Nothing CEO Carl Pei has a harsh wake-up call for his employees who work remotely, which is sparking controversy on social media.
In a message, which was posted on LinkedIn on Aug. 19, the CEO announced that the company is not reaching its full potential and will be mandating workers to work from its headquarters in London five days a week as a result, completely cutting out remote work.
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“We are the fastest growing smartphone brand in India at 567% YoY. Yet, we are at 0.1% of our potential,” said Pei in the message.
Pei acknowledged that the decision is controversial and “may not be a fit for everyone,” but stated that the company is for “grown ups.”
“Remote work is not compatible with a high ambition level plus high speed,” said Pei. “Some may be worried about flexibility, but this is no different from pre-COVID. This is a company for grown ups, so if you need to be out of office to deal with some issues, we trust you to make the right decision.”
He also said that the company is axing remote work for three specific reasons: collaboration, creativity and ambition.
OnePlus Co-founder Carl Pei speaks onstage during TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco 2019 at Moscone Convention Center on Oct. 4, 2019 in San Francisco, California.
Steve Jennings/Getty Images
“First of all, we make physical products where design, engineering, manufacturing and quality have to collaborate closely together to deliver products to our users. This does not work well remotely. Second, creativity and innovation are really key to us winning against bigger companies. Not only in products, we also need to solve difficult problems and do more with way less resources than competitors in all areas of our business. This does not work well remotely. Lastly, our ambition level is different from many peer companies started at the same time. We are not looking to create a good business that gets acquired by a big company, we are looking to realize our full potential of becoming a generation-defining company,” said Pei in the post.
The new mandate for Nothing employees will take effect in two months, and Pei is encouraging employees who have an issue with the new policy to find a new job.
“We know it’s not the right type of setup for everybody, and that’s OK. We should look for a mutual fit,” said Pei. “You should find an environment where you thrive, and we need to find people who want to go the full mile with us in the decades ahead.”
The post has so far been gaining wide-attention on LinkedIn, generating hundreds of comments and thousands of reactions, with some people expressing disappointment with the CEO’s distaste for remote work.
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“‘This is a company for grown-ups’ implies that remote work is for kids or some sort of overgrown teenagers. I hope this is last time I hear about this company,” wrote one Linkedin user in the comment section under the post.
“You could’ve just shortened this letter to ‘We need to do layoffs but are trying to avoid severance payments.’ Honesty is always the best policy, my friend!” wrote another Linkedin user.
“Another CEO on a power trip who doesn’t trust his employees if he can’t physically see them in an office. Say goodbye to all of your talented staff who have commitments outside of work that won’t allow 5 day office working,” said another user.
More Labor:
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Remote work has been a hot topic recently. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt sparked outrage last week when he blamed Google’s lag and issues in developing artificial intelligence technology on remote work during a lecture at Stanford University.
As a growing number of executives are claiming that remote work is harming productivity, many employees across the country beg to differ. According to a recent survey from USA Today, only 16% of white-collar workers said that they are more productive working in the office, compared to the 46% who said they are more productive working from home.
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