It’s not the clock you’re racing against—it’s the impact you’re making that counts.
Recently, some top tech leaders made headlines by urging their teams to work longer hours—one even famously declared that youth should focus on work and not work-life balance. There were calls to work weekends, skip Sunday family time, and even put in a jaw-dropping 70, 80, or 90 hours a week. Naturally, the internet exploded with debates about work hours. Should it be a 4-day week, a 5-day week, or a 6-day grind?
But amidst all this noise, one critical question is missing: what is the purpose of the role, and what needs to be achieved?
As an Artificial Intelligence leader, my philosophy is simple: hire the smartest people, provide them with the tools and the AI capabilities they need, guide them, then step aside.
My role is to clear their path, not block it. If we’ve done this right, we can discuss timelines with the team and agree on realistic yet aggressive goals that align with the business needs. Of course, with Code Generators and LLMs in extensive use today, the time it takes to deliver something has reduced, and the quality is increasing – so lets empower them to use more automation, to do things faster and better – creating more time for them.
AI Agents are making life simpler. Data-Hat AI builds AI Agents for business. We are seeing companies benefit from reducing the time employees have to work – not by increasing it.
If someone achieves their targets by working 40 hours a week, fantastic! Let them enjoy their evenings, weekends, or whatever it is that lights up their personal lives. If they hit those goals in less than 40 hours and maintain high-quality results, then there might be a mismatch: either we’re not challenging them enough, or they’re in the wrong role.
The real question isn’t how many hours they work; it’s whether they’re delivering the outcomes the company needs, within the quality and timelines required. If the answers are positive, there’s no need to count hours.
And this is where AI can really improve the quality of the work, the time taken to do it, and the reliability of what is delivered. We see the results today with our current customers.
On the flip side, if someone’s overloaded to the point of burnout or has too much free time to take on side gigs (a potential issue) Focus on output, not time input. Give the employees the AI tools to make their lives better.
High-quality work delivered on time—that’s the goal. Happy, productive employees make life easier for everyone, including their managers. Let them enjoy their lives outside work. After all, a well-rested team is a winning team. Contact Us
