart problems, risk of stroke and other health issues.
It is hard to believe 80-hour weeks are "normal" for anyone. Even if some push themselves that hard, it is just not sustainable. This is not just about being tired. As you said, the science is clear: working extreme hours wrecks your health. Burnout leads to more than just stress; you see more heart problems, depression, and people just losing the joy in their lives. Companies are literally burning through people like they are replaceable, but in the end, the business loses too: talent leaves, innovation drops, and even investors start to worry
Some companies even brag about this "hustle culture", but most normal people do not want to live that way. Most of us just want fair pay, reasonable hours, time for family and our own lives, nothing fancy
I personally prefer freedom and flexibility in my work. This means I prefer to adapt to the job. There are many types of work that can be done without having to go to the office. And remote work does indeed provide lower stress levels in this regard. But honestly, that doesn't mean it won't get boring. Because sometimes it can be quite tedious. In fact, if we lack motivation, we can start to lose self-discipline in managing our work time. We can become lazy about the piling up of tasks, ultimately working on them almost at the deadline. And that's the downside of remote work.
A good solution is to allow ourselves to be more flexible with the type of work we take. This way, we can maintain our motivation and perform our work well without feeling bored, or even just a little bored. That's why I chose a job that aligns with my hobbies. I love reading and writing, and initially, finding a job that suited my interests wasn't easy. But hard work never betrays results. If it doesn't work out, try again and again.
However, I also understand that sometimes we have no choice but to enter a career that doesn't even align with our interests. But again, we must maintain flexibility in this regard. I think the effectiveness of remote work and in-office work are the same. It all depends on how the company can maintain employee motivation and prevent boredom.
Totally agree, remote work does cut stress, but it is not a magic cure. The boredom and the "deadline scramble" are so real! That creates struggle to many people. There are times when you miss the dynamism of working with people, or simply the team drive. Even research says that remote workers are happier but also occasionally lack self-discipline or feel lonely. You are right about the real challenge: how to stay motivated and engaged, whether you are at home or in an office. Not everyone can land a job that matches their hobby, but everyone should be able to find some purpose or flexibility in their day-to-day. The most successful companies are those that make us grow, allow us to form our work a bit, and visit us as human beings
The format of remote work is possible only where an intangible product or service is produced. This means that educated people and intellectuals work in such jobs. And they suffer from burnout. But people engaged in heavy physical labor (or not heavy, if the labor is mechanized) do not suffer from any kind of burnout. This is because intellectuals are too pampered. It is necessary to train emotional stability. And by the way, if you consider the high earnings in OpenAI, then developers can easily endure a heavy workload (although now all the main developers have been lured away by Zuckerberg, promising even more earnings).
Burnout is not just about being "pampered". Physical jobs have different stress: more injuries, long-term health problems, sometimes less pay and less social safety. Knowledge jobs may look softer from the outside, but the constant pressure to learn, never switch off, meet tight deadlines, and fight for recognition brings a real mental cost. The WHO even classified "burnout" as a workplace illness. Money does matter, and some people will push through a lot for high pay, like those OpenAI devs. But even with big salaries, there is a breaking point. People are not robots, and we are seeing the best engineers leaving when they hit their limit. If it was just about money, Meta would not have to poach burned-out developers from OpenAI. They would be happy to stay
I think people could be paid according to how productive and beneficial their works are to society regardless of how long they work. The benefits should be good or add to the quality of customers wellbeing, or to the satisfaction it brings to their lives. This could push workers to focus more on things they are gifted in and spend more time with them, not necessarily at their offices/companies, but places like homes.
Your work needs to becomes part of you, assuming it's your role in life, as that is main reason you exist in the first place. If it's something you are gifted or talented in, you would be enjoying it alot with the accompanying health benefits, and you wouldn't want to spend less time on it.
Rewards or money ought to be secondary othwise it becomes the main reason for working and less about passion. Passion could make people work harder, better and longer.
Really thoughtful response. Value should be the point of work, not time spent. I bet that we would see a massive increase in creativity and motivation, were more businesses to actually reward people based on the actual value they are adding (to customers, to society, even to their own team). Passion transforms everything. When you are doing something that suits your talent, work does not seem like a grind but a life project. The health and energy boost are real and I wish more companies would realize that, rather than trying to fit everyone into the same mold
But not everyone can turn their passion into a job, and "find your calling" advice gets used as an excuse for underpaying people who do hard, necessary work. Like, there are folks cleaning streets, working in hospitals, delivering food, jobs that are not always glamorous or anyone's dream, but keep society running. They deserve fair pay and respect, too, even if it is not their life's passion