xAI employee works 36 hours without sleep, higher-ups mock work-life balance while Elon chimes in laughing
The whole idea of work-life balance in the corporate world is far more polarizing than it needs to be. There have been a plethora of research studies as well as surveys which indicate that employees unsurprisingly desire a decent work-life balance, which in turn boosts their health and morale.
Work-life balance is alien to many
However, there is no shortage of billionaire CEOs who refuse to accept that their employees may have a life outside the office. Elon Musk, for instance, famously laid off Twitter (now X) employees who refused to work 60 hours a week. Elon himself has claimed to pull off 80-hour weeks regularly, which is over 11 hours a day, every day. During a certain phase, Elon reportedly worked 120 hours a week, which is undoubtedly astonishing if true.
Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that extreme work hours are not a rare sight in xAI, also owned by Musk. Recently, Parsa Tajik, an xAI employee, posted on X revealing that they pulled off a 36-hour work session, claiming to have nearly "died" while also being "super-energized". It is hard to fathom how a human being can function in an intellectually challenging environment without getting some shut-eye for 36 hours, but that is exactly what Parsa claims.
Ayush Jaiswal, former head of growth at ScaleAI responded, claiming that work-life balance is a great concept - which they recommend to their competitors. Elon had no intention of sitting on the sidelines either, chiming in with a single laughing emoji.
Considering the shocking amount of competition driving Silicon Valley as of late, there is no denying that progress is being made through back-breaking work hours. The whole idea of striking a work-life balance in highly competitive tech sectors will most likely remain a controversial topic for the foreseeable future.
Source(s)
X, spotted by TechSpot
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