- The CEO of European ride-hailing app Bolt is forcing workers back into the office 12 days a month.
- In a memo, Markus Villig called it a “disgrace” that less than half of the staff went in more than 2 days a week.
- He said the policy would help Bolt “maintain an intense culture” and “return to a high-performing company”.
The CEO of European mobility app Bolt didn’t mince his words earlier this month when he called workers into the office.
Bolt is an Uber competitor that offers services including ride-hailing, food and grocery delivery, and e-scooter rentals on its app. Starting in January, Bolt will require all of its employees to work from the office at least 12 days a month, or roughly 3 a week, the company confirmed to Business Insider.
CEO Markus Villig wrote in a memo to staff that the company had “seen too much complacency” in where employees work in recent years and that they had a choice to either “restart our ambitious culture to compete in the top league” or ” to fall into mediocrity.”
“We are too spread out, people feel disconnected, attrition is too high and our offices are empty,” Villig wrote. “I find it a shame for our culture that less than 50% of employees come to the office + 2 days a week.”
He referenced tech industry giants such as Amazon, Tesla and Apple, which have implemented various forms of back-to-office mandates.
Amazon recently announced that corporate employees will have to work in the office 5 days a week starting in January. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has called remote work “morally wrong”. Apple’s hybrid pilot program requires employees to work from the office three days a week.
The Bolt CEO also criticized the idea of people working remotely from holiday destinations.
“We’re going to stop the stupidity of people working remotely from places like Bali,” he said. “This is a break not what we hired them to do.”
A Bolt spokesman confirmed the memo was sent to employees.
“We believe personal collaboration drives innovation and performance, and our existing policy advises employees to work from a Bolt office for 2-3 days per week,” said a Bolt spokesperson. “Beginning January 1, this policy will be formalized with employees required to work from a Bolt office 12 days a month. We continue to listen to our colleagues and remain committed to fostering a culture that values engagement and innovation, empowering people to work flexibly and effectively.”
In his memo, Villig said the company saw five benefits from personal work: Increased performance levels, improved collaboration, better relationships between team members and other teams in the company, better information flow and generation of ideas and improving mental well-being. .
Bolt is based in Tallinn, Estonia and operates in more than 45 countries. In 2022, Bolt said it would have raised 628 million euros in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital and Fidelity Management, with the investment valuing Bolt at 7.4 billion euros.
The company is reportedly eyeing an IPO in 2025.
Read the full memo from Bolt’s CEO to staff:
Following the All-hands on Tuesday, I will explain my thinking on the new Return to Office and Location policy and your role as a manager in supporting this transition.
The bottom line is that I strongly believe that we work better in person, not remotely.
The longer version is that we have a choice to make as a company. Either we restart our ambitious culture to compete in the top league or we sink into mediocrity. Even the biggest companies from Amazon, Tesla and Apple understand that to stay on top they need to maintain an intense culture and get people back to the office 3-5 days a week. We are a small company in comparison and to ever reach that scale, we have to work harder and innovate more than them.
We’ve seen a lot of complacency in recent years about how we recruit, where people live and when and where people work. We are too distributed, people feel disconnected, attrition is too high and our offices are empty. I find it a shame for our culture that less than 50% of employees come to the office +2 days a week.
We will return to being a high performing organization from January 1:
Mandatory 12 days per month on duty for all employees.
At least 2 days a week. Team leaders have the authority to do more – many sales teams already do 5.
We’ve invested millions to have fantastic offices already, but in places where there’s a shortage of space we’ll set aside specific days for the team to split them up nicely.
In relation to the best tech companies, we believe this is generous and allows a lot of flexibility for employees.
We will stop the stupidity of people working remotely from places like Bali. This is a break not what we hired them to do.
Reducing the number of sites to 2 for global roles.
By default each department will have 2 centers – Tallinn first and by default London secondary.
Some large departments like technology save more. If you have questions, ask your department head.
In order for people to get the most value from being on duty, their team needs to be there. Some departments have scattered teams and we will consolidate it.
To be clear, this refers to global roles, not local or regional.
There are 5 benefits to working in person:
Raise the performance bar. We see a strong correlation between office attendance versus performance and engagement.
Improve collaboration. Holding meetings in person is more effective than video calls.
Improve relationships within and between teams. Interacting with people in person is best for resolving conflict and building positive relationships. Video calls are transactional, while having coffee or lunch together is infinitely better for relationship building.
Better information flow and idea generation. Having informal conversations in the office is impossible to replicate remotely.
Improve mental well-being. Having positive interactions in person is a huge stress reliever.
As a manager I ask you to help me with this:
Sell this message to your teams.
Lead by example by being present in the office more often starting next week.
Create an environment where your teams want to come into the office. It should be engaging and fun to work in person, not a chore.
Monitor and manage poor attendance. We’re absolutely fine if some people decide this isn’t for them, as the cultural impact far outweighs that.
The culture at Bolt is unique and we must work every day to preserve it. I can’t do this alone – we all have to take responsibility for making this a fantastic place to work, where people come to do the best work of their lives.
@nick.walker and his team are preparing the FAQ and other details to be shared with you on Monday and we plan internal communications after that. Go badger!