The 9-to-9 workday is back and it’s spreading beyond Silicon Valley
From Microsoft’s new tracking tools to AI startups demanding 70-hour weeks, the global tech industry is quietly reviving an always-on culture that blurs the line between ambition and exhaustion.
When Bill Gates was a young Microsoft executive in the 1980s, he memorized the license plates of all company employees. His office overlooked the parking lot, and he kept track of who arrived early and who stayed late, he told the BBC in an interview years later. Gates himself worked constantly, on holidays, at night, and on weekends, and he expected his employees to do the same.
Four decades later, in 2025, despite sweeping changes in the modern workplace, it seems that not much has changed. Last week, Microsoft launched a new feature for its Teams platform that allows employers to track the location of employees through the app. There’s no longer a need to remember license plates, the software now reports precisely where workers are.
The new feature is designed to meet the needs of employers amid a growing push to bring workers back to the office. This shift marks a return to an employer-dominated labor market. Even as companies promote “flexibility” and “wellbeing” in their recruitment messaging, tech is reverting to an intensive work culture, perhaps more demanding than ever. And the cost is employee burnout.
Over the past year, more and more tech firms have rolled back the flexibility that characterized the post-COVID era. Hybrid and remote work models are being replaced by what employers call “structured hybridity”, policies that permit flexibility only under strictly defined conditions.
According to the report Beyond Mandates: The Future of Hybrid Work by global real estate firm JLL, 66% of workers worldwide are now subject to such structured hybrid policies, and most (72%) accept them. But for younger employees aged 18 to 35, flexibility means control over time, and trust from management. Many expect employers to accommodate their stage in life, whether that means time with small children or the ability to adapt work schedules to personal needs. When those expectations aren’t met, burnout, and thoughts of quitting, increase sharply.
Indeed, nearly 40% of workers worldwide report symptoms of burnout, according to JLL’s findings. Rates are particularly high among parents and executives in tech and finance. One in three workers said they would consider leaving their job if they didn’t receive opportunities for growth, training, or purpose.
“Burnout today stems less from overload and more from a mismatch between employees’ expectations and their daily work environment,” says Yaniv Lotringer, CEO of Work Dynamics at JLL Israel. “In a world where work-life balance is more important than ever, employers must create environments that foster connection, flexibility, and meaning. Offices that succeed in doing so gain a real competitive edge.”
From Dawn Till Dusk, Version 2025
The “9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six-day-a-week” culture once associated with Asian corporate ambition has migrated West. In Silicon Valley, in the AI and post-pandemic era, while employers champion “wellbeing,” employees report longer hours, constant availability, and blurred boundaries between office and home.
The trend is being driven mainly by AI and fintech startups. Founders often talk about “passion” and a “historic opportunity to change the world,” but many young workers say the real cost is their mental health. Fast Company and The New York Times both report career crises triggered by burnout as early as age 25.
In China, where the infamous “996” culture (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week) originated, the Supreme Court banned employers from enforcing such workweeks back in 2021. In the U.S., however, many tech workers still feel pressure to prove commitment by working late and showcasing it publicly on X or LinkedIn.
Several startups now openly demand extreme work hours. Wired reported that AI startup Rilla requires over 70 hours of work per week. Others, like Sonatic, expect physical presence seven days a week, but offset it with perks such as free meals, gyms, and even “hacker houses” with company-funded lodging and dating app subscriptions.
“It’s very common in the U.S. now,” says Neta Geva, HR Director at Grove Ventures. “You might assume it’s only young employees, but many older professionals work this way too. It’s partly because today’s job market favors employers, people are willing to accept harsher conditions, and partly because of AI’s pace. Companies feel pressured to keep up technologically and expect total commitment.”
The wave of mass layoffs, over 180,000 tech workers globally by 2025, according to TechStartups, has tilted the balance of power further toward employers. With fewer people doing the same amount of work, those who remain fear losing their jobs and often sacrifice personal wellbeing to prove their value.
Just last week, Amazon announced 14,000 new layoffs, its largest since 2022, while in Israel, Medtronic said it would cut 60 employees (5% of its local workforce) and Applied Materials plans to lay off 100.
The New Hierarchy of Needs
In this environment, work-life balance has become more important to workers than salary itself: 65% of employees now cite it as the top reason for leaving a job, up from 59% in 2022. A majority (57%) believe flexible hours would improve their quality of life, but only 49% actually have that option.
“The more advanced you are, the more they expect you to give 200%,” wrote one Nvidia employee anonymously in the Troubles in High-Tech Facebook group. “There’s zero tolerance for downtime. The best benefit they offer is paternity leave, everything else is output-driven.”
Another respondent described her husband’s company as “a factory where employees are judged solely by output, even if they work until midnight or weekends from home.”
In Israel, while 72-hour workweeks are less common, the demands on tech workers remain high. The war has intensified the workload due to manpower shortages, further increasing stress and burnout. Internal surveys by CofaceBDi in 2024 found that the share of employees confident in their advancement fell from 76% to 71% in a single year. Meanwhile, more are seeking jobs elsewhere (38%, up from 33%) and 20.5% are considering retraining, a 10% rise year-on-year.
“The shift back to office-only models and reduced flexibility is amplifying burnout,” says Daniela Weinreb, VP of Information and Risk Analysis at CofaceBDi. “Only 66.5% of Israeli high-tech workers still benefit from hybrid work, a decline from last year, while expectations of long availability and multitasking are creating significant mental strain.”
Despite that, the top reasons employees remain are fulfillment, flexible schedules, and job security. Yet even those are eroding: only 65% say they feel they’re reaching their potential, down from 69% a year earlier.
