Startup CEO receives backlash for expecting employees to work 100 hours a week

An Indian-American CEO received backlash on social media for posting he expects his employees to work over 14 hours a day. He defended his stance on no work-life balance and said, “Some people want this.”

Daksh Gupta, CEO of AI startup Greptile, wrote on X on November 9, that while interviewing candidates, he makes them aware that his startup offers no work-life balance for employees and they are expected to work 14 hours, even on weekends. He also said that “there is no tolerance for poor work.”

“It felt wrong to do this at first but I’m convinced now that the transparency is good, and I’d much rather people know this from the get go rather than find out on their first day,” he said. “Curious if other people do this and if there’s some obvious pitfall I’m missing.”

Netizens react to CEO’s post

The X post made by the San Francisco-based CEO received criticism from netizens, callingit “extremely toxic” for employees.

“Yes, the obvious pitfall is that this is toxic. while I get your zeal to build stuff at Greptile, I think it’s extremely toxic for the employees,” wrote a user on X. “Please change if possible. All the best!”

Another user said, “The pitfall is that hours worked is not a reliable indicator of actual productivity. You are using hours worked as a proxy for productivity, and I would never want to work in that environment.”

A third commented, “Transparency is a must, but this work environment sounds horrendous. Unless this is representative of the work culture where you are, I can't see why anyone would want to work here. Or are you just trying not to hire anyone?”

In response to the criticism, Gupta responded by saying “It might be hard to believe but there exist people that want this, while a minority. the transparency exists to identify them.”

now that this is on the front page of reddit and my inbox is 20% death threats and 80% job applications, here’s a follow up

- to everyone who is overworked and underpaid at their software jobs esp outside the US, i feel for you, and i’m sorry this struck a nerve. the people… pic.twitter.com/RzAM75DiG2 — Daksh Gupta (@dakshgup) November 10, 2024

“This way of working isn’t supposed to be forever because it isn’t sustainable,” he added, saying that in future he will hire more experienced people who can’t work 100 hours a week. “Naturally we would adapt like any good organization.”

(With inputs from agencies)