AI company asks employees to work 80 hours a week or find new job: 'We don't believe in work-life balance'

Work-life balance is a distant dream. Why, you ask? Well, because companies today apparently don't believe in it. We're talking about Windsurf, the AI coding startup recently acquired by Cognition in a $4 billion deal. According to reports, the company, now with 200 Windsurf employees, has served its workers with two extreme choices. Either they work six days a week (80 hours per week) or leave the company and receive nine months' salary. 

The boss, Scott Wu, reportedly confirmed it to employees through an internal email, saying, "We don't believe in work-life balance." He added, "Building the future of software engineering is a mission we all care so deeply about that we couldn't possibly separate the two." In August 2025, Scott took to Twitter to further clarify the company's performance culture. He wrote, "Cognition has an extreme performance culture, and we’re upfront about it in hiring, so there are no surprises later. Many of us literally live where we work. We know that people who joined Windsurf didn’t expect to join Cognition, and while we’re proud of how we work, we understand it’s not for everyone."

Moving on, Scott confessed that the company allowed its employees to decide for themselves, knowing they would lose some people. "We truly believe the level of intensity this moment demands from us is unprecedented. While not everyone is looking for a culture like ours, everyone deserves respect and appreciation for their work," he explained. Next, he said, Cognition cashed out all four years of equity for Windsurf's employees, even for the employees who hadn’t hit their one-year cliff. "And for those who opt out, we’re providing an additional nine months of pay on top of this," Scott added. A report citing a survey by Bayt.com found 63% of professionals admit to working overtime in the UAE, hinting at the severity of the toxic work culture.

Meanwhile, his post went viral on social media, with many calling out the company for its toxic work culture. For instance, @ryanorban commented, "Research says otherwise. Those extra hours lead to burnout, drastically lower productivity (quality output/hour), and create a culture of relentless toil. If you need 80 hrs/week to run your business, you’re doing something wrong." Similarly, a person who goes by @_samadahmed on X said, "If you truly believe AI accelerates development, then you would see that working that 'hard' to sleep in the office is nothing but theater. Work smarter, not harder."

Another user who goes by @tmaiaroto commented, "You're not doing your best work if you're putting people at risk of early-onset dementia." @drjam18 wondered, "I hope that goes for you too, Scott Wu. In other words, you’re not allowed to have a family life, correct? Hope you don’t have any rogue mental cases that end up firing upon society as the result of an ALL WORK LIFE!" On the other hand, @oyvonneestrada said, "Not that you are going to care about any of the comments we offer because you don’t care about your employees or your family as much as you should. This type of attitude is the reason there are mental health issues. It’s not balanced, and it’s not healthy."