Hacker News with Generative AI: Work-Life Balance

Sixty Hours a week? How about 4 uninterrupted hours a day? (cdibona.substack.com)
Again, a silly news story leads to me yammering about some of my time in the Silicon Valley. If you want to get to the meat of my response to Sergey’s memo exhorting employees to work 60 hours a week to usher in the next great age of AGI, scroll down a page or two….
Work-Life Balance, Productivity, Silicon Valley, Artificial Intelligence
16 points by mji 9 hours ago | 0 comments
Sergey Brin says 60 hours a week is the 'sweet spot' (fortune.com)
Work-Life Balance, Productivity, Entrepreneurship
37 points by hakaneskici 5 days ago | 61 comments
Boss Wants You Back in the Office. This Surveillance Tech Could Be Waiting (wired.com)
A new wave of return-to-office mandates has arrived since the New Year, including at JP Morgan Chase, leading advertising agency WPP, and Amazon—not to mention President Trump’s late January directive to the heads of federal agencies to “terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person … on a full-time basis.”
Work-Life Balance, Technology, Surveillance, Remote Work
16 points by viewtransform 6 days ago | 2 comments
I'm starting to suspect my work is incompatible with a full-time academic job (humprog.org)
It's time to admit that I'm in a mess too.
Academia, Work-Life Balance, Personal Experience
74 points by luu 6 days ago | 87 comments
Google's Sergey Brin Asks Workers to Spend More Time in the Office (nytimes.com)
Google, Corporate Culture, Work-Life Balance, Technology
59 points by tgma 7 days ago | 28 comments
"At Our Companies, Employees Just Disappear" (slate.com)
Few people are as knee-deep in our work-related anxieties and sticky office politics as Alison Green, who has been fielding workplace questions for a decade now on her website Ask a Manager. In Direct Report, she spotlights themes from her inbox that help explain the modern workplace and how we could be navigating it better.
Workplace Culture, Management, Human Resources, Work-Life Balance
24 points by tekdude 10 days ago | 4 comments
Ask HN: Tired of startups – want a normal job. Help (ycombinator.com)
All but the first few years out of school I spent the better part of my 20's working in startups.
Career Advice, Startups, Work-Life Balance
99 points by mertleee 14 days ago | 96 comments
We're moving to a four-day week to attract staff (bbc.com)
A business based in Lincoln is among the latest to offer a four-day working week because it hopes to attract the most talented staff in a competitive industry.
Work-Life Balance, Staffing, Business, UK, Employment
12 points by rustoo 14 days ago | 1 comments
Work-Life Balance as a Manager (yusufaytas.com)
As an IC, you close your laptop at 6 PM, log off, and forget about the work unless you are oncall.  As a manager, you check Slack at 10 PM because someone might need you. Your calendar looks like there’s no time to do anything and you haven’t had an actual deep focus hour in weeks. Sounds familiar? Welcome to management, where your time is no longer yours. Or is it?
Management, Work-Life Balance, Time Management
10 points by jatwork 15 days ago | 0 comments
JPMorgan employee questioned Dimon's RTO mandate, fired, then told he could stay (fortune.com)
JPMorgan Chase, Remote Work, Employment, Work-Life Balance, Business
64 points by libpcap 19 days ago | 66 comments
Quiet Quitting: Why Employees Are Demanding Fairness and Boundaries (forbes.com)
The response to my recent article on why soft quitting at work could be more dangerous than quiet quitting has been overwhelming. Readers passionately shared their thoughts, frustrations, and personal experiences, sparking a crucial conversation about what quiet quitting really means for employees and organizations. Many agreed that the term misrepresents what is often a rational response to systemic issues in the workplace.
Workplace Culture, Employment, Burnout, Fairness, Work-Life Balance
78 points by rustoo 39 days ago | 101 comments
How to know when it's time to go (bitfieldconsulting.com)
I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. When you hate your job, no matter how much you try to put up with it, there comes a point where you’re mad as hell and you’re just not going to take it anymore. So, maybe this is the right moment to reflect: is it time to go?
Career Advice, Job Satisfaction, Work-Life Balance
7 points by varun_chopra 45 days ago | 1 comments
Ask HN: How do you sleep on time? (ycombinator.com)
Hello fellow HN guys, My work mostly ends around 9 to 10:00 PM. I have this hangover of spending a few hours after dinner so it ends up me being able to sleep around 12:00PM-1:00 AM which is very late. What can I do to get to sleep early?
Sleep, Time Management, Productivity, Work-Life Balance, Health
18 points by rookie123 52 days ago | 29 comments
What it's like working for American companies as an Australian (seangoedecke.com)
For the last ten years I’ve worked for American tech companies as an Australian based in Australia.
Australia, Remote Work, Culture, Work-Life Balance, Tech
138 points by gfysfm 54 days ago | 173 comments
Ask HN: I'm a dev who never wants to be on call again. What are my best options? (ycombinator.com)
Ask HN: I'm a dev who never wants to be on call again. What are my best options?
