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Dropbox's billionaire founder Drew Houston says the 40-hour office week is a thing of the past and the pandemic has changed work forever

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston told CNN that certain workers could escape the "grueling commutes" of the past and gain more control over their days.

Sorry for sharing a Business Insider piece 😅

I imagine Houston's major points are largely already accepted by the community here:

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston told CNN that knowledge workers can now escape the "grueling commutes" of the past and gain more control over their days.
- Dropbox's cofounder said the 40-hour office week could be a thing of the past.
- Drew Houston was one of 15 CEOs asked by CNN about how the pandemic could change the future of work.
- Knowledge workers will be able to escape their commute and gain more control over their schedule, he said.

What I do find more interesting though is the point that "companies and workers [will need] to rethink the social contract between employees and employer."

It's a point I often see shared and debated here (ex. Company A embraces remote but determines different compensation based on employee's geography); and I think it's cool to have more companies openly talk about those challenges and what potential approaches to managing a company's culture should be.


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    Absolutely!! Companies and workers will need to rethink the social contract and what is successful and worthwhile when it comes to a worker's performance. In times past, it was easy to recognize hours worked based on a pressnce in an office, easy to keep tabs on a worker, etc. But now how does upper level manamgent access daily productivity? And are there ways we can be more efficient in our working hours so that we can get more done in less time? Work should be rewarded on performance and hitting goals, and now by how many hours a person works, right?!

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      On my side I definitely share the sentiment of "work should be rewarded on performance and hitting goals, and now by how many hours a person works."

      However, I also recognize that this might not work for certain people and or work cultures - not everyone is equipped to function well autonomously and there are disadvantages to decentralization as well.

      In any case, it'll be interesting to see how the general workforce and work environments will evolve.

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        Agreed!!! We are always evolving and changing as a society. Its pretty spectacular to watch the transformation!!!