Ex–Google CEO Eric Schmidt warns U.S. tech workers: Competing with China’s grueling 12-hour workdays means sacrificing work-life balance
Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, has expressed concerns about the U.S. tech sector's ability to compete with China's demanding work culture. He argues that remote work is detrimental to young professionals who lack experience and emphasizes the need for in-person collaboration. Schmidt's comments highlight a growing trend in Silicon Valley where startups are increasingly expecting long work hours from their employees.
- ▪Eric Schmidt believes that competing with China's work culture requires sacrifices in work-life balance.
- ▪He criticizes remote work for hindering the development of young professionals in the tech industry.
- ▪Many startups in Silicon Valley are adopting a culture of long work hours, with some employees working 72-hour weeks.
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| Original publisher | Fortune |
| Canonical URL | https://fortune.com/article/ex-google-ceo-eric-schmidt-remote-work-china-996-work-life-balance-silicon-valley-ai-race/ |
| Publication time | Sat, 30 May 2026 15:37:43 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-30T16:09:38.763Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-30T16:09:38.763Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
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| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
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| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
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| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
The former CEO of Google is sounding the alarm about the tech sector’s ability to compete with China, and he warns that working from home isn’t helping.Recommended Video Eric Schmidt, who was top boss at Google for a decade in the early 2000s, said during a conference interview published by the All-In podcast in September 2025 that he doesn’t believe in remote work, partly because it’s not helping U.S. tech companies compete with China’s cutthroat work culture. “If you’re going to be in tech and you’re going to win, you’re going to have to make some tradeoffs,” Schmidt said. “Remember, we’re up against the Chinese; the Chinese work-life balance consists of 996, which is 9 a.m.
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