A young boss explains that in his company you have to work 80 hours a week. But this is met with little positive reaction. He defends himself: As a start-up you have to fight against a lot of competition that you have to assert yourself against.
Who is it about? A 22-year-old boss named Daksh Gupta has caused a stir over the hours he expects his employees to work. In his opinion, the 80-hour week is a lifestyle choice.
Daksh Gupta is the founder of Greptile, an enterprise software company based in San Francisco, USA. Founded in 2023, Greptile develops an AI assistant that helps software developers navigate and understand their codebase.
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Boss defends 80-hour week and receives death threats for it
What caused the controversy? The young boss posted on X at the beginning of November that his company “doesn’t offer a work-life balance.” In English it says, “that Greptile offers no work-life-balance.” He added:
But that’s exactly what caused a controversy. Many took offense at his answer. In another post on X.com he explained that he had now received death threats for his post.
But he also said that he wanted to stick to the 80-hour week, otherwise his company would have no chance in the current competitive environment. This is how he explained:
The competition here is extremely high. Nobody cares about the third best company or even the second best company in a software category.
Competing in the crowded enterprise software market requires not having much of a life outside of work, according to Gupta. And he wants to work with people who are focused on “putting their heart and soul into building really great software products.” Even though you may no longer have a private life.
Is something like that allowed in Germany? No, in Germany working hours are regulated by the Working Hours Act (ArbZG). And a maximum of 48 hours per week is permitted here. Under certain circumstances, working hours can be increased to 60 hours “if an average of 48 hours per week is not exceeded within four calendar months or 16 weeks.”
In other companies the opposite is the case and some are already working less even though they should officially be working more. A study now shows that many people only work 4 days a week, even though they should officially work 5 days a week: A study shows that many employees have already secretly introduced a 4-day week, even though they work 5 days should work