Hacker News with Generative AI: Work-Life Balance

Show HN: Look Busy – Realistic-Looking Fake Calendar Events (lookbusy.app)
Look Busy fills your work calendar with realistic-looking (but secretly fake) work events. Your co-workers won’t schedule conference calls and meetings, so you can get actual work done and reclaim your productive time.
Productivity, Time Management, Work-Life Balance, Software
7 points by yieldalarm 5 days ago | 3 comments
To Escape the Grind, Young People Turn to 'Mini-Retirements' (nytimes.com)
Some young people are spending their savings on an extended break earlier in their careers rather than waiting until retirement.
Retirement, Work-Life Balance, Personal Finance, Generational Trends
11 points by paulpauper 14 days ago | 2 comments
Tech CEO: 4-day work week didn't hurt or help productivity (theregister.com)
Interview Civo shifted its workforce to a four-day working week and while it hasn't changed productivity much at the cloud biz, it has helped attract "new talent" and retain existing staff, CEO Mark Boost says.
Work-Life Balance, Productivity, Business, Technology, Hiring
26 points by rntn 16 days ago | 12 comments
Jevons Paradox: A Personal Perspective (fakepixels.substack.com)
“I'm dying. Of overwork.”
Jevons Paradox, Economics, Work-Life Balance, Substack
17 points by kiyanwang 29 days ago | 8 comments
How I Choose What to Work On (2023) (tynan.com)
A reader, “Moo”, asked me to write about my process for entrepreneurship and how I choose what to write on. Despite being a lifelong entrepreneur and being relatively successful at it, I don’t write a lot about it because I routinely make decisions that trade money for other things (freedom, autonomy, quality of life, stubborn insistence on what I want a product to be, etc).
Entrepreneurship, Productivity, Decision Making, Work-Life Balance
114 points by freemh 32 days ago | 31 comments
Ask HN: Any jobs that don't force you to always be advancing career wise? (ycombinator.com)
I’m a software developer (web, fullstack) that’s been in the industry for about 10 years now and I’ve gotten to a point where I don’t care about advancing my career.
Software Development, Career Advice, Work-Life Balance
108 points by throwaway929997 43 days ago | 145 comments
Ask HN: How to find intellectually challenging work? (ycombinator.com)
After working (mostly) as a backend developer since 2013, I was recently burned (or bored?) out a bit, quit my job and went on a sabbatical for half a year. Now I need to start looking for a new job. However, I'm not sure how to find something that feels more meaningful and intellectually stimulating to me.
Career Advice, Software Development, Work-Life Balance
14 points by Tainnor 46 days ago | 31 comments
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
19 points by mji 50 days 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 55 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 56 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
75 points by luu 57 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 57 days ago | 29 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 61 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 64 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 65 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 65 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 69 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 89 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 95 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 102 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 104 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 104 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 108 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 108 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 113 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 115 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 115 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 117 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 118 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 125 days ago | 0 comments