The six day hustle: Silicon valley’s dirty little secret

Happy Thursday, everyone.

I'm Frank Richardson, an organisational psychologist observing the workplace with curiosity and care. Each week, I share insights to help HR leaders better understand the people behind the processes and build cultures where both individuals and organisations can thrive.

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This week in workplace whiplash 🌀

Work norms are bending fast. From office mandates to burnout mandates, companies are pushing boundaries (consciously or otherwise) and employees are feeling the squeeze.

• 🏢 Microsoft & Co. Crack Down on Remote Work
  Microsoft has announced a return-to-office policy requiring most employees to be in the office at least three days a week, starting February 2026. NBCUniversal and Paramount are imposing even stricter on-site expectations.
  👉 Business Insider

• 💔 CEO Fired After HR Romance Disclosure Fails
  Super Retail Group abruptly terminated its CEO after revelations emerged of an undisclosed romantic relationship with the former Chief HR Officer. The board said his earlier disclosures were inadequate and revoked his bonuses and unvested incentives.
  👉 News.com.au

• 🔥Burnout Needs More Than Wellness Perks
  A new opinion piece in BenefitNews argues that most wellness programs miss the point: employees want real systemic change around workload and expectations. Mental health days and flexible work help, but gaps in implementation and guilt about using perks leave many stuck.
  👉 BenefitNews

From the above, it is clear: when trust and balance crack, work culture tilts toward chaos. As the 996 trend in San Francisco shows, it is always the hidden norms that decide whether employees thrive or break.

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Forget kombucha taps and beanbags. A TikTok that went viral this week claims SF startups are quietly drifting into “996” culture: nine to nine, six days a week. No memo. No pep talk. Just whispered expectations, Saturday Slacks, and data trails.

The tip-off? Ramp’s spending data shows tech workers in San Francisco are now splurging on Saturday takeout and lattes at a much higher rate than last year. Translation: if you thought weekends were safe, think again.

🧠 The Behavioural Science Lens

So why does a six-day workweek still find fertile ground in Silicon Valley? The answer may sit less in strategy decks and more in psychology.

• Normalisation of Overwork: If everyone else is grinding on Saturdays, suddenly “only” working 40 hours looks like slacking. That’s how social norms creep in. One person stays late, and before you know it, leaving on time feels rebellious.

• Burnout as the Default Setting: Research on China’s infamous “996” culture shows exactly where this ends: younger employees report higher levels of burnout, anxiety, and dissatisfaction. Long hours don’t just kill joy, they also kill productivity.

• Diminishing Returns: Plenty of founders still believe more hours = more innovation. Yet study after study shows that excessive hours mean more errors, less creativity, and faster churn. Inc recently highlighted how even AI startups pushing 996 are learning the hard way that burnout happens way faster than code.

• Identity Fusion: Startups love to sell the mission: “We’re not just a company, we’re a movement.” Which sounds inspiring until you realise it becomes a velvet trap. Saying no to 996 can feel like saying no to the cause. The Wall Street Journal has reported that AI founders are leaning into this identity playbook, binding employees tighter with every investor dollar raised.

• Broken Social Contracts: Work comes with unspoken deals: weekends, rest, the chance to switch off. Break those, and you break trust. SF startup Cognition reportedly offered buyouts to staff unwilling to endure “extreme performance” and six-day weeks. 

🚀 What This Means for Leaders

• Stop treating weekends like optional extras. If your people are burning Saturdays on you, they won’t stick around long enough to see Sunday.

• Measure burnout like you measure revenue. The World Health Organization recognises burnout as an occupational hazard. If you don’t track it, you don’t care about it.

• Signal boundaries from the top. Founders who log off at 6pm give their teams permission to do the same. Otherwise, the message you’re sending is “stay until you drop.”

• Don’t confuse martyrdom with motivation. Employees want to believe in your mission, not sacrifice their health for it.

💬 Final Thoughts

San Francisco’s startup scene might dress up six-day weeks as hustle, but let’s call it what it is: a burnout crisis. Science shows us that norms matter, trust matters, and most importantly, rest matters. And in the long run, the real innovation will come from companies that can scale ideas without chewing through their people.

If something here speaks to you, I’d love to hear it.

Until next week,
Frank

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