I don't know that there's really that much data on the subject (and if there is, I probably wouldn't be able to disclose it). I will say this though: I've never been asked to work long hours. Nor have I ever been assigned enough work that I've had to work long hours. We tend to not have fixed deadlines, so it's rare that I have to work in crunch mode. Some people love their jobs and work at all hours. Google is more than willing to accommodate those people. Me, I strive to get a lot done in little time so I have more time to unwind and can be more productive the next day.
The interesting thing about a culture where the long work day is more common than not is that it starts becoming an expectation even though it isn't codified in any rule. So for example you'd be less likely to get a raise or promotion than a person who puts in more hours than the required. So even though you're not abusing the company you get less benefits for doing the amount of work you're getting paid for.
So for example you'd be less likely to get a raise or promotion than a person who puts in more hours than the required.
If person A does more work than person B who should be promoted and paid more? Some people get more work done than other people because they are smarter. Others get more work done because they simply put in more hours. Is there really much difference between the two?
In principle, I agree wholly. In practice, I think hours often gets used as a substitute metric for amount of work done or value brought. It's this substitution and the (possibly unconscious) merit given to extra hours over extra efficiency.
What's Google's understanding on working from home / telecommuting? I'm more than willing to work long hours, but I find I'm much happier when I'm sshed in from home than sitting at my desk thinking about my kids.
My friend works for Google and I have definitely seen him work from home. I am not sure whether they would be okay with doing remote (you would have to ask them) but I am sure if you knock off early and logged on from home and got your stuff done, no one would care.
Google's alternative is to not have fixed deadlines. I'm not sure there's really much else to say there. :-)
For the most part, Google's philosophy is "Hire smart people and get out of their way." Granted, there's an ever-growing list of exceptions to the "get out of their way" part. In short, there are very few circumstances where a manager will tell you "You have to launch by..." If you and your team want to set a hard ship date, then you can do it. If you want to say "It'll be done when it's done", you can probably do that too. Granted, every product area and team will tend to have their own quirks, but that's the "corporate position".
I'm going with "Beta" and "Labs" as alternatives to fixed deadlines. I think I shall even start including these in the names of my own projects to alleviate those pesky deadlines.
Edit: Hey! My first post! Go me! BTW, this post was beta.
