Bolt's billionaire CEO Markus Villig cracks down on remote work: 'Insanity of people working from Bali'

Markus Villig reportedly said in an internal memo it was a 'disgrace' that less than half of his employees were in the office at least two days per week. (Image credit: LinkedIn)

The CEO of Bolt, the Estonian rival to ride-hailing app Uber, is bothered that employees are effectively taking holidays on company time while working from idyllic destinations like Bali and has ordered them to return to the office. Markus Villig called his staff "disconnected" and has partially revoked the company's flexible work policy, which he believes led to staff being scattered across the world, Fortune reported.

Bolt’s 4,000 employees are now required to work from the office three days a week or 12 days per month.

In an internal memo, Villig said the company's recruiters had been too complacent in how it hired staff, particularly around where they lived and worked. “We are too scattered, people feel disconnected, attrition is too high, and our offices lie empty,” the CEO 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.”

Villig reportedly said it was a “disgrace” that less than half of his employees were in the office at least two days per week. As per the latest memo, Bolt's staff will still have some flexibility but will need to live within travel distance of a company office.

'Working at Bolt is not for everyone'

Meanwhile, Bolt’s global employer branding manager Grete Kivi wrote on LinkedIn that reports of the company's return-to-office mandate were “not that dramatic”.

“Here’s the thing. Working at Bolt is not for everyone,” she wrote. “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. Everyone who joins us knows this--it’s not a sudden change in policy.”