Productivity among American workers has increased at a much faster rate over the past three decades than compensation, even as the cost of living continues to rise. Yet for so many employers — whose own salaries continue to skyrocket — that’s just not good enough.
One CEO went ahead and admitted out loud that he only wants workers who aren’t looking for any sort of work/life balance in a recent, and obviously controversial, post on LinkedIn.
Scott Kuru, who runs a property investment company, started his post off with a clear thesis: “Never hire anyone that’s looking for work life balance.”
Although he then claimed it’s important for people who have “all the areas in your life in harmony” in order to “perform at high levels,” he went on to insinuate that anyone actively looking for that balance must be a terrible worker.
“Most people, not all, but most people that say ‘I’m looking for work life balance’ are not driven to grow and therefore are not committed to improvement and or being super committed to the companies goals,” he wrote, blasting the idea of a 4-day weekend and suggesting any companies who implement them go on to “build teams and companies of B players and low performers.”
Kuru’s statements ultimately just felt like a long-winded way of admitting he doesn’t know anything about the realities facing modern workers — or that he simply doesn’t care.
No matter how passionate you are about your career, or money, or the company you work for, being taken advantage of by employers making time-consuming demands with no mutual respect or benefit to the worker beyond vague promises that something might eventual change for the better can cause anyone to burn out. Moreover, it can influence what people look for in their next job.
As Kuru’s post spread, it was repeatedly called out for sounding like yet another example of an employer who wants to take advantage of his workers while having zero respect for them as human beings.
And even on LinkedIn, people tried to point out all the flaws in Kuru’s outlook.
But he just tried to gaslight everyone into thinking he both believes that work/life balance is imperative and that no one should hire employees who want balance between their work and their lives.
Anyway, Redditors have already devoted posts to questioning whether Kuru’s entire business is a scam, so maybe he’s not the best person to take advice from to begin with.
And if a company ever tries to tell you work/life balance isn’t important, or that looking for a job that allows it makes you a bad worker, it’s time to go.
