Unacademy CEO's advice to founders: ‘Ban remote work’

Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal.

Gaurav Munjal says the first piece of advice he gives to early-stage founders is to ban remote work in their organisations. The CEO and co-founder of Unacademy tweeted his take on remote work this afternoon, and his post promptly sparked a debate on the microblogging platform.

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Unacademy had announced that 60% of its workforce would work from home permanently, even after the situation improved.

Now, however, the edtech platform’s chief executive has tweeted in support of banning work from home. “The first piece of advice I give every early stage Founder I meet is to ban remote work in their org and call everyone back to Office (except for genuine cases),” wrote Gaurav Munjal. “In almost every case I get a message a few weeks later saying that this advice was game changing for their org.”

The first piece of advice I give every early stage Founder I meet is to ban remote work in their org and call everyone back to Office (except for genuine cases).

In almost every case I get a message a few weeks later saying that this advice was game changing for their org. — Gaurav Munjal (@gauravmunjal) November 17, 2022

Munjal’s post has divided opinion on Twitter, with many pointing out the benefits of remote work.

“It just means the organisation hasn't built the muscle for remote work. A culture of documentation and clear communication are key to making remote work. Plus you would have a global talent pool to work with if you're comfortable with remote,” wrote one person.

“3 hours in Bangalore traffic seems like such a huge productivity loss for me,” another pointed out.

“How are companies like Gitlab running successfully (even though being 100% remote) if that is the case?” a third asked.

Several surveys over the last one year have found a clear disconnect between employers and employees when it comes to the issue of working from home vs working from office.

Recently, a LinkedIn survey found that 71% of executives in India wanted employees to work more frequently from office even as working professionals continued to search for remote work options.