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A recent call from Google’s co-founder for staff to work 60 hours a week may not quite be enough to win the AI productivity race, after a start-up CEO revealed his unusual approach to incentivizing 70-hour workweeks.
In the spirit of anything you can do, we can do better, Sebastian Jimenez told Fortune his company offers a generous $18,000 annual stipend to help employees rack up the hours.
Rilla, an AI-powered network infrastructure provider, allocates employees $1,500 per month to live within 10 to 15 minutes’ proximity of the company’s HQ in Long Island, New York.
To be eligible for the bonus, however, employees must agree to work twelve hours a day, six days a week.
‘Maximize productivity time’ – why CEO offers staff $18,000 rent stipend
Far from a gimmick, Rilla’s co-founder & chief executive believes an impressive $18,000 annual rent stipend for staff has an important purpose.
Jimenez explained that encouraging employees to live closer to the office means time can be saved on commuting and reinvested into work.
“One of our core principles is to maximize productive time,” he said. “If you live 30 minutes away from the office, that’s an hour a day that you could be working.”
Leading by example, the CEO lives a five-minute walk from the office.
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The financial perk is understandably an appealing one, given that median rental prices in New York City now fetch nearly $3,500 a month. According to Jimenez, roughly 15% of staff currently use the stipend.
The trade-off for staff is signing up for Rilla’s gruelling work schedule. The start-up follows a ‘996 calendar,’ in which employees are expected to work from 9am to 9pm six days per week.
Employees are also expected to attend frequent off-site events on a Sunday, Jimenez told Fortune, noting that he doesn’t believe in the “work smarter, not harder” philosophy. Maximizing hours, he argued, is the only way for businesses like his to be successful.
Job adverts posted by the start-up specify that all candidates must be excited by the prospect of “working 70 hrs per week in person with some of the most ambitious people in NYC,” with the CEO noting that applicants are required to read a culture deck before they accept a post.
Although the schedule and culture appear extreme, Jimenez is far from the only executive to push work models with long working hours.
Earlier in 2025, Google co-founder Sergey Brin called 60-hour workweeks the “sweet spot of productivity” in the AI race, and Infosys CEO Narayana Murthy called on Indian workers to put in 70-hour workweeks to help drive the country’s economic progress.
Meanwhile, a report from Microsoft found a rise in the “infinite workday,” with workers increasingly checking emails before 6am and after 10pm. The number of meetings taking place after 8pm also increased by 16% year-on-year, the report found.
‘We want them to take care of themselves’
Rilla’s chief executive said he does not believe that the 70-hour workweek approach means staff wellbeing should be sacrificed.
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“We want them to take care of themselves, to work out, to eat healthy. We want them to maximize their time and still sleep eight hours a day,” he added. “They can do this and still have one or two hours of leisure time in their day outside of work, which is plenty of time to do the important things in life.”
Beyond the rent stipend, employees are also able to expense gym memberships and at least two meals each day. Generous compensation is seemingly on offer too, with software engineers netting between $200,000 and $300,000, and sales staff taking home an average salary of roughly $350,000.
Jimenez acknowledged his approach is unusual, and that Rilla focuses on hiring candidates up to the challenge, such as a founder or former D1 athlete who “always wants to be busy.”
“This is by no means the way to run every startup,” the CEO caveated. “This is just the way it works for us.”
