SILICON VALLEY — Eric Schmidt criticized remote work as harmful for young professionals and claimed Chinese tech firms still follow the 996 work schedule during a September 2025 podcast interview. His remarks included a factually inaccurate assertion about China’s labor practices, as the 996 schedule—9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week—was outlawed in China in 2021.

“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 said. He argued that in-office presence remains essential for career development, especially for inexperienced workers, and said working from home is especially harmful for young people who may be highly educated but have little or no experience in the workforce.

He recalled learning valuable lessons in the early days of his career at Sun Microsystems simply by being present in the office and overhearing senior colleagues debate technical and strategic issues. “How do you re-create that in this new thing?” Schmidt asked about remote work. A spokesperson for Schmidt later addressed his earlier remarks about Google, stating, “Eric misspoke about Google and their work hours and regrets his error.”

In a 2024 talk at Stanford University, Schmidt claimed, “Google decided that work-life balance, and going home early, and working from home, was more important than winning.” Stanford later deleted the video of that talk. Google has since reduced remote work flexibility and now requires some employees to report to the office three days a week.

According to The Wall Street Journal, many twentysomethings, raised on hustle culture inspired by Mark Zuckerberg and depicted in The Social Network, willingly forgo work-life balance for startup success. Fintech startup Ramp claimed its proprietary data shows a spike in work on Saturdays among San Francisco–based employees, indicating that “996 is real.”