A young boss explains that one must work 80 hours a week in his company. However, this meets with little positive reaction. He defends himself: As a startup, one has to fight against strong competition to succeed.
Who is it about? A 22-year-old boss named Daksh Gupta has caused a stir due to the working hours he imposes on his employees. Other supervisors want to push their people back into the office but fail against their inventive employees. In Gupta’s opinion, the 80-hour week is a lifestyle choice. By comparison: In Germany, 40 hours a week is common.
Daksh Gupta is the founder of Greptile, a business software company based in San Francisco, USA. Greptile was founded in 2023 and is developing an AI assistant that helps software developers navigate and understand their code base.
Boss defends 80-hour week and receives death threats
What caused the controversy? The young boss posted in early November on X that his company “does not offer work-life balance.” In English, it is stated, “that Greptile offers no work-life balance.” He added:
- Typical working days start at 9 AM and go until 11 PM, sometimes even longer.
- Gupta says that they also work on Saturdays and sometimes Sundays.
- He emphasizes that the environment is very stressful and poor work is not tolerated.
But this exactly caused a controversy. Many took offense at his response. He explained in a further post on X.com that he has now received death threats for his post.
He also stated that he wanted to stick to the 80-hour week, because otherwise his company would have no chance in the current competitive environment. He explained:
The competition here is extremely high. No one cares about the third-best company or even the second-best company in a software category.
To succeed in the crowded market for business software, Gupta says it is necessary not to have much life outside of work. And he wants to work with people who focus on “developing truly great software products with heart and soul.” Even if they may no longer have a private life.
Is this allowed in Germany? No, in Germany, working hours are regulated by the Working Hours Act (ArbZG). Here, a maximum of 48 hours per week is permitted. Under certain circumstances, working hours can be increased to 60 hours, “if, within four calendar months or 16 weeks, the average does not exceed 48 hours weekly.” 80 hours are officially not allowed to work in Germany.
In other companies, the opposite is true, and some are already working less, even though they should officially be working more. A study now shows that many people are secretly working only 4 days a week, even though they should officially be working 5 days a week: A study shows that many employees have already secretly introduced a 4-day week, even though they should work 5 days
