> A group of first-year analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. complained to bank leaders last year that they were working an average of 95 hours a week and that job stress had harmed their physical and mental health.

I'm pro-ambition, pro-commitment-to-the-team/mission, and a recovering workaholic. But don't do crazy hours like this. It's permanent damage.

Target 40 hours a week. Make those hours productive towards the org's goals and not misaligned individual goals/metrics (experienced engineers and the manager and PM should be blasting the inefficiencies out of everyone's way). Keep stress low, and only for good reasons (again, stupid reasons need to be fixed promptly).

If you've got people being actually productive and on-track towards org goals at 40 hrs/wk with low stress, that's a great environment. And when some rare emergency happens that can't just mean slipping the schedule, then some people will have the time/energy/morale to surge their effort to to whatever sweat/magic is necessary. Then they get flex time after.

And we educate new people about how we were able to handle the emergency, and the importance of not breaking this hard-earned effective organization.