Hustle Culture or Cult?

I recently read about a tech founder who’s built his company around a 70-hour workweek. Employees are told up front that “work-life balance” isn’t on offer. The company pays for meals, gym memberships and even offers a rent stipend—but only if you move within 10 minutes of the office so you can spend every spare hour working. Candidates are warned not to apply unless they’re excited about working ~70 hours a week.

It reminded me of the “996” schedule—9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week—popularised by some Chinese tech giants. High-profile leaders have even called 996 a “blessing.” But research shows that working beyond 50 hours a week causes productivity to plummet, and the human costs are severe: burnout, health problems and high turnover. Being in the office for 12 hours doesn’t mean you’re productive.

When companies glorify relentless hours, subsidise employees’ housing so they live near the office, and encourage them to treat colleagues as family, it starts to look less like a culture and more like a high-control system. Some companies cultivate quasi-religious devotion to a leader or mission and use slogans like “drink the Kool-Aid” or “we’re a family” to encourage total commitment. The hallmark of a corporate cult is the degree of control management exercises over employees’ thinking and behaviour, sometimes positioning the workplace as a replacement for family and community. Healthy cultures, on the other hand, build community and shared purpose but allow space for life outside the company.

High-control groups, whether religious or corporate, use similar tactics: limiting outside information, applying emotional pressure, creating economic dependence, fostering social isolation and discouraging critical thinking. When a company requires you to live near the office, work 9 a.m.–9 p.m. six days a week, attend mandatory weekend events, and views commuting time as lost productivity, it’s not just “hustle.” It’s a system that erodes boundaries, identities and support networks—hallmarks of high-control environments.

And here’s the kicker: When you hire only those willing to sacrifice their personal lives at the altar of work, you shape not just your workforce—but your customer base.

If your team all looks alike, lives alike, and thinks alike, don’t be surprised when your product only resonates with people who… look alike, live alike, and think alike. You haven’t built an innovation hub. You’ve built an echo chamber.

The irony is that while founders preach disruption, their cultures often choke off the very diversity of thought, experience, and perspective that fuels real innovation. True breakthroughs rarely come from monocultures. They come from teams where a single parent, a recent immigrant, and a Gen Z coder can argue over design choices—because they bring different lived experiences to the table.

High-control hiring may feel efficient, but it’s self-limiting. It narrows both your workforce and your customer appeal. Sustainable growth comes from diversity, not uniformity.

Leadership that lasts doesn’t require martyrdom. It respects humanity, designs sustainable systems, and trusts people to deliver without surveillance.