Bolt’s chief executive has promised to stop “the insanity of people working from places like Bali” in a crackdown on remote working.
Markus Villig, boss of the taxi-hailing smartphone app and rival to Uber, said it was a “disgrace” that less than half of employees worked in the office for at least two days each week.
The billionaire founder recently introduced a new mandatory policy requiring all employees to work from its offices 12 days a month, equivalent to roughly three days per week.
Staff must be in the office at least two days per week, meaning they will have to remain within easy travelling distance of Bolt’s offices. The changes take effect from Jan 1 2025.
In an internal email sent to employees, Mr Villig said: “We have seen too much complacency in the last few years on how we recruit, where people live and when and where people work.
“We are too scattered, people feel disconnected, attrition is too high, and our offices lie empty.”
Mr Villig, who founded Bolt as a 19-year-old student, also criticised employees logging in from the beach.
He said: “We will stop the insanity of people working remotely from places like Bali. That is a vacation, not what we hired them to do.”
Mr Villig claimed that working in-person will improve relationship-building, communication and mental well-being among employees.
Bolt managers were urged to lend their support by leading by example, creating a “fun” office environment, and monitoring and managing poor attendance of employees working from home too much.
“We are absolutely fine if some people decide this is not for them, as the cultural impact far outweighs it,” said the entrepreneur.
Bolt employs 4,000 people across 50 countries, including the UK.
The Estonia-based company, founded in 2013, has emerged as a fierce competitor to Uber and is preparing to list on the stock market next year.
It comes despite government claims that flexible working helps boost productivity and employers should avoid creating a “culture of presenteeism”.
Mr Villig described the new policy as “generous” compared to tech rivals, including Amazon which last month ordered white-collar workers to return to the office five days per week.
He warned that Bolt could “fall into mediocrity” if the company does not improve its performance.
He added: “Even the largest companies from Amazon to Tesla to Apple realise that in order to stay at the top they have to retain an intense culture and have got people back to office three to five days a week.
“We are a tiny company in comparison and to ever reach that scale we have to work harder and innovate more than them.”
Grete Kivi, global employer branding manager at Bolt, has since publicly defended the new policy after reports of the move by Estonian news website DigiPro sparked an online backlash.
She wrote on LinkedIn: “Working at Bolt is not for everyone. We’re fast-paced, and you’re expected to perform to the highest standard. Bolt has never been a remote-first company, and we’ve been clear about that from the start.”
A Bolt spokesman said: “We continue to listen to our colleagues and remain committed to fostering a culture that values engagement and innovation, while empowering people to work flexibly and effectively.”