Software Development, Career Advice, Work-Life Balance
9 points by waylandsmithers 54 days ago | 10 comments
Four-day week at a south London school (theguardian.com)
At a small independent school on the fringes of a National Trust park in Morden, south London, a quiet revolution is under way.
Education, Work-Life Balance, UK, Experimentation
29 points by robtherobber 58 days ago | 22 comments
Beyond the hype: what workers think about workplace AI assistants (theconversation.com)
Imagine starting your workday with an AI assistant that not only helps you write emails but also tracks your productivity, suggests breathing exercises, monitors your mood and stress levels and summarises meetings.
Artificial Intelligence, Workplace, Productivity, Work-Life Balance
6 points by billybuckwheat 58 days ago | 0 comments
'It didn't come as a surprise': UK workers on being forced back into the office (theguardian.com)
Christina says it is a “logistical nightmare” working out the school and nursery runs after being ordered to return to the office for three days a week from January. “It didn’t come as a surprise but it was devastating,” she says.
Work-Life Balance, Remote Work, UK News
9 points by ljf 63 days ago | 0 comments
German Amazon Workers Can Apply to WFH Despite Company's Global RTO Mandate (msn.com)
Remote Work, Work-Life Balance, Amazon, Germany
6 points by this_weekend 65 days ago | 0 comments
"Oh shit, my career " shouted one of the interns (seatsafetyswitch.com)
“Oh shit, my career!” shouted one of the interns in the bullpen when it becomes obvious immediately what had happened. Yes, Justin. You had now learned a new and uncomfortable truth about working for the Man, and your working life will never be the same again. And it all started because he didn’t follow the mandatory security training that every employee needs to click through while half-paying attention.
Cybersecurity, Workplace Culture, Work-Life Balance, Employee Training
26 points by pavel_lishin 65 days ago | 1 comments
Journey from Entrepreneur to Employee (akshay.co)
Around 3 years back, after spending seven years as an entrepreneur—I found myself at crossroads. Having built startups, one of which was acquired, I decided to step away from the rollercoaster of entrepreneurship to explore what being an employee is like. This transition wasn’t just about changing roles; it was about navigating a shift in mindset, skillset, and priorities.
Entrepreneurship, Career Change, Work-Life Balance
29 points by vortex_ape 67 days ago | 12 comments
The oversavers: Older Americans who wish they'd worked less, vacationed more (businessinsider.com)
Some Americans "oversave" for retirement and end up sacrificing during their working years.
Retirement Planning, Personal Finance, Work-Life Balance, Generational Trends
11 points by MilnerRoute 68 days ago | 2 comments
Out-of-office emails are getting a refresh – employees set work-life boundaries (cbc.ca)
Rather than a copy-and-paste message, employees have given the humble out-of-office reply a revamp.
Work-Life Balance, Email, Workplace Culture
8 points by Bluestein 75 days ago | 0 comments
Remote Work Is Increasingly a Right of the Rich (nytimes.com)
When it comes to remote work, the C-suite wants workers to do as they say, not as they do.
Remote Work, Inequality, Work-Life Balance, Corporate Culture
5 points by mooreds 76 days ago | 0 comments
Ask HN: How do I keep up with work? (ycombinator.com)
Work-Life Balance, Productivity, Time Management
13 points by JohnBrookz 78 days ago | 18 comments
Ask HN: How do you find part time work? (ycombinator.com)
I have a project that I'm working on turning into a small business. I've done some part-time work (retainers and project-based) over the past year and it's gone well. It's relatively high pay for part-time work, leaving me time and flexibility to work on my own project.
Freelancing, Startups, Work-Life Balance, Remote Work, Side Hustles
315 points by leros 81 days ago | 146 comments
Jason from Basecamp doesn't have an assistant (world.hey.com)
No I don't have an assistant.No I don't have anyone (or AI) reading or answering my emails or posts on my behalf.Yes, my email address is very public.Yes I get as many emails as you do, probably more.Yes I have time to get back to people who write me. Not instantly, but eventually within reason.
Productivity, Email, Personal Life, Work-Life Balance
4 points by Liriel 85 days ago | 0 comments
The slow death of the hands-on engineering manager (zaidesanton.substack.com)
95% of engineering managers wish to write more code, but feel they just can’t. Today I’m going to share 2 ideas you can implement with only a few hours a week, that will be a huge help for your dev team.
Software Engineering, Management, Productivity, Work-Life Balance
100 points by Liriel 87 days ago | 63 comments
Tokyo is set to introduce a four-day workweek for government employees (cnn.com)
Work-Life Balance, Japan, Government, Labor Policy
704 points by amichail 90 days ago | 349 comments
Ask HN: What companies have a good work life balance? (ycombinator.com)
I'm going to start taking some time off in the beginning of the year but am curious what tech companies have a good work life balance in the peninsula? I understand there will be a hit on total comp but I have a young kid now and that has totally changed my perspective on how I spend my time.
Work-Life Balance, Technology, Employment, Compensation
39 points by smaug7 91 days ago | 31 comments