"Competition Intensifies... Google Founder’s Memo to Employees: 'Come to Work on Weekdays'"

Brin Sends Message to Employees
"Optimal Productivity Achieved at 60 Hours per Week"

Google's co-founder encouraged employees to come to the office at least five days a week.

The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 28th (local time) that Sergey Brin (51), co-founder of Google, sent a memo to employees on the afternoon of the 26th recommending "coming to the office on weekdays at a minimum."

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Google has adopted a hybrid work system combining office attendance and remote work. Accordingly, employees come to the office three days a week and work from home for two days.

Brin said, "If employees work harder, we can lead the industry in the field of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), where AI becomes as smart as or smarter than humans," adding, "The competition is extremely fierce, and the final race toward AGI has begun."

He continued, "We have all the elements to win this race, so now we must maximize our efforts." The optimal productivity point he emphasized to the employees developing Google's AI model Gemini is 60 hours per week.

Even four years after the COVID-19 pandemic, the proportion of remote work remains relatively high in the United States. This is the opposite phenomenon compared to Europe and Asia, where most are returning to pre-pandemic levels.

Reasons for this phenomenon include differences in public transportation systems and residential infrastructure. Public transportation in Asia and Europe is more reliable than in the U.S., resulting in shorter commute times. Also, American workers tend to live in spacious suburban homes, making it relatively easier to create a remote work environment compared to Asian workers living in smaller apartments.

However, recently many companies have been encouraging employees to work five days a week to improve productivity.

The world's largest e-commerce company, Amazon, abolished the three-day workweek last year. Dell Technologies also adopted a five-day workweek in the same year. AT&T, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs have also withdrawn their hybrid work policies.

Brin's remarks appear to be in this context. However, Brin added, "Working more than 60 hours a week can lead to burnout (physical and mental fatigue)."

He said, "Many people work less than 60 hours, and some put in just enough effort to get by," adding, "Such organizations are not only unproductive but can also lower the morale of everyone else," seemingly targeting employees who do not work diligently.

Brin, who co-founded Google with Larry Page in 1998, stepped down from day-to-day management in December 2019. However, he returned to the company in November 2022 at the request of CEO Sundar Pichai.