A CEO has been slammed after celebrating an employee who had to sell their dog after being forced to return to working from the office.
James Clarke, who runs a Utah-based company, had previously told employees he had run out of patience with complaints about the new policy ending work-from-home for many of the employees.
In a virtual town hall meeting the boss of digital marketing company Clearlink blasted staff for "quiet quitting" and claimed that no-one could be “outworking” him.
He went on to praise the "sacrifices" made by one of the employees, who sold their family dog in order to return to the office. Despite this Mr Clarke added it broke his "heart".
On April 3 he sent out an email asking everyone who lives within 50 miles of the company's HQ to work from the office four days a week.
Clips from the town hall meeting went viral on Reddit and YouTube before being deleted.
He said that 30 employees "didn't even crack open laptops" and accused content writers of using AI to complete their work.
He said: “I can do that in about 30 minutes of an eight-hour work day.”
The CEO also questioned if caregivers could realistically meet company expectations while continuing to take care of children.
He said that while “it can be done...it adds so much stress to a working mother’s life that I would never want to put on anyone".
Mr Clarke continued: "Breadwinning mothers were hit the very hardest by this pandemic. Many of you have tried to tend your own children and in doing so also manage your demanding work schedules and responsibilities.
"And while I know you’re doing your best... one could argue this path is neither fair to your employer, nor fair to those children."
Although he said he doesn't "necessarily believe that"
He carried on: “But I do believe that only the rarest of full-time caregivers can also be productive and full-time employees at the same time.
"You may take issue with any part of this, but I believe the data will also support this in time.”
When clips from the town hall emerged, the Clearlink boss was slammed across social media.
One Twitter user, Judy Deebee, waded in saying: "I don't know what Clearlink is, but I'll be avoiding it like the plague while this person is in charge of it."
Another slammed Mr Clarke's comments on childcare saying: "In a section of the meeting concerning childcare challenges, Clearlink’s CEO openly questioned the ability of mothers—yes, specifically mothers—to both offer adequate value to the company and their kids."
Kris Wernowsky wrote: "Work is not your family. It's not your culture. It's not your society. It's a place you go a few days a week to provide a service in exchange for a small fraction of generated profits. Life's too short to give it to people like Clearlink CEO Jason Clarke."
