Ex–Google CEO Eric Schmidt warns U.S. tech workers: Competing with China’s grueling 12-hour workdays means sacrificing work-life balance

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.

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. to 9 p.m., six days a week.”

Schmidt added working from home is especially harmful for young people who may be highly educated but have little or no experience in the workforce. Schmidt said he learned plenty in the early days of his career at Sun Microsystems (where he eventually became CTO) by just being present at the office and hearing his older........

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